Upgrading coop materials

[LeslieMiikal]

Our house came with a chicken coop. It's a good size but the materials used to build it are garbage. The walls are chipboard and it's all what seems to be salvaged chip board at that. Chip board was painted but it's rotting out, probably the boards are maybe 3 years old. I was looking at that Smartside stuff so am likely using that, but also need an idea of what to put down on the floor? There's this crap on the floor that is salvaged from train cars at a local plant, it's terrible though because it has this weird laminated like plastic that constantly peels up. Is vinyl sheet flooring the best bet? I'm tired of looking at all this craptastic material used to build the coop. My husband did replace the back wall with more chipboard last year temporarily, can the smart side just go right on top of it?

Thanks for any help, I can post pictures. Will also post pictures of coop interior for ideas on how to add nesting boxes and such, it's a fairly tall and large coop so I'd like to maximize it's potential.

 

[snow5164]

I like my vinyl flooring ,but it can be slippery and it can freeze.

One coop we have sand over vinyl and one we have sand on plywood... it's been three years I'm sure the vinyl side will last longer.

Just a suggestion.. we re did our coops with a long row of nesting boxes with a roost on top of it ( a 2x4) and sand on top for poop boards .. it's very nice to have everything on one wall

 

[LeslieMiikal]

It gets to like -40 And even -50 here so maybe I'll forgo the vinyl then, I didn't think about the fact it will get really stiff, so thanks for mentioning that!

 

[LeslieMiikal]

Here are some photos of what we're fixing up

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Just a suggestion.. we re did our coops with a long row of nesting boxes with a roost on top of it ( a 2x4) and sand on top for poop boards .. it's very nice to have everything on one wall

Yes, maximizing the use of space inside is a great approach. Whether it's best under the poop board or feed/water stations. I also like external nest boxes for this, reduces the"clutter" in the internal space

 

[LeslieMiikal]

 

[LeslieMiikal]

This took forever to upload lol. The coop is 15'3"×10'11" and inside the roof goes the lowest at 6'2.5" to the highest at 8'3". I took out most of the salvaged things from inside, still have to get rid of that corner shelf thing as its a terrible "nesting box"
Also, any idea how many birds can actually fit in here comfortably without causing any issues?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Great space in there. ....plenty of room. At 15x10, if you use the minimum of 4sq ft per bird that would be 37 (if no space occupied by feed and water stations, etc)....that being said, the more space per bird the better

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I don't see any real ventilation on the photos. ...what would be gaps appears to be foam filled. *i* would add more windows and dedicated ventilation

 

[LeslieMiikal]

Oh, the feed room takes up about 10sqft

Yes, maximizing the use of space inside is a great approach. Whether it's best under the poop board or feed/water stations. I also like external nest boxes for this, reduces the"clutter" in the internal space
View attachment 1054262

Great space in there. ....plenty of room. At 15x10, if you use the minimum of 4sq ft per bird that would be 37 (if no space occupied by feed and water stations, etc)....that being said, the more space per bird the better

THE only ventilation atm is a screen door with a window on thebtop half, and the window on the same wall, we need to add more ventilation on the back side of the coop. Originally the coop had a weird addition on it that had a tonnof ventilation but also cause a massive infestation of rats