Shed to coop conversion and other projects

[Scott H]

Nice job! Am looking forward to the finished product. How many birds in how much space?

 

[doggielove]

Lots of good information. My husband wants a new, larger shed and I suggested, multiple times, that we should convert the old shed to a larger coop for the chickens. I think he's finally coming around. It would be a spring/summer project, but I'm always on the look out for good ideas. Keep the good info coming.

 

[Rural Chic]

Nice job! Am looking forward to the finished product. How many birds in how much space?

Thank you. I'm looking forward to the finished product too. lol
Right now I have for sure 4 female chicks and 10 male chicks (they were free, sent along to keep the female chicks warm, and the 2 goslings I ordered and received 3 weeks ago. I also have 6 older chicks about 3 months or so that I got from a breeder a few towns away (about 60 miles or so). The coop houses 2 rabbits, male and female, who will soon receive their permenent structure once I get the birds siturated.
The coop is about 6' x 8' so once they are all grown the space will be limited but the males will go away as they get old enough. I can't have roosters where I live. The geese will receive their new enclosure along with a goose house after the chicken run is finished. In a couple of weeks I have 2 more goslings coming along with 3 ducks. All the water fowl will live together separate from the chickens.

 

[Rural Chic]

Lots of good information. My husband wants a new, larger shed and I suggested, multiple times, that we should convert the old shed to a larger coop for the chickens. I think he's finally coming around. It would be a spring/summer project, but I'm always on the look out for good ideas. Keep the good info coming.

Thanks so much for the comments. I'm glad he is coming around to your way of thinking. The new Larger shed might have had something to do with it and if it is large enough maybe he could have a good work space for his projects. Just an idea. Good luck and God bless.

 

[Rural Chic]

New updates. Here are the photos I promised from the work we were able to do a few nights this week but since it got dark so soon I wasn't able to get the pics. So here they are...



We attached 2 x 4's to the fence and long the back of the coop. Tomorrow we will add the the ribs from the board at the high end of the back of coop to the lower board along the fence. The fencing will attache to this to keep our birds in and wild birds and stray cats out.


These pics show the roof extension we added to keep the side between the coop and the fence dryer when it rains or snows (not much of that here in the desert but every now and then Mother Nature does surprise us.
Tomorrow we will add flashing along the extension where the roof and plywood meet and then attach shingles to keep the plywood from rotting so soon. After the frame is complete I think we will paint or seal the wood with a water sealer before attaching the fencing.
Then last we will cut the chicken door from the coop to the new run. I have fresh grass clipping to spread around for the girls to play in. Yes my 6 large ones are all girls until proven otherwise!
I feel the end of this one project is slowly coming to a close and I am soooo excited. I will post more photos as the work progresses till complete and hope that something we do here will be helpful for others.

 

[chickers]

Awesome coop! You and your son have done a very good job.

I do have one suggestion though. Chicken wire is fine for keeping chickens in, but it won't keep predators out. You need half inch hardware clothinstead of chicken wire for predator protection.

 

[Rural Chic]

Awesome coop! You and your son have done a very good job.

I do have one suggestion though. Chicken wire is fine for keeping chickens in, but it won't keep predators out. You need half inch hardware clothinstead of chicken wire for predator protection.

Would I use this all around or just in specific areas??? And thank you for your comments.

 

[chickers]

My setup is a chain link dog run with four foot high half inch hardware cloth going up the outside about two feet and then lying on the ground for two feet going out from the run. The hardware cloth ion the ground is to keep predators from digging into the run. If I wasn't using the dog run, I'd just use the hardware cloth since it's the safest.

 

[Rural Chic]

My setup is a chain link dog run with four foot high half inch hardware cloth going up the outside about two feet and then lying on the ground for two feet going out from the run. The hardware cloth ion the ground is to keep predators from digging into the run. If I wasn't using the dog run, I'd just use the hardware cloth since it's the safest.

I will have to incorporate this into my plan... thanks for the tip.

 

[bridget-rdh]

We used 2x4 welded wire. I didn't realize you were planning to use chicken wire or I would have suggested it earlier, sorry..