Savannah Playhouse Coop with Pics * Update Oct 18th, Crunched the roof

[chickenma]

I love your coops

 

[Riocotesei]

That is such a good idea! I was looking on lowes and home depot websites but didn't think of toy's are us. Oh I'm excited to look now!! That is the cutest little house. Lucky you!!

 

[MichiganWoods]

ncCHICKS, I'll see what I can do to decorate the foundation area.

Thanks asher, miron28, WriterofWords, and chickenma!

micki, sorry to hear of your troubles with your old black polishes. Glad to hear the rabbit pen worked! That's the sort of situation that got me thinking it would be handy to have this.

Riocotesei, good luck in your search!

Make sure to post pics if you manage to find one!

 

[dlhunicorn]

that is the prettiest coop

I wish I had the room (and money!) for something as gorgeous as that!
However, since you state its purpose as being a hospital/infirmary coop then I would to submit a few things for you to consider (though I realize some of the suggestions may be seen as "extreme" but I suppose that depends on how effective you want your infirmary environment to be and how much eventual loss you are prepared to accept >personally if I have a really sick bird it goes in the bathroom as I do not have the means to make an equally sufficient environment outside as in the bathroom (temp stability which is crucial for ill birds) > at the end of the day a separate coop goes a long way to dealing with illness or agression in general and I applaud you for your foresight:

Being able to clean/sanitize/disinfect is a must (this can be difficult with wood >wood is porous and difficult to truly sanitize/disinfect if you have a serious pathogen)

Illness quite often occurs with environmental stress (i.e. HEAT and COLD stress) therefore insulation as well as proper/sufficient ventilation (particularly with you using cedar which may have negative impact when ventilation is inadequate >fumes are toxic) ... now re this and my suggestion for insulation as well as being able to keep the infirmary temp stable and draft free (yet well ventilated) which is crucial for an infirmary as well as being able to clean/sanitize/disinfect:
For two of those things (cleaning/disinfect and insulation) I would suggest that you try and find a package of priced down PVC plastic wall/ceiling paneling (I got a package of five four-yard plus lengths priced down from fifty to five bucks because one of the panels in the package was damaged)
http://img.alibaba.com/photo/50447886/PVC_Wall___Ceiling_Panels.jpg
(this is the plastic hollow type I mean)
>will automatically provide insulation (see link with photo) and the plastic will not only allow for easy disinfection/sanitization but will also keep the mites/lice down (which tend to attack weak birds >>>any with a well established flock at a certain point find their (wood) coops next to impossible to rid of mite problem which keeps reinfesting the birds >the plastic interior suface resolves this.)
...these panels have a tongue and groove interlocking system and is super simple to install I am sure they have cheap similar substitutes (look at your local DIY) but here is the US website of the brand I use (might give them a call and explain it is for your chicken coops and ask about purchasing damaged panels >they probably throw them away)
http://www.dumaplast.us/
(at the bottom is telephone number)

It sure makes cleaning the coop easy!

 

[MichiganWoods]

dlhunicorn,

Thank you.

I wondered about the cedar issue. They don't tell you on the outside of the box or on any of the websites (at least not that I noticed) that it's cedar they used. I have already decided that I'm going to be sealing the wood with outdoor latex paint (it will match the bigger coop/barn!), and will look into those PVC panels. As per how I plan on heating it... I'm going to be making a walk-way inbetween the barn coop and the playhouse coop through which I can run an outdoor extension cable. I will have a door/barrier on the inside of each coop so I can seal off the walkway if need be, but there will still be a tiny notch through which my extension cord can run. This will allow me to run a heater, a light, or a heat lamp if need be. -- We just had the electric installed in the barn coop last week. I need to take pictures of the ceiling fan I had installed. The electricians were looking at me like I was crazy when I told them this was all for my chickens.

As per the issue of ventilation... both of the coops have several vents. The playhouse, believe it or not, came with a vent for either end of the roof. All of the windows are also unsealed, and so will let moisture out through there as well. But, I know I need to prevent drafts. I've been considering how to weather-seal the windows in general. I may just add another vent along the back. just under the roof overhang. I'd been considering adding two or three nesting boxes that jetted off the back anyway.

 

[Faye]

Hooray!!! I just got the last one here in CA. Even though those other guys got it for $80, I still think $249 is a great deal

Have you went shopping lately??? --they're expensive!!! And it is waaaaay cute, dude!!! Do you think this one is bigger??

