Want to build a chicken coop. Good plans, advice, etc?

[MeepBeep]

IMO for that many birds you would be best getting a shed kit from a big box hardware store and modifying the shed into a coop...

Stores like Menards not only sell complete shed kits but they also sell all sorts of cut corner shed building kits, like brackets or even complete wall structures...

https://www.menards.com/main/buildi...ldings-outdoor-storage-accessories/c-9482.htm

Of if you have the skills they even sell plans like this https://www.menards.com/main/buildi...altbox-shed-building-plans-only/p-1489425.htm said plans also have a bill of materials so you can simply buy all the materials go home, build and tweak into a coop pretty easily...

And last but not least there is probably a shed builder in the area that has sheds on skids that they will truck in and drop on your property, then you can tweak...

Just some ideas to get you going...

 

[cavemanrich]

Here is a thread of someone that built a really nice coop. check it out.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/958302/broke-ground-on-our-chicken-coop

 

[Shanna79]

Caveman here is the link to the post where I included pics of my small coop.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1033991/new-member-in-california/10#post_15958240

 

[ericatdallas]

Anyway, what do you think?

When does winter start and what's your skill level?

I want a home made coop since they are more cost effective, give me work to do, and give me more customization options.

My wife and I have been building our coop over the weekend for about 2 months now (at least 4-5 hours a weekend but sometimes 20 hours). So it depends on your time, skill level and 'distractions'. We have 5 kids so we were constantly being interrupted. Oh, the tools you have matter too. The chickens actually just moved in this past Monday but we haven't put the roof or siding on yet. It has 1/2" plywood wrapped in tar paper.

We just built a 6x10 coop with 5ft high walls but is 9ft from floor to highest point on the roof. We basically used house construction standards and reduced those to save time and money.

My advice from lessons learned is:

1) Go with even sizes... so no 5ft, 7ft sizes as that makes reusing scraps harder. The best is to go with 4ft increments IMHO.
2) Get a nailgun and other POWER tools to save time. I used a table saw, jigsaw, miter saw, circular saw, cordless drill, nail gun among other standard tools (tape measure, level, hammer etc).

we didn't have any plans but we did look at some examples on this site. I have "some" skill and I know how to use tools so we figured things as we went. If you have no building experience you are probably better off buying or waiting and starting it in the Spring.

We spent about $700 on just our materials building our coop. It compares favorably to some of the ones you can buy from the local Amish for $2000 although I have to admit theirs definitely look more professional than ours. For your size, I'd probably add another $100 or so.

 

[MeepBeep]

1) Go with even sizes... so no 5ft, 7ft sizes as that makes reusing scraps harder. The best is to go with 4ft increments IMHO.

Planning on paper first goes a long way with reducing scrap, or alternately you can use already well designed plans...

Ironically a 5x7 give or take is actually not a bad size, consider when you are sheeting the 5 foot side you use a 4 foot wide sheet, and a 1 foot strip from another sheet, this leaves you with a 3 foot strip of drop, conveniently when you wrap over to the 7 foot side and hang your first 4 foot sheet you need that 3 foot drop from the 5 foot side Of course it's not always that easy but it can be if you plan ahead...

 

[ericatdallas]

Planning on paper first goes a long way with reducing scrap, or alternately you can use already well designed plans...

Ironically a 5x7 give or take is actually not a bad size, consider when you are sheeting the 5 foot side you use a 4 foot wide sheet, and a 1 foot strip from another sheet, this leaves you with a 3 foot strip of drop, conveniently when you wrap over to the 7 foot side and hang your first 4 foot sheet you need that 3 foot drop from the 5 foot side

Of course it's not always that easy but it can be if you plan ahead...

We planned ahead for scrap waste. The problem is when you have a "good" idea in the middle of the build or feature creep. I agree though, good planning helps.

It does remind me of a story an engineer professor of mine told me. He had a new engineer that spent 3 months designing the 'perfect' circuit for using the most cost-effective parts. He let the 'kid' do it and the guy said, "This saves us $2000 over the lifecycle costs". My professor said he asked, "How much do you make in 3 months with overhead?" The point of the story was that "rule of thumb" often is a balance in saving both time and money but will be a trade-off.

So yeah, planning is good but using construction "rules of thumb" will save you some time and with winter approaching that might be the scarcer resource.

 

[JackE]

Build a Wood's coop. You want something unique, and big enough to hold your birds comfortably, and will allow for easy expansion if you want. This is the coop to build. A standard 10X16' coop will handle your 40 birds. You want to expand, knock the siding off of one wall, and bump it out. There's room for feed storage. Plenty of headroom. Go to Amazon, and get the book 'Fresh air poultry houses' By Prince T. Woods. There are measured drawings for the 10X16' coop in there.

 

[WthrLady]

Yup. A woods coop. Expandable too.

 

[Chipper Chicken]

X3
(Still building )

click on "my coop" under my avatar to see my coop build page.

 

[LeslieDJoyce]

I'm found of cattle panel hoop coops with T-Posts built right on the ground so you can do deep litter really well.

Here is a photo of one of mine ... they do need shade in the summer.




They are fast to build and inexpensive and require practically no skill and few tools, though with so many birds you'd be building a very long version or you'd modify it by running panels lengthwise to get a wider arc. Careful with the arc if you get snow ...

That said, I adore the type of coop in the last few photos. I'm not fond of wood for coops, but if I were dealing with tough weather, those are be how I'd deal with it.