Our shed conversion project, pics posted. Would love some advice!

[Noymira]

Quote:
I think I will paint the outside of the coop, and we'll probably add some more plywood and some hardware cloth around the bottom 2-3' to reinforce some soft areas that have formed. We have light gray siding and blue trim on our house, so I might try to go with a scheme similar to that.

 

[Noymira]

Quote:
That was my concern as well. Maybe if I can rig some way to close off the front? maybe some hardware cloth gates that attach at the roof line and drop down and latch at the bottom? I'd like to build the roosts under the drop ceiling to keep them warm. I guess I will have to research ideas to keep the storage closed above if we add it, we may put that off until fall anyway and just focus on closing up the gaps first.

 

[Noymira]

Here's a little diagram I made, the dimensions are estimated, but I think I leaned on the conservative side, so they might be larger on the structure. I've got to get out there and get accurate measurements.

Is a 10'x16' run big enough? There is also a 10'x6' covered area I want to use as part of the run. That would be about 220 sq. feet of total run space and about 100 sq. feet of coop space. We have 8 chicks coming, but I would love to end of up with 12-20 chickens in a year or two.

We also have pretty snowy and cold winters- can I close off just the covered portion of the run and leave the coop open all day so the chickens are confined to those two areas in the winter? That would give them about 160 sq. feet total for winter space.

How insulated should the coop be? We can get well below zero in the winter, and it gets at or below freezing pretty regularly from November-March. What have you used for insulating your northern coops?

Also, I was thinking of 2 chicken doors, one into just the covered area (for winter access) and one to the open area (which can be opened from outside the coop).