Teporary Winter Coop

[BookWorm243]

About a month ago my coop was destoyed in a storm

So I now have my chickens in the garage in a kennel that I set up.This has worked fine but we now have taken on a friends chickens. So the kennel is not big enough now. I was wondering if any one had any ideas for a low cost temorary winter coop

I really dont want to spend to much as this is only for the winter, I was also thinking of maybe keeping it for when I get more chicks in the spring and they are ready to move outside. How big would it need to be for 18 heavy breed chickens?

Thank For The Help

 

[oldchickenlady]

Pvc hoop will work, not too expensive, and covered with 1"x2" welded wire and a plastic tarp will keep out rain, snow, and wind. Here's mine before I built the coop.

You wouldn't have to do the 2x4 frame on the ground, just drive some metal stakes into the ground and put the pvc pipes over them, then cover with wire and stake the wire to the ground. Well, I guess one 2x4 in front to do a door would be needed. Walmart has some big tent stakes with a plastic thing on the end that are like huge nails that would work to put the pvc over. They also have smaller ones that would be good to hold the wire down with. Here is how mine started out:

It is 10x10 but could be made larger or smaller. It is big enough for me to walk into. Here it is attached to my coop that I built later. I wanted to be able to move the run, so that is why I used the 2x4 frame. 4 people can pick it up.

The best thing is nothing can get in if you stake your wire down well. Except a bear I guess. Hardware cloth around the bottom would give more safety, but I never did that and had no issues, but I was lucky. Do you stil have a run for the chickens or will they free range? I have 12 chickens and the run is 100 square feet, a little short of recommended run space (10 square feet per bird) but they free range all day, so are only in it for a while in the morning before being let out. If you have a run or free range you could get by with less space. A 10x10 foot would be ok just for a coop for 18 birds but not if they don't have a larger run or free range. Depending on what your property looks like you could make it 10x15 or 12x12 or whatever you wanted. I was limited to 10x10 because I have very little flat level space on my property.

 

[BookWorm243]

That is so cool! Will that work well for the winter? It gets cold, down to the low teens high singles. The thing is that I am on the top of a mountain here in NC. So I get alot of wind, and that is what got my last coop. We do have bears, racoons, possum, hawks not to mention neighborhood dogs ( one killd my chicken thru the kennel

we had them out in that one day )

Thanks For The Post!

Where could I get the PVC hoop?

 

[BookWorm243]

I do let them free range during the day. My property is horibble! It is long and skinny and most of it is wooded so space is a issue. No one would guess I have two acres

 

[oldchickenlady]

Home Depot for the pvc pipe and the metal angle things I used to add stability. I got the wire at TSC but I think Home Depot had it too. The wire makes it very sturdy. I think if you put the wire on and extended it out on the ground without cutting it and staked it alot, it would be ok. Use big stakes! A good heavy grade tarp, may take more than one to cover everything well, should hold up, but you could also use a heavy string or lightweight rope and run back and forth across the top to help hold it down. About the cold, everything I have read on this website says as long as they are dry and don't have drafts blowing on them they will be fine in those temps, unless you have a breed that is not cold hardy. You could maybe lay down some pallets and scrap wood/linoleum from a salvage place or craigslist for the floor, then put shavings or hay down on top of that. I made this myself with minimal help from my teenagers/husband when putting the wire on. I saw something similar on here but it was way more labor intensive and costly (due to more wood construction) than I wanted to do. I used 2 pvc pipes for each hoop (glue together then cut off as much as needed to get the right height), drilled holes into the 2x4's and just stuck them in the holes, but you could turn them with the 2" side up and use some sort of metal strapping instead. That would make the base more sturdy than what I did. I stabilized the tops of the hoops with a piece of crown molding I found in the top of my garage. I just drilled small pilot holes through pvc then used screws down through the pvc pipes into the wood molding. 1x4 would work also for that. I used 2x2 for the gate, and the braces on either side of the gate and on the back wall. You can ask at Lowes/Home Depot or whatever builders supply store you have in your area for any scrap lumber they might have. I got a lot of pieces that they had used in between stacks of plywood I think, that were about the same size as a 2x4 and about 3.5 to 4 feet long. I used those for the supports for my roost and poop board, but could have used them for bracing too. Here is a pic of the beginning:

If you have help, you can knock this out in a day or two, took me longer because I did it myself! My husband kept telling me it wasn't going to work! My sons just rolled their eyes! The chickens stayed in it all spring and half the summer before I got the coop done. Now, it would help if you could build it on the down wind side of another building, or some trees, anything to block the wind, but that may not be possible. Good luck! Let me know if I can help you with anymore info about the building process.

 

[oldchickenlady]

Forgot to say, the wire on the front and back has to be trimmed to fit, then we attached it to the pvc pipes with wire we already had. Might could use heavy duty zip ties for that. We tied the edges of the wire together with the same thing. Trimming the wire was a pain, but with some good wire cutters (got some at TSC in their bargain bins-$3.00 I think) it goes well. Goes better if you have someone with strong hands (I don't, but did it anyway!).

 

[BookWorm243]

Thanks for the help! I am going to look in to that.

Thanks Again!

 

[BookWorm243]

Any one else??

 

[LynneP]

What is your location/climate?

Would your garage handle a garden shed under cover? Is your friend still part of caring for those new birds, or out of the picture? With winter arriving here ( is it there?) I'd want to use the garage until suitable housing can be constructed, perhaps using the shed. Our garden centers have them on sale at this time of year and often the delivery is included.

 

[BookWorm243]

I am located in NC and we have had a dusting of snow but nothing big yet. I just went to lowes and they have a huge green house on sale. Could I use something like that?