Now I just have to build it with the kids

I think I can... I think I can... I think I can...

 

[MichiganWoods]

I think $249 was a great deal too. Congrats, Faye! Yes, the Savannah model is definitely bigger than the $80 one from Lowes. It's got two extra front and back panels, and two extra roof panels. Or in different terms, the Lowes playhouse is 2/3's the size of the Savannah/Toys'R'Us model. But as I saw in the Lowes thread, some people are buying extra playhouses and plan on putting all of the pieces together into one big unit!

Well, my kids won the battle of our playhouse. After much thought and consideration (and many forelorned looks from my daughters), I've opted to give the playhouse to my kids for Christmas (they are unaware as of yet). This will solve three issues. The first being my fear of the cedar (despite sealing it). The second being it will satisfy my urge to design and build a bigger coop from scratch next spring. I can't tell you how inspiring all of the coop construction pages have been on BYC (particularly GopherBoy's!!). I'm gonna video tape the whole process and stick it up on YouTube when complete. Pictures will be posted in the building thread as progress is made. The third issue being my kids will no longer be jealous of the chickens.

 

[Beau coop]

I love the coop. I understand your concern about the cedar though- does it have a strong ordor to you?
Can an adult fit through the door? I have the last one in my area on hold for me and I want to be sure it will be a usable coop and not present more problems than it helps.

For example, cleaning- I want to make sure I can get in there or if it needs to be modified to allow an adult in the door. Any issues other than the cedar that you are noticing? Does it seem water tight? Is it drafty? Was building the floor difficult? Thank you for your insight!

 

[MichiganWoods]

An adult can fit into it, but you have to crouch down (or at least I do - I am 5'8-1/2"). If you built up a frame with a slot out for extra door height, it would make it much easier for cleaning, but then you would have to figure out an extra panel on hinges along the bottom. Or perhaps you could attach an extension to the bottom door from the inside so you don't see all of the extra hardware.

I've been storing a bunch of my equipment in it while I've been working on the big coop, and it's been raining like crazy. Nothing's gotten wet! If you wanted some reassurance, some spray foam insulation like Great Stuff would work just fine. Try to avoid the window and door insulation... though it doesn't expand much, it is nasty yellow in color and very messy. I had to paint and repaint around my windows to cover the yucky color. Try some of the other gap filler stuff (it should be white), but don't use too much because it will expand and get hard.

Yes, the cedar smell is fairly strong. That's direct out of the box though. Now that it's been sitting outside for a few weeks there is less of a smell... In fact, I just walked outside and took a sniff. There was barely any smell at all... but I have painted it with latex exterior house paint.

... Maybe I'll be building the kids a new playhouse in the spring AND another coop!

Building the floor was probably the easiest part! I definitely definitely recommend pre-drilling your holes. Otherwise, when you go to use your power drill to get your screws into place, they will angle themselves in every which direction except where you want them to go.

Getting it on the platform already built was another issue. Please please build your platform first and put it where you plan on keeping your coop permanently, then construct the playhouse on top of it. Otherwise you may drop the unit like I did and end up breaking a bunch of pieces. FYI, even though I dropped my house, when I called the company up to order replacement parts, they sent them all to me free of charge.

And I even explained to the lady that it was my fault it was broken. I hadn't even sent in my registration card. They took my registration information over the phone and were very nice and helpful.

I don't notice any drafts when I am sitting in it, so long as my shutters are closed and locked up. But it's also sitting directly next to my bigger coop, so that shields it from wind coming in from that direction, and we are in the middle of a 2.5 acre parcel of land thickly covered in trees, which also acts as a barrier. You may have different results if you are building this in an open expanse standing by itself.

I think when I go to clean it, I will a broom to sweep it out and other long-handled cleaning objects to scrub it down without having to actually crawl into it.

 

[3 sisters farm]

Thanks for all the details. I had one of the ones coming from Lowes for the girls and then someone returned unopened one of these Savannah houses....so with 3 little girls and a baby girl cousin who's getting a little one from Lowes for her bedroom (I will have 2 paint and air it sounds like) as she has severe congenital heart disease so needs to be quiet after the surgeries...she is expected to need several just in the first 3 years. So I will be building 3 of these! I'm short, but plan on trying to add a 4x4 or something at the base to get it a couple of inches taller at least for the chicken coop one (the blue Lowes version).