What do you guys think of this shed conversion?? 10x12, gabled roof; pics inside

[saysfaa]

I think designing one rather than converting one is the much better option.

 

[Ridgerunner]

But wider, so we can have more than 1 roost along the table - they need to be 15-18" apart correct? That is what google says.

Depends on where you go on Google or this forum. We all have our own opinions and requirements for practically everything. I use a 12" separation from the wall to the first roost, 12" to the next roost, and then 12" to the edge of the droppings board for a total width of 36". Some people might freak out at the thought of poop hitting the wall. I don't, if it does it will quickly dry out and not hurt anything except maybe stain the wall. That doesn't happen that often anyway but it can.

It is possible one occasionally shoot past the edge of the droppings board and get some poop on the coop floor. Again, that doesn't happen often but it can. I have bedding on the coop floor that will dry it up so that's not a big problem. If it does become enough to be a problem it is easy enough to clean up.

My roosts are the same height. No chickens are sleeping under others like they could on a ladder roost. The other chickens are not pooped on.

I'm fairly relaxed about chicken poop. As long as it stays dry it is not going to hurt anything. It's when it stays wet that it is a problem. Besides the wider you make it the harder it is to grab a chicken off of the back roost at night if I want to treat or check on it, let alone reach to the back of the droppings board or to the wall.

 

[thistlewick]

Depends on where you go on Google or this forum. We all have our own opinions and requirements for practically everything. I use a 12" separation from the wall to the first roost, 12" to the next roost, and then 12" to the edge of the droppings board for a total width of 36". Some people might freak out at the thought of poop hitting the wall. I don't, if it does it will quickly dry out and not hurt anything except maybe stain the wall. That doesn't happen that often anyway but it can.

It is possible one occasionally shoot past the edge of the droppings board and get some poop on the coop floor. Again, that doesn't happen often but it can. I have bedding on the coop floor that will dry it up so that's not a big problem. If it does become enough to be a problem it is easy enough to clean up.

My roosts are the same height. No chickens are sleeping under others like they could on a ladder roost. The other chickens are not pooped on.

I'm fairly relaxed about