Upcycled Playhouse Coop

[KinCA]

I finished upcycling a child's playhouse into a new coop and it only took one day!

Finished dimensions are 66"H x 73"W x 66"D with 16 linear feet of perches inside. It's tall enough for me (5'1") to stand up inside.

I found the playhouse for free on Facebook, brought it home, pressure washed, painted and installed chicken wire on all windows, added latches to the door and shutters and cut out a door under the table, that can be closed off or left open. I need to add a few nesting boxes and that will be that.

I also made a short connector tunnel to the trampoline which connects back to their main run and original coop. I have found the large lattice works well to make a quick stable tunnel, much easier than the fencing wire and raised bed hoops I started with. Noted for future ptojects.

They have chosen to sleep in the new coop two nights in a row now. I think this will be a great addition to my chickens infrastructure!

https://www.tiktok.com/video/7087584799317118254

 

[Battlepants]

Cool concept, but I'd be a little concerned with the windows on this thing. Windy rain will likely soak your chickens when they are roosting.

Maybe set up some shutters for the windows to mitigate wind/water?

 

[Lor]

It is cute and finding it for free was nice!

 

[KinCA]

Cool concept, but I'd be a little concerned with the windows on this thing. Windy rain will likely soak your chickens when they are roosting.

Maybe set up some shutters for the windows to mitigate wind/water?

Absolutely. I will winterize it when the time comes. Luckily we live in San Diego, so very few rainy days or nights here. I'm saving feed bags to make covers for all openings I can add/remove as needed.

 

[DobieLover]

Replace the chicken wire with 1/2" hardware cloth. Pretty much any predator can tear through chicken wire.
How many birds are you planning to house in it?
I think it's going to be a little difficult to clean for routine maintenance.
I'm glad to read you are in an area with no real winter as ventilating that in winter would be tough.
Great score on the playhouse!

 

[KinCA]

Replace the chicken wire with 1/2" hardware cloth. Pretty much any predator can tear through chicken wire.
How many birds are you planning to house in it?
I think it's going to be a little difficult to clean for routine maintenance.
I'm glad to read you are in an area with no real winter as ventilating that in winter would be tough.
Great score on the playhouse!

I had considered the hardware cloth, but predators would have to work very hard to even get to my coop (double perimeter fence, one of which is electric and we have two large dogs). I'm only really threatened by hawks and coyotes here. Not rural enough for much else, I have a trail cam set up to monitor and in the 3 years I've been at my house all I've seen are coyotes, stray cats and then the birds of prey. I also feed a murder of crows, who have been wonderful about chasing off hawks. Noisy, but I like them.

I have 6 birds, planning to add 2. This is an additional coop to my existing original coop, I'll be keeping both.

There is a skylight in the roof, I had considered replacing it with a a wind turbine ventilator. Always open to suggestions from those more experienced though.

As for cleaning, I'm really hoping this one will be easier than my current coop (which is a nightmare). With this one I can walk in and rake soiled bedding out and replace as needed. My current coop I have to celan out through one small chicken size door with a tiny camping shoves to scoop soiled bedding. Fingers crossed it works out.

 

[Madhouse Pullet]

How's it going with the playhouse coop?
I really like what you did, turning it into a coop.