Starting my new coop! Input welcome!

[Husker Hens]

Started my new chicken coop! I've been living at and taking care of a house that has a chicken coop, but soon will be moving into my own place that is currently under construction. I found a coop on here that I really liked so I started out with that in mind, but have changed so many things now that I don't feel like it's going to resemble that one much anymore. I added some things that "my" current coop has and then just made some changes due to the layout of my land. As you can see in the pictures, we started building it in our garage and then we're going to unbolt/unscrew it in pieces and move it to my new place. So any way, I'll try to update as I complete it. Feel free to give any feedback and/or suggestions!


Wanted to make it sized in divisions of 4 so plywood and everything would come out more even. Decided 8X12 would be big enough without breaking the bank even more than I know I'm going to. My dad and I like to overengineer things, so yes... 2X6s and 4X6s are probably overkill but that's better than underkill.


The coop I started mimicking was Coop there it is so thank you to hydrowiftrob! Two things about the coop I'm using now that I like was an egg door (to gather eggs without entering the coop and a cleanout door. So I added those (the big open space most near you and the small one in the back left respectively). I also wanted two chicken doors so I can divide the coop and run if I need to in the future to isolate chickens.


I went with 6' side walls so I could put a more gradual slope on the roof it without having to duck inside (I'm 6'6")

Let me know what you think so far and I'll try to keep updating as progress continues.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Looks like a great start! Had to giggle at the over-engineering issue - my FIL and DH are both afflicted with that gene and it definitely showed full force when I asked them to build a barn so that we could house a horse for DD. What *I* had in mind was a pretty basic run in shelter that shouldn't have cost much at all to build -- what we got was a hurricane proof (as evidenced by the arrival of the remains of Hurricane Ike the weekend after they finished the build) building that came in 3x over budget, but they had fun doing it and it has served us well thus far. What they didn't realize at the time is they also built my chicken coop as I converted the feed/tack room portion into a coop after it stopped getting any use for it's intended purpose (the tack moved into the house), so we got a 2 for 1 deal.

 

[Caleb999]

Wow! That's looks solid and done right. I'm sure it will work great!

 

[Husker Hens]

Thanks you two! Yea, it's expensive, but I've never really regretted over engineering anything in the long run. Rather do it right the first time. It's pretty slow going for us though, because although we're pretty handy, we certainly aren't master carpenters. Definitely exciting to see it take shape though!

 

[aart]

Nice!!
I love to 'over' engineer.....'cept it's really only 'over' if you're not of an engineering bent.

One thing I noticed about the coop you're semi-copying.....not near enough ventilation.
I suggest leaving your eaves open but covered with hardware cloth.

 

[Husker Hens]

Yea, I was just reading an article on here about ventilation and was thinking the same thing. I don't think the coop we're using now has enough either for its size, but since we only have 5 chickens in there I think it's more than adequate and certainly doesn't smell in my opinion. So would you literally just put hardware cloth underneath the entire overhang on both sides and don't put any kind of soffit on it?

 

[aart]

Yea, I was just reading an article on here about ventilation and was thinking the same thing. I don't think the coop we're using now has enough either for its size, but since we only have 5 chickens in there I think it's more than adequate and certainly doesn't smell in my opinion. So would you literally just put hardware cloth underneath the entire overhang on both sides and don't put any kind of soffit on it?

Yep!
Look at My Coop page for an example, easier to put the HC on the outside same place you'd attach soffit material.
I'd put some good sized gable vents in too.

 

[Husker Hens]

Thanks! We were thinking of large gable vents and a roof vent and some ventilation under the soffit, but I want thinking the whole thing. I guess I might as well though. I can always put plywood over it later if I need to.

Finished sheeting it

And built some steps

Next comes disassembly!

 

[Husker Hens]

Disassembled it and moved it out to my new place today.

And partially put it back together.

Hoping to get the roof on tomorrow.

 

[aart]

Sweet Progress!