Washingtonians

[Chickielady]

Quote:
See, I don't think of it as being on the ground. I think of an A-frame house as being one that has the A shape on top (the bottom part of the A hanging over the edge), which a box/rectangular shape below it. If you're talking about a coop where the side parts rest on the ground, fine. That's not what I was envisioning then (or what I want to build).

example of A-frame on the ground:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Wj2y1BBpRwI/TNfxbvjVahI/AAAAAAAAABg/Lnweq07SPcw/s1600/A+Frame+Coop.bmp

Example of A-frame house not on the ground
http://www.benfieldatt.com/Images/McMahon.JPG

Your description of pieces led me to this:
http://www.nwcustomcreations.com/store/images/rightangle.jpg
which is what made me think the triangles fit together to make the ends (like a truss?) that the longer roof pieces would fit on.

That's the idea, although instead of sitting on the ground the coop like that chicken tractor (which is about a 45 degree ridge angle) mine will be on legs- I wish I were rich enough to have CR make me a set of chicken feet a la Baba Yaga's hut, and I wish I could remember where I put the old oil barrel stand to support the floor!

Your second pic is only an A-frame in the eyes of some prefab log cabin builders and real estate agents. I'd call it a story-and-a-half gable end entrance cabin but then I learned these terms by helping my dad study for his Carpenters Union journeyman's test. A classic A frame (like some of the ski huts south of 1-90 just east of Snoqualamie Summit) has no external walls at all, and to be considered an A frame the roof has to make up at least some of the ground floor exterior walls.

I have been interrupted about one thousand and thirty times since I started to write this, I have another/a half-sole on my old cold, it's raining outside and I need to get the fence and racoon-proof cover done on the wyandotte coop today, so any grouchiness/pedantry/general bad manners must be put down to me having run out of energy to pretend I'm a nice person, sorry.

I love baba yaga!!!!!!!!!

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
Kaneke, I'm not sure if Trader Joe's Lamb and Rice is wheat free, but it is the best nutritional profile you can get for the price; Griz pukes on corn, so I don't pay attention so much to wheat.

I also wish I had not mentioned the matter of an oil-barrel stand because it brought to mind how nice a plastic barrell/good 38 gallon garbage can coop would be, and one could make a bark roof for it and really do the Baba Yaga thing.

Oh, dear.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
Your second picture is a gabled roof, not an A Frame.

X2
It is my understanding, through years of Architecture school, that all A-frames roofs touch the ground, they have no walls.
As the loft (upper story) in a barn with a gambrel roof, is considered a single story building even though it has 2 complete floors, for the same reason= It has no walls upstairs, as the roof meets & rests on the top sill of the first story.
I like the hay bale chicken coop idea that WA4-HPoultryMom suggested earlier.
She has Architecture training as well.
If the hay bale coop had a floor, to prevent predators from digging, and thus frame a door to that floor, it would work great.
Maybe 2 pallets, screw plywood to them to hold them together & provide a solid floor.
Stack the hay bales around a door frame, and ram the roof down by re-bar into the hay.
The weight of the hay should hold the roof down providing the winds do not exceed 80 MPH ...and a sky light that opens could give access to clean & harvest eggs inside.

I like the idea of hay bale construction, but I fear that if I tried it the first time Paul was late to feed the cattle I would have a broken fence and no more coop!

I'm trying to remember where I saw a structure made from a round bale that had a couple layers of driveway reinforcing wire wrapped around the top and then concrete poured or sprayed on it and the hay eaten out by cows: now there's a low-imput structure! Assuming you've got the strength to work the wire and the money to hire the spray-crete guys. I could loan you the cows.

ARGH! Forgot one of the things distracting me: my sister had to call the sheriff on the rent-a-goat guy who Madrona Park Homeowner's Association uses to clean their stormwater pond: the goats got left in so far past the end of the brush that two of them died of starvation and the others escaped to our bull pasture. Some people are evil beyond description.

 

[Chickielady]

I think the A frame on legs would be great too!
Reminds me of the last coop that RFF built, her sniper-tower.
WA4-HPoultryMom also has some great little coops, like little houses (shed roofs) on stilts, with pop doors in the floor and the birds fly right up..maybe difficult for a LF heavy breed, but works excellent for smaller breeds like the Seremas.
The shed roof is the easiest to construct, sheds rain well, and can be hinged on 1 side to allow access to clean & collect eggs.
It is basically a box, on legs, with a slanted/hinged roof.
There may be some pics posted on WA4-HPoultryMom's page.

 

[Chickielady]

Oh gosh Julia, I forgot about the cows knocking your fence down, but Ariloveschickens (I think?) was thinking of coop construction.

 

[4cats3kids1hubby2many]

Quote:
See, I don't think of it as being on the ground. I think of an A-frame house as being one that has the A shape on top (the bottom part of the A hanging over the edge), which a box/rectangular shape below it. If you're talking about a coop where the side parts rest on the ground, fine. That's not what I was envisioning then (or what I want to build).

example of A-frame on the ground:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Wj2y1BBpRwI/TNfxbvjVahI/AAAAAAAAABg/Lnweq07SPcw/s1600/A+Frame+Coop.bmp

Example of A-frame house not on the ground
http://www.benfieldatt.com/Images/McMahon.JPG

Your description of pieces led me to this:
http://www.nwcustomcreations.com/store/images/rightangle.jpg
which is what made me think the triangles fit together to make the ends (like a truss?) that the longer roof pieces would fit on.

that very first photo of the A frame coop and run...is exactly what I am wanting. where can I get plans to build something like this? What is on the inside of the coop part? How is it done?

 

[Chickielady]

You know, we constructed several hot frames last spring for our vegie starts, with heat cable in their floors, covered with sand.
And there they sit in my yard.
The roof is a dual pane window..on a hinge at the highest point.
Anyways, I have often thought, if on legs, with a pop door, they would make fine little coops.
maybe I can find a picture.
Basically they are OSB, painted well to avoid water swelling..and instead of a window "roof", you can use plywood & hinge it & a hasp to hold it down.

 

[Chickielady]

Quote:
See, I don't think of it as being on the ground. I think of an A-frame house as being one that has the A shape on top (the bottom part of the A hanging over the edge), which a box/rectangular shape below it. If you're talking about a coop where the side parts rest on the ground, fine. That's not what I was envisioning then (or what I want to build).

example of A-frame on the ground:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Wj2y1BBpRwI/TNfxbvjVahI/AAAAAAAAABg/Lnweq07SPcw/s1600/A+Frame+Coop.bmp

Example of A-frame house not on the ground
http://www.benfieldatt.com/Images/McMahon.JPG

Your description of pieces led me to this:
http://www.nwcustomcreations.com/store/images/rightangle.jpg
which is what made me think the triangles fit together to make the ends (like a truss?) that the longer roof pieces would fit on.

that very first photo of the A frame coop and run...is exactly what I am wanting. where can I get plans to build something like this? What is on the inside of the coop part? How is it done?

I would just build it, you can easily see it's construction, build 3 triangles of the same size, add plywood to the first 2, and wire from there to the last.
But maybe we can help find plans your DH can use.

 

[RustyHen]

Quote:
Picking up eggs is almost as fun. My co-workers thought I was nuts when I told them I had eggs mailed to me...had to pick the eggs up at the post office. Fun- fun-fun.

We live in a very small town (700) and when my eggs were delivered this spring the sender had written LIVE OVUMS in red all over it. I had some tall explaining to do for that one.

 

[Stumpfarmer]

Quote:
I know that most people like being able to walk in to their coops (my cousin's is a walk-in that is attatched to the back wall of the stable) but since I'm mostly housing small breeding groups I prefer to just have things safely up off the ground so I don't have to lean over to feed, clean, or collect eggs.