A couple of months ago I posted in the Checking-In On Peeps - Post Here To Say Hello! thread about my plans to convert my newly acquired 8'x12' Tuff Shed into a coop. Life intervened and delayed that effort a bit, but I was recently able to start the project in earnest and thought I'd chronical it here on the outside chance that someone might find some of it useful.
I bought 5 gallons of "Liquid Rubber" (a polyurethane deck treatment product) for covering those parts of the interior that I thought would benefit from protection against chicken metabolic by-products and maybe make cleanup of such surfaces a little easier. So the first thing I did was apply 4 coats of it to the floor. (pic taken after I'd already started on framing the "poop tray")
After the lower part of the tray framing was done I hung the diagonal rails for the roosting bar assembly. I mounted them using hinges so I can raise the roosting assembly up and out of the way when need to facilitate work on the tray and/or make cleaning easier. And since the vents along the bottom of the rear wall are just plastic inserts I framed around and predator-proofed them with some 1/4" vinyl-coated hardware cloth I salvaged from the old demolished coops.
Then I finished the roosting bar assembly using 2x4s with the corners rounded off just a bit with a finishing router.
A short length of stout chain with a pair of carabiners hung from the rafters and an eye screw in the bottom roosting bar secure it when swung up out of the way.
Then I finished construction of the poop tray using some 3/4" plywood and 2x4s. I also covered the roosting bars and parts of the walls adjacent to them with Liquid Rubber.
Then came the scary part: Cutting a hole in a wall of my brand new expensive shed for an automatic chicken door. I must have measured this for size and proper alignment a dozen times before grabbing my drill and jigsaw.
But it went well...and actually works!
The birds need a way to get up to the elevated roosting area, so next up was this set of stairs with a platform at the top and a little perch to act as an intermediary step up to the bottom roosting bar.
Of course everything got a couple coats of Liquid Rubber because...chickens.
Still to do and be covered in subsequent posts:
I bought 5 gallons of "Liquid Rubber" (a polyurethane deck treatment product) for covering those parts of the interior that I thought would benefit from protection against chicken metabolic by-products and maybe make cleanup of such surfaces a little easier. So the first thing I did was apply 4 coats of it to the floor. (pic taken after I'd already started on framing the "poop tray")
After the lower part of the tray framing was done I hung the diagonal rails for the roosting bar assembly. I mounted them using hinges so I can raise the roosting assembly up and out of the way when need to facilitate work on the tray and/or make cleaning easier. And since the vents along the bottom of the rear wall are just plastic inserts I framed around and predator-proofed them with some 1/4" vinyl-coated hardware cloth I salvaged from the old demolished coops.
Then I finished the roosting bar assembly using 2x4s with the corners rounded off just a bit with a finishing router.
A short length of stout chain with a pair of carabiners hung from the rafters and an eye screw in the bottom roosting bar secure it when swung up out of the way.
Then I finished construction of the poop tray using some 3/4" plywood and 2x4s. I also covered the roosting bars and parts of the walls adjacent to them with Liquid Rubber.
Then came the scary part: Cutting a hole in a wall of my brand new expensive shed for an automatic chicken door. I must have measured this for size and proper alignment a dozen times before grabbing my drill and jigsaw.
But it went well...and actually works!
The birds need a way to get up to the elevated roosting area, so next up was this set of stairs with a platform at the top and a little perch to act as an intermediary step up to the bottom roosting bar.
Of course everything got a couple coats of Liquid Rubber because...chickens.
Still to do and be covered in subsequent posts:
- Nesting boxes.
- An attached 8'x16' run.
- A DC-only solar power system for the chicken door, a few LED lights and possibly some ducted fans down the road, should I deem them necessary for improved ventilation.
