The Chick Chalet

[Year of the Rooster]

Has anyone else built this? I currently have one and I am content with it. There are a few kinks we need to figure out, like the nest boxes. Mine are having water leak into them. Does anyone have any recommendations on sealing them?

 

[FrChuckW]

Brad,

Not sure which design you are using but if the nest boxes are on the outside of the coop then what you can do is replace the current lid with one that provides at least a 1 inch overhang. If it is one that the lid lifts up then you can get some rubber gasket used for sealing around doors and affix that to the joint area. It will provide a water tight seal and will flex with the top opening and closing.

Or you can change the design to have a solid lid with an overhang and have the long side be the part that opens to access the nest boxes.

Hope this helps

 

[Year of the Rooster]

This is the design that we used: http://www.chickchalet.com/

And here is what it looks like. This is before we primed, painted, and attached the run. We also bolted a metal lip onto the front of the lid. But there still seems to be some kind of leak somewhere. For now I have put a tarp over the entire building.

 

[Year of the Rooster]

I just looked in the feed box and some of the feed is wet too!

We even put weather strips around the edges!

 

[FrChuckW]

Okay, the picture helps. From what I see the hinges for the nest boxes are directly under the edge of the roof. So that means that the water is running off the roof right onto the nest box roof as well as the feed bin roof. So heres the solution that might work.

I already suggested replacing the flip up lid on the nest boxes and change that into where the back opens up or putting a weatherproof strip on it where the hinges are. The other thing you can do is put gutters on each side with downspouts on the back pointed away from the house and run.

Or you can get some really strong water proof material that is also flexibale and attach it up the sides and over the roofs of the nest boxes and feed bin,