When I moved into my house the coop was already here. I'm guessing (and my guess could be very very off) that its about 15' long by 4' deep and 5' high (because I can just stand in it without hitting my head). The coop has 3 solid sides and the front is made out of a chain link-style fence however it is much stronger and sturdier (i'm not sure how to discribe it). The problem is when it rains or snows - and being washington it happens to do that almost daily - the rain (or snow on occasion) tends to blow into the coop. It makes the straw wet and yuck not to mention I feel sorry for the chickens having a wet coop. My question is does anybody else have this problem? And how can I fix it? I don't want to have to enclose the coop because they only get out one or two times a week and I think in that case a completely enclosed coop would be mean. Also there is only one large main door for humans to go in and out of but the 'safe' area for the chickens is behind the coop where it is hard to get the chickens. Is there a way to easily add a door to one of the solid walls (I have no handyman skills what so ever)
I had that for awhile the problem with that is it can go from being 50 and sunny to 50 and pouring down rain in the matter of an hour or less.
A photo might help with ideas but the only things I can think of are to either put an awning or overhang on it or plant bushes or put up a slat fence as a windscreen. I think the door you are looking for is just for chickens, right. Are you familiar with the guillotine door? it's how you close off a doggy door. I'll try to describe it as I don't have a photo. Cut a hole in the wall near the ground where you want them to go outside and that is big enough for the chickens to get through. Let's say 10" wide for talking purposes. Determine the thickness of the door, say 1/4" thick for example. Put two vertical strips 1/2" thick by 2" wide 1" back from the edges of your hole so they are 12" apart. On top of that put 1" x 3" boards 10" apart. Cut your door 11-3/4" wide. You should have made grooves on the side of your opening to slide the door up and down. Of course, use dimensions that suit the materials you have. And a raccoon can open this door so you need to be able to lock it. Maybe someone can attach a picture.
Build a "covered porch" section to avoid rain getting in (unless the rain is coming in @45 degree angle)
It sounds as if your coop is similar to this one, but twice as long? This coop is 7 1/2' wide & 5' deep. We put a covering over the top of the run right next to the coop/shelter and don't have any trouble at all with rain getting into it - yes, we actually do have heavy rains & wind here at times . We used the green, plastic corrugated roofing panels from Lowes (supported by 2 x 4's). Lowes does sell these panels in a much longer length - maybe you could put some of those across yours. You might also try standing up some extra plywood or ....? next to the coop and outside the run to add a little more protection and make it deeper than 4 ft. Edited to add photo of 2 x 4's supporting panels:
Is this the *run* that's getting rained into, or the indoor henhouse? If it is the house portion, then you need an overhang, or just to enclose that part entirely. If it is merely the run, and you don't want to put an overhang on, then I would recommend just renovating the run so that it can tolerate getting rain blown in. Wet feet aren't going to kill yer chickens , you just don't want it muddy and smelly in there. Install gutters to direct water off the roof to go well away from the run; dig a small trench around the outside of the run (not right *at* the run walls, tho) to direct surface water away; make sure the run is at or slightly above surrounding grade (you won't be able to fix this til dry season); add some gravel (during the dry season). For now, temporarily, you could add a buncha wood chips or somehting COARSE like that (NOT shavings, and even straw isn't all that great) to raise the chickens up above mud level. But you will need to remove that before it starts to compost down into More Mud For Next Year. Regarding the door issue, could you post pics? Then I bet we can make some suggestions Good luck, have fun, Pat
