Plastic Shed for Coop?

[Micmac1234]

We are moving to a new house so I need a new set up for my girls! Does anyone have experience using a plastic shed for a coop? Pros? Cons?

If you have installed a plastic shed and don’t mind sharing what you did for your foundation I would greatly appreciate it

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Lots of people have done this. Most come to regret it.

Pros: Easy to Assemble, Convenient, Good floor space.

Cons: Not nearly enough ventilation - you need to start cutting holes in it immediately. The plastic is molded to provide support ONLY where it is needed for the intended structure. Your modifications will have nothing of strength to screw into. Lightweight, needs to be anchored to a surface if you have windloads of any sort. Generally needs a floor - a significant expense not part of price, above.

 

[aart]

Not nearly enough ventilation - you need to start cutting holes in it immediately

...and no roof overhang to protect those openings.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

And what is done for the foundation generally depends on what people have to work with. Building a wooden floor is easy, plenty of people do that - as I said, its easy, its moderate expense, and it holds up for a few years. On uneven soil, you can build it as a deck, raise the thing off the ground some, deal with runoff at the same time. Only problems are rot and bugs. Figure that deck will set you back another couple hundred and a day's build time.

Others use concrete - frame it out, figure the cheapest way to fill it - 8x10x4" deep is about 1 cu yd, roughly two tons, or about 50x 80# bags. Lots of labor and weight to deal with, but too small for a typical concrete pour to be worthwhile - unless you are pouring other concrete at the same time.

Still others have an existing patio.

Or you can just use earth augurs and tie downs, set a metal skirt *(like some old chain link fence)* and cover with a deep layer of mulch.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Note that many of thes pros/cons apply equally to metal sheds, though they are often cheaper for the square footage and slower to assemble - but pretty much everything out there lacks for ventilation, has no overhangs, and has very little to support modifications to the design. The purposes of a shed and the purposes of a hen house are very different, and their designs reflect it.

 

[newtochixx]

View attachment 3867972
We are moving to a new house so I need a new set up for my girls! Does anyone have experience using a plastic shed for a coop? Pros? Cons?

If you have installed a plastic shed and don’t mind sharing what you did for your foundation I would greatly appreciate it

Did you end up using something like this?

 

[Micmac1234]

Did you end up using something like this?

I did not!