post your chicken coop pictures here!

[vehve]

One added effect of insulation is soundproofing. We don't let ours out before nine, so everyone gets to sleep in the mornings without getting woken by a cockadoodledoo.

 

[Sylvester017]

Clarification - I never said redwood, it can be any wood

. Redwood where I live would be prohibitively expensive.
The roost CAN be over the nest box as long as they are covered (angled so they don't sit on it) or if you have a poop board over them. Actually not a bad design in a small coop that has enough headroom.

Bruce

Bruceha2000 - the 3" was your idea but the redwood was my input - we saw them at the HD and Lowe's and they are nice and I believe bug deterrent as well. Tree branches are nice too if they are bigger than some of the skimpy ones I've seen in some of these coops that wouldn't hold up a heavy chicken for very long. Beg to disagree but I do not believe in roosts over the nestboxes as that chicken poop can shoot everywhere and I personally am not a fan of cleaning chicken poop from an area where my eating eggs are layed. Just me - Smiles

 

[donniek]

I'm wondering if it would be worth the extra $100(ish) bucks to finish the inside of my small coop with plyboard interior walls, or if the painted framing and inside of the exterior walls would be OK as is? I'm imaging poo getting piled up on everywhere there is a flat surface.

Besides the expense, another concern I am trying to deal with is overall weight of the structure, so the less material involved the better off I am.

Thanks,
Donnie

 

[jacrowkieley]

This is the outside of the coop, finally finished.

 

[donniek]

This is the outside of the coop, finally finished.

That is great looking... very "country".

 

[Sylvester017]

I'm wondering if it would be worth the extra $100(ish) bucks to finish the inside of my small coop with plyboard interior walls, or if the painted framing and inside of the exterior walls would be OK as is? I'm imaging poo getting piled up on everywhere there is a flat surface.

Besides the expense, another concern I am trying to deal with is overall weight of the structure, so the less material involved the better off I am.

Thanks,
Donnie

Sounds to me like you've already made up your mind what you're going to do. Nice to use us as a sounding board, isn't it? You figured out your own solution inside your own question LOL

 

[donniek]

Sounds to me like you've already made up your mind what you're going to do. Nice to use us as a sounding board, isn't it? You figured out your own solution inside your own question LOL

It may seem so, but I've looked at so many pictures of pre-fab units online, and quite a few on here as well where interior walls weren't used, so... aww shucks - I guess you're right.

 

[jacrowkieley]

It may seem so, but I've looked at so many pictures of pre-fab units online, and quite a few on here as well where interior walls weren't used, so... aww shucks -  I guess you're right. 

We didn't put up interior walls. I wish we had bc I have to spend the extra time getting the poo & shavings out of all the nooks & crannies. I do like that we used linoleum flooring, that makes it easier & quicker for me to clean.

 

[donniek]

We didn't put up interior walls. I wish we had bc I have to spend the extra time getting the poo & shavings out of all the nooks & crannies. I do like that we used linoleum flooring, that makes it easier & quicker for me to clean.

I'm definitely down with the vinyl flooring trick... might even fab up one of those slide out trays to get the bulk of the nastiness out at one whack, and to remove in order to let the water have someplace to go whenever it needs a good hose job.

I'm a former home builder so building the structure isn't much of a challenge, but some of the little details require a little thought.

 

[Latestarter]

Hey Donnie:
I have to keep repeating to myself the following mantra: "it's just a CHICKEN COOP! NOT for human occupation!"

Of course I'm still building to almost human home standards... go figure

There are many on here who are (IMHO) "cleanliness freaks" and want the inside of the coop to be as clean as their kitchen counter.

I mean really, would YOU ever intend to eat anything off the coop floor? Then there are others who have dirt floored coops and may clean it out once a year. I have personally experienced coops that hadn't been cleaned for MULTIPLE years!

some were as you'd expect... horrible. others, you wouldn't have known without being told.

I personally don't want the odor that normally accompanies the housing of chickens... At the same time, I'm alone and have enough tasks to maintain and don't really want to add any more labor intensive hobbies to my already long list! (Yeah, you can say I'm lazy

)
After much research, I determined that the deep litter method would work best for me (In the coop as well as the run).

I have raised coops with wood floors so in order for it to work, I needed to ensure the wood floor as well as the lower portions of the wall and wall floor joint area was sealed. That way the dirt I add as well as any moisture would not rot the wood. Linoleum is almost OK for those who clean daily or weekly...a couple of problems include it's slippery, and doesn't form a "seal" where it meets the walls. Bend it up the walls and it can crack causing leaks. It's also next to impossible to seal around studs if no interior wall.
The chickens don't need interior walls, the human does

Interior walls are really only needed if you intend to insulate (another thing the chickens don't really need)

Anyway, to shorten this novella, I did NOT put up interior walls and painted the floors and several feet up the walls with "Blackjack #57"

(I bought mine at Lowes for a little over $50.00) and I also placed "hatches" near floor level that open to the run areas so that when the deep litter does need to be cleaned out, I simply open the hatch and shovel/push/sweep the litter out into the run. I expect to do a clean once a year, maybe twice, we'll see. I won't have a 'lot" of chickens in a small area, so the litter should be good for quite some time between cleanings.



If I really needed to, I could open the hatches and hose the coop out, though I can't foresee the need to do that. (I painted higher up the front wall as the roosts will be up against that wall).