Shed conversion is a go!

[Wise Woman]

Well, after a year of waiting, planning, plans changing and now even where we live is changing, I FINALLY have a green light on my coop project. We are moving to a cottage with a shed that is attached to a carport. We will be converting half of it to a coop and half to a goat house for my mini goats. I can't tell you what a year it has been. First I drew up plans for a new coop, the DH didn't want to build it he wanted to use a vinyl shed instead. So I drew up plans for the inside of the shed, then we bought another house, then we were going to build a coop, then DH wanted to move a shed and use that and now, finally, we have agreed that using the shed that is there is the best solution. Whew, I am so glad that decision is made.

It isn't going to be cheap to convert the shed, but since this is more than likely our last move and our last coop, we are going to take our time and do it right and the way I want it done. When it comes to animal care, I want DH out of the picture so he can't complain about them. Luckily he is willing to do the conversion for me, so I guess that is something.

Anyway, DD and I will start on painting the outside this week and as DH can start on cutting out windows, vents and so forth. I might even be able to use the vintage windows I had saved for the first coop I thought he was going to build. I am so excited! We will be painting it to match the cottage. The colors will be Tea and Honey, trimmed in Cottage White and the door and window boxes in Chianti. It is going to be so cute.

 

[jennam]

I am doing something very similar! I am so excited. We took the small barn (more like a shed) that we use for our goats and used the back of it as our chicken coop. Our barn does not have a door but we have the entire1/2 acre of land around it fenced in with chain link as well as an electric fence. My original idea to have the chickens free range will not work since we have a hawks nest right above our barn. I am very new to this so I am not sure if what we did was sufficient? We just got 4 chickens (pullets) two days ago and they have been living in the enclosed barn. Today we are cutting a small hole in the bottom of the barn so they can go in and out of the run. The run will be enclosed with chicken wire and a wooden roof. Is there anything missing/we need to do as far as the construction goes? Is the ventilation good enough with the barn door open? As far as the winter goes will they be warm enough? Last question...I do not have anything in the coop to catch the poop. Should I put a hammock in? Thank You so much!

 

[Wise Woman]

Hi Jennam. Good luck on your coop project. I have been keeping chickens for 11 years now, but I am still no expert, but I can tell you what I do and what has worked for me. First of all, I would ditch the chicken wire and use hardwire cloth. Chicken wire is very easy for a predator to break into. Also you will need to make sure nothing can get into your run by digging underneath it. We have used large river rocks around the base of our runs and have had no losses due to predators. Knock on wood. The wooden roof sounds fine to me.

As for ventilation, I think more is better. We will be putting a screen type door on our shed and removing the current metal door. Our shed is in a fairly protected location of the yard and we will be adding a 6 ft high fence to the left side of it so they won't be getting any wind or rain blowing into the coop. The shed currently has no windows, so we will be cutting out windows all along the top of the shed on the two side walls and the back wall We will cover them with hardwire cloth and frame them out. We will be adding windows to the front of the shed, up high out of reach, so it looks nice from the garden. Half of the shed will be for the goats and half for the chickens with the area in the middle for storage and a freezer for goats milk. I am planning to run a water line into the shed somewhere, so I don't have to lug water all winter. It is already wired so I will have lights if I need them and can run a small heater in the milk room. This is for me though, not the goats or chickens.

I would add more ventilation to your barn. I put mine up high over their roosts so the cold air does not blow directly on them. The shed is not insulated and I don't think it needs to be. We do get cold, into the teens, but like I said it is so protected that I think it will be just fine in the coop. Good luck with your project. I will be posting pictures as I go along. We have already filled this shed up with our stuff, so I have to now empty it out until we get my husband's shed moved over to the new place. Lots of work ahead, but it will all be worth it in the end.

 

[K-12 Chickens]

My chicken coop was converted from a shed too! New walls, flooring, windows, paint, and insulation did the job. Good luck with your chicken coop!

 

[jennam]

Thank you so much for the advice! We started the run today. We had left over poultry wire so we used that. I am not sure if we will have to replace it with the hardwire cloth in the future because of predators. It also doesn't look that nice it is all buckled and not very straight. We have not had any problem with predators with our goats ,but chickens may be different. One more question... The hole going to the outside run from the barn, does that have to be raised or can it be level with the ground? If so then we will have to put a ladder for them to be able to enter/exit. Just wondering, we have not cut a hole yet. They were free range all day today because we were building their run. My five year old son is in love with them and won't stop picking them up! They are the friendliest chickens I have even known.