The building of... {no name yet} - let the *fun* begin! VERY pic heavy!

[jbher]

Did I really say "fun"? In a few weeks I may be regretting that. FINALLY the time has come that we are going to start working on our coop this weekend! I have been working all winter on what to build, how to build it, what size (we have limitations due to our ordinance), what colors (still have to figure this one out)... and what NAME! I hope to get some of ya'll following me and giving your input. I have never ever built anything like this. I helped cut a few deck boards when "we" (aka The Husband) built the deck. That's about it. BUT I am a quick learner and pretty hand otherwise. And yes, yes, I will have help from ^^ him too.

In the mean time - I'll show ya my SketchUp plan. I still need to figure out where I will put my roost and poop board. I'm thinking the North Wall. I still have to build my nest box (gonna do a community one) and insert that too.


Here's what I started with. I went with designing how I wanted it to "look" before gettin' down to business with the actual framing.



Then I finally started "building" it. I am limited in size. I cannot exceed 30sq ft nor can I exceed 8ft in height from ground to peak. Errrr darn ordinance!

Here's where I'm at with the framing. Please be gentle (nice) if there is some obvious mistakes - but please DO let me know!! I tried my best to research building and structural stuff. You should be able to click the photos to make them larger. Hopefully.

West Wall (below)


West Wall Exterior (I have these drawn as to how I will pre-build them in the garage. All gaps in insulation will be completed once walls are put up) (below)




North Wall (below)


North Wall Exterior (below)


East Wall (below)


East Wall Exterior (below)


South Wall (below)


South Wall Exterior (below)


Roof (below)


Roof Sheathing (below)


Overall (below)


continuing on next post....

 

[jbher]

I bought some old wood window sashes from Craigslist. Plus I was given a nice wood exterior door. The husband and I will be stripping all the windows and the door this weekend. We will be cutting down the door so that it's shorter. Otherwise, it won't fit. We also bought James Hardie siding off CL and will be repainting it (thinking a greenish color). The roof will be a metal roof called Corten. My husband will be getting it from his work. I'm very fortunate that my husband's family owns an architectural sheet metal company It looks like this:



Here's the rest of our "stuff" that we've gathered so far.

 

[keystone]

Looks good! Curious what the "deck" is sitting on. Is it anchored? Will it be sitting on dirt or a hard surface? If it is just sitting on the ground you may have "critter issues" underneath. I might suggest making the overhangs extend out as far as possible. Hard to tell how far they extend on the plan. 12" should be plenty. If you have a ridge vent you might consider adding soffit vents so they can work in conjunction. What type of siding do you plan on putting on the exterior? How deep are the nesting boxes? Where will the roosts be located? Questions, questions, questions..... just curious

 

[jbher]

Looks good! Curious what the "deck" is sitting on. Is it anchored? Will it be sitting on dirt or a hard surface? If it is just sitting on the ground you may have "critter issues" underneath. I might suggest making the overhangs extend out as far as possible. Hard to tell how far they extend on the plan. 12" should be plenty. If you have a ridge vent you might consider adding soffit vents so they can work in conjunction. What type of siding do you plan on putting on the exterior? How deep are the nesting boxes? Where will the roosts be located? Questions, questions, questions..... just curious

GOOD questions!!

We have not decided yet how to do the base of the coop. We will either change it and put 4x4's sunk into concrete footings or we will dig out trenches to put the 4x4 skids in. Either way I play to put hardware cloth below and surrounding, and also am putting hardware cloth under the plywood floor between the joists and the plywood.

I have the overhangs at about 9" right now.... do you think they need to go further?? I also do plan to do soffit vents with hardware cloth over them. I plan to have a fascia board to trim out the overhangs - was going to just add the hardware cloth underneath... is that what most people do?? (below pic)



We are doing James Hardie fiber cement lap siding... I believe the siding we got is an 8" reveal.

Nesting box will go here (the giant hole haha!). Am working on it now... originally I wanted to do a latch on the front of the nesting box - but now I'm going to have to do a top-open instead because it's just too darn low to the ground. I would be falling over if I had to try and stoop down to gather from the front. Ugh.


I started the roost as well but I'm not liking how "bulky" it is with the 2x4's. So I'm going to try something else... I also considered trying to build it ABOVE the nesting box... but it might stick out too far into the middle of the coop and in the way of where you'd walk in through the door. I plan to use that Sweet PDZ in the poop "tray"... I'd like the front board to latch down so I can scoop it all out if ever need be.



Edit to add: I'm going to possibly make our door a dutch door. I'd like to build a screen door behind it too.

 

[keystone]

Love the plans! Overhangs- I'd extend as far out as it looks good. Rain water will be displaced farther from your building if you don't have gutters with a longer overhang. I'd also make your nesting boxes 24" deep. I started off with the traditional 12" deep box but then found out chickens like to peck at eggs. Had a couple of egg eaters. So, I redesigned my boxes that are 24" deep with a baffle divider that the eggs roll under. I sloped the floor of the box and bought nesting box pads that cushion the eggs when they land. The chickens can't get to the eggs if the baffle is in the middle of the box. That is why 24" depth is so crucial for this design to work. A baffle will also keep predators from gaining access to the coop through the nesting box. Siding- James Hardie siding is AWESOME. I did my coup in it. Feel free to private message me if you want tips. Hardware cloth will work great for soffit venting if you are not putting soffit material up. Foundation- If you are going to all this work I would dig frost footings. Just dig 4 holes where your posts sit and fill them with concrete. Find out what frost depth is where you're at and rent a two man auger. About $60 for 1/2 a day here. Will take you about 5 min a hole. Mix up a couple bags of concrete mix and put it in the hole. Set anchors for your posts in the wet concrete and you will never have to worry about rot, windstorms or frost heave. Roosts- I use 2x2's for the roosts. Low roost is 18' off floor. High roost is 30" off floor staggered behind low roost. The hens use the low roost to gain access to the high roost. (a step) . Roof - metal is AWESOME. I would insulate the ceiling so the heat doesn't cook your birds this summer. Just my 2 cents. Hope it helps.

 

[Trefoil]

Looking good. Just a reminder, you will have to securely cover any and all insulation, otherwise the chix will eat it.

 

[jbher]

Love the plans! Overhangs- I'd extend as far out as it looks good. Rain water will be displaced farther from your building if you don't have gutters with a longer overhang. I'd also make your nesting boxes 24" deep. I started off with the traditional 12" deep box but then found out chickens like to peck at eggs. Had a couple of egg eaters. So, I redesigned my boxes that are 24" deep with a baffle divider that the eggs roll under. I sloped the floor of the box and bought nesting box pads that cushion the eggs when they land. The chickens can't get to the eggs if the baffle is in the middle of the box. That is why 24" depth is so crucial for this design to work. A baffle will also keep predators from gaining access to the coop through the nesting box. Siding- James Hardie siding is AWESOME. I did my coup in it. Feel free to private message me if you want tips. Hardware cloth will work great for soffit venting if you are not putting soffit material up. Foundation- If you are going to all this work I would dig frost footings. Just dig 4 holes where your posts sit and fill them with concrete. Find out what frost depth is where you're at and rent a two man auger. About $60 for 1/2 a day here. Will take you about 5 min a hole. Mix up a couple bags of concrete mix and put it in the hole. Set anchors for your posts in the wet concrete and you will never have to worry about rot, windstorms or frost heave. Roosts- I use 2x2's for the roosts. Low roost is 18' off floor. High roost is 30" off floor staggered behind low roost. The hens use the low roost to gain access to the high roost. (a step) . Roof - metal is AWESOME. I would insulate the ceiling so the heat doesn't cook your birds this summer. Just my 2 cents. Hope it helps.

That's awesome you used James Hardie also!! I am ordering those Gecko Gauges to help put up the siding. Did you use anything like that? I believe our footings have to be 4 feet deep to go below the frost line. We rented one of those auger's for our deck's footings. Oh man - what a PAIN that was!!! We have a lot of ROCKS in our soil. We plan to insulate the whole coop, roof included.

Looking good. Just a reminder, you will have to securely cover any and all insulation, otherwise the chix will eat it.

All of our insulation will be sandwiched on the outside - so it will be OSB against the stud walls, then rigid insulation, then house wrap then siding/roofing. So the girls won't have any way to get to the insulation

 

[petrel]

I agree with setting the posts in the ground. A structure is only as good as it's foundation. Another vote for roll out nest boxes too. I may have an egg eater in my flock, but all she can manage is one peck before the egg gets away from her!

Love your materials. I think think the dutch door is a great idea. It is in the plans for my next coop.

Be sure to read the section on here regarding ventilation. It looks like your design has plenty of summer time ventilation, but since you are in WI, you may want to closely scrutinize your winter ventilation.

If you are going to offer feed and water in the coop, you may want to make that accessible without walking into the coop, if that isn't already in you plans.

Given the quality of materials and design, I'm recommending "Super Salt Box" for a potential name. Thanks for sharing your coop build. Best of Luck!

Oops! one more thing: The welded wire is only as good as how it is fastened. Be meticulous about how your wire is fastened. A predator will be determined to find any weak spot in the coop's defenses, like an accidental gap between staples.

 

[jbher]

I agree with setting the posts in the ground. A structure is only as good as it's foundation. Another vote for roll out nest boxes too. I may have an egg eater in my flock, but all she can manage is one peck before the egg gets away from her!

Love your materials. I think think the dutch door is a great idea. It is in the plans for my next coop.

Be sure to read the section on here regarding ventilation. It looks like your design has plenty of summer time ventilation, but since you are in WI, you may want to closely scrutinize your winter ventilation.

If you are going to offer feed and water in the coop, you may want to make that accessible without walking into the coop, if that isn't already in you plans.

Given the quality of materials and design, I'm recommending "Super Salt Box" for a potential name. Thanks for sharing your coop build. Best of Luck!

Oops! one more thing: The welded wire is only as good as how it is fastened. Be meticulous about how your wire is fastened. A predator will be determined to find any weak spot in the coop's defenses, like an accidental gap between staples.

Thank you for the feedback!! I will definitely look into the roll out nest boxes. I had never thought of that before!

For winter ventilation I have gable vents on the North and South side, plus I will have soffit vents running on both the East and West sides and I will have a roof ridge vent. Hopefully that will be enough?

I was planning to attach the hardware cloth with washers and screws versus staples.

LOVE the name suggestion!!!!

 

[jbher]

One more thing - I saw Sherwin Williams is having a big paint sale this weekend - 40% off... any recommendations for what type of paint to get for painting the interior of the coop (the studs, etc.)? I plan to paint it white but not sure if a certain type is recommended over another...