Walking around my neighbourhood the other day I saw a dog house for sale. This dog house is SOLID, shingled and well built. It's approximately 3.5' x 3' and has a sloped roof that goes from 5 to 4 feet. They only want 50 bucks for it and I think, with a few simple modifications (window, extra ventilation), it could make a terrific winter coop for my 4 girls.
I just wonder if it's too small for my 4 Easter eggers (I'd actually like to get 2 more gals this fall). If I bought this dog house, I would add external egg boxes so that the entire space inside would be for winter roosting.
Let me back up a bit. Last summer I build a Catawba coop for the girls but when winter hit us with a vengeance, I was afraid the coop wouldn't keep them warm enough. So I moved the coop and butted it up against one side of the lean-to outside out house. I then covered the lean-to with hardware cloth and plastic to create a sheltered run for them. In that run I put a heat lamp and kept it on during the day. The girls slept in the coop at night but because of its size I couldn't put a heat lamp in there so I propped housing-grade styrofoam insulation sheets along the outside of the Catawaba coop, put a thermometer inside the coop with lots of straw and prayed for the best.
The girls survived the winter without incident - though it did get well below freezing inside the coop. Now I'm totally rethinking this Catawaba coop. It's a beautiful design and I thought it would be perfect since traditionally, we don't get severe winters this far south in this part of Canada. However, this past winter changed all that.
My thoughts were to build an upright coop that can be butted against the lean-to again so they have an outdoor run (that worked really well) but have a warmer coop to spend the night.
So my question is, do you think this dog house would be big enough? It's so tempting to get it because I would spend way more in lumber to build my own (though I have been scrounging for scrap). I know the guy who built it spent way more than 50 bucks in lumber. The dog house is already the shape I would build if I started from scratch. It's the correct height to fit against the lean-to and it's already built - all I would have to do is modify it.
My only concern is the interior space so what do you advise?
Thanks in advance, Barb.
I just wonder if it's too small for my 4 Easter eggers (I'd actually like to get 2 more gals this fall). If I bought this dog house, I would add external egg boxes so that the entire space inside would be for winter roosting.
Let me back up a bit. Last summer I build a Catawba coop for the girls but when winter hit us with a vengeance, I was afraid the coop wouldn't keep them warm enough. So I moved the coop and butted it up against one side of the lean-to outside out house. I then covered the lean-to with hardware cloth and plastic to create a sheltered run for them. In that run I put a heat lamp and kept it on during the day. The girls slept in the coop at night but because of its size I couldn't put a heat lamp in there so I propped housing-grade styrofoam insulation sheets along the outside of the Catawaba coop, put a thermometer inside the coop with lots of straw and prayed for the best.
The girls survived the winter without incident - though it did get well below freezing inside the coop. Now I'm totally rethinking this Catawaba coop. It's a beautiful design and I thought it would be perfect since traditionally, we don't get severe winters this far south in this part of Canada. However, this past winter changed all that.
My thoughts were to build an upright coop that can be butted against the lean-to again so they have an outdoor run (that worked really well) but have a warmer coop to spend the night.
So my question is, do you think this dog house would be big enough? It's so tempting to get it because I would spend way more in lumber to build my own (though I have been scrounging for scrap). I know the guy who built it spent way more than 50 bucks in lumber. The dog house is already the shape I would build if I started from scratch. It's the correct height to fit against the lean-to and it's already built - all I would have to do is modify it.
My only concern is the interior space so what do you advise?
Thanks in advance, Barb.
