The Victory House

[Howard E]

Plans show the 2 x 4 as flat side down......so only 1 1/2" off the deck.

 

[Molpet]

Yes...but even in the first one you showed you can tell it's flat compared to rafter.

umm true
I was going by the slant at the end to drag it

 

[Howard E]

I'm my father's son, which means I'm genetically predisposed towards overbuilding stuff given the least bit of provocation. That was the case here. Instead of a footing or foundation of a couple 2 x 4's set flat on the outside edges (and prone to sagging in the middle), I made a platform of 4 - 4 x 4's laid 2 foot on center. Then laid a floor of 2 x 6's on that. Structurally it has held up under the weight of 2 dozen pullets.

Actually, the purpose of the timbers was to act as skids, as this building is portable. Hook on an off you go. Edges were rounded over to act as ski tips.

 

[PirateGirl]

Yes! Thank you for sharing. If you garden, you should join the victory garden thread we are trying to get going!

 

[squadleader]

Hey Howard, there's a lady in this thread who's decided to go with a 4x8 coop, instead of a 4x4 coop.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/clear-roof-for-light-yay-or-nay.1225403/

I'm thinking she could orient one of the 4' sides to the south, make that side open wire, maybe put 18 inches of wire at the bottom of the east and west walls, with the 18 inches of wire being closed off with clear panels in the winter. I'm used to my 8x16, with one whole side a roosting bar, and realize with a width of only 4 feet, that probably wouldn't work for her. I assume the entry door should be on either the east or west wall, with the roosting bars on the north wall, with the hope of taking advantage of the cushion of air that would be at the back of this house, if only the south wall was open in winter. I suspect this would work based on the same principles as the Woods House.

I know Woods didn't advocate eaves over the south opening, and accepted the idea of rain blowing into the coop about 3 feet, but his coops were bigger, and I also think he wanted to keep them simple and less costly (he was trying to appeal to large scale producers at the time), because for the life of me, I can't see how a three foot eave on the south open end wouldn't be a good thing, especially with a small 4x8 coop.

Do you think my reasoning is correct here?

If so, what internal layout of the door, roosting bars, feeder, waterer, and maybe dust box would you recommend for this little coop she's thinking about?

Maybe you could reply to her thread?

I'm inclined of course to my layout, but I don't think it'll work for 4x8, and I'm thinking you might know what would work for a 4x8, and that also uses Woods open south side.

Thanks!

 

[aart]

That's a great drawing....
....only a few dimensions missing and a couple of things I'd change.

 

[squadleader]

Hey Howard, I had a lot of coffee this morning, couldn't help myself, and jumped into that thread about the little 4x8 coop. If you have time, check it out and see if I missed anything, or any other improvement you can think of.

I liked the subject, I think Woods principles would work, even with a little 4x8 coop, but with the proviso of adding a three foot eave over the south face.

That would keep any blowing rain out on such a small coop, especially since I recommended an elevated dust box on the open south face.

Thanks!

 

[Howard E]

It appears I never responded to the Squadleader.

On the thread for the 4 x 4 coop, what that builder started out with seems to me to be similar to the Purina Coop, the plans for which used to be available on BYC and other places. I think I had a copy of those plans (and may still if I looked all day for them). However, Purina quickly took those plans down and they are no longer to be found, except in some deep dark secret places on the Internet. The problem being it was not a very good design, at least from a light, ventilation and good poultry husbandry perspective. Worse was one built on a This Old House segment where the guys did a fantastic job of building a truly horrible design. Six nest boxes? Really?

So moving on to the 4 x 8, here are some plans I sketched out some time back for a simple 4 x 8 coop. You could use the same basic construction methods as the Old House guys did. Mostly wide open front.....if you wanted a run, make it just like the house, except enclose it with wire. Put a roof on and extend it over the entire run. Such a coop would be good for 6 to 8 birds. Set it on a cement slab and it would be pretty much bomb proof, and the pop door could be left open so they can come and go as needed. In the Winter, you might want to close the pop door at night to cut down on drafts.



Second option is the Woods mini.......



Problem with this one is the run options are more limited. Less waste and scrap than you might think as some of that gets used on the ends and maybe the roof. But still good for maybe 6 birds or so.

 

[squadleader]

Thanks Howard! That's very helpful. Good luck with your new house, we'll all be excited to see it!

 

[JDN]

Victory has been declared.......at least for now.

Will eventually change some things around, but new replacement birds were getting out of control in their garage brooder, so threw together some doors in great haste and moved them in.

View attachment 1391162 View attachment 1391161 View attachment 1391164 View attachment 1391165 View attachment 1391163

This will be temporary digs for about 20 pullets until they are ready to join the old girls. Will keep notes on how it does and make changes as needed later.

It turns out the Victory house is actually a half scale model of the old Quizzenberry fool proof house, which was also popular about the same time as the Woods house was being promoted. The "fool proof" house was a competing design. It may not look like it, but there is a lot going on here. I made some changes, like putting the windows on the inside and making them sliders vs. opening out. I live in a high wind area and would expect windows of the other design to be ripped right off.

Also used metal siding and roof, both of which are insulated. Sides and back wall also lined with plywood. On a day when it was 82 out, actually cooler inside than outside....even with the dark metal siding.

Can already see some areas to make changes and improvements, but so far, so good!

Thanks so much for posting this. I had been looking at the plans on the NDSU website and wanted to see what it would look like fully built. Looking at the coop, I might plan one similar with permanently open windows.