Overwhelmed!

[amijab]

Yes, the main door is hooked open for most of the year.   It gets shut for the winter.  Yeah, you could just build a wall of hardware cloth to partition the coop.  But I would wall of the whole back 6'.  A 6X12' space would be much better.  The you don't have to build two walls, just the one.  And yes, as long as you build a proper, hardware cloth screen covered wall, you could leave the front doors open.  The chickens would be safe from everything, short of a bear.

Ok so to sum up my ventilation decision: I will put two large vents on both the east and west side up by the roof line. In the summer I will leave the front doors open and the two windows. Do you think I will have enough ventilation in the winter? The two doors and two windows will be closed. That will leave two large vents up by the roof line(east and west) and also I forgot to mention there are already two small roof vents on the roof that previous owner installed to vent the shed.

 

[amijab]

I looked at the pics of your shed(Soon to be coop). You have a great headstart with that building. It doesn't really have eaves overhanging the outside walls. So you are looking to cut some vents into the upper walls. I think it would actually be better, and maybe easier, to install a ridge vent. Then cut a bigger vent opening, maybe 4X3', (4'long, 3' high) about 6" off the floor, of the south facing wall. I would partition off the back 6' of the shed, with a chickenwire wall, over a 2X4" frame, with a chickenwire door, of course. I would hook the front shed doors open in the warmer months, and have hardware cloth screened doors in their place. Those type of screen doors are easy to make, with 1X4", and 1X6" pieces of pine. Cut the pieces to size and sandwich the hardware cloth in between the boards. See below, for a pic of my coop's screen door. Easy to make, and allows all kinds of fresh air in, while keeping out undesirables.

I just looked up what ridge vents are. I was thinking of something else. It looks like they are vents that are up on the ridge (bend) of the roof? There are already two small ones installed. So maybe I will put some vents on the east and west side up high below where the roof forms a triangle.

 

[paintedChix]

Here is a picture from a coop here (Norgard?).... of a small coop with a covered run made from a dog pen.





and another way to do the run with hardware cloth or you could use a tarp over that? Both of these coops are here on BYC, but popped up when I did a google search...







Just two ways, I'm sure there are others.

 

[paintedChix]

There are several different ways to do the hoop coops that I do for ours, too. You can search them on BYC or google as well

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The blue bucket is currently blocking the "hole" in this pic, but with a lid put on one end and the bottom cut out on the other you have a simple pop door that lets them in/out. After finding we can't free range them well (had 30 some chickens killed in one day by ?? think it was a neighbor's dog that got into our pony pasture?) anymore... So the bucket in there now has a roost and they use it for a nest!

 

[amijab]

Update on coop progress:
I had my nice neighbor cut me some vents on the east and west side. I am getting the trim around the vents done. I painted shed trim white and will be painting the shed yellow on Saturday.

 

[harveyhorses]

Looking good! They will be very happy chickens.

 

[amijab]

Here is a picture from a coop here (Norgard?).... of a small coop with a covered run made from a dog pen. and another way to do the run with hardware cloth or you could use a tarp over that? Both of these coops are here on BYC, but popped up when I did a google search... Just two ways, I'm sure there are others.

Thanks for the additional ideas!

 

[amijab]

This Saturday I paint the inside of the coop. I'm a little unsure of the paint to buy. So many opinions out there....

 

[Flock In Texas]

High gloss will clean easier and last better. Color is up to you.

 

[donaltman3]

You could sink two 4x4 posts away from your shed and get some waist high, 8 foot long picket fence panels already assembled from a box hardware store. Just attach one side them directly to the shed and the other side to the 4x4 post. If you would want a "roof" you could leave the 4x4 taller than your fence and drap bird netting on top and inside of the fence and just staple to the pickets and a header board screwed into the shed. Would keep hawks and snakes out. It could be done to also look better than hardware cloth or chain link fence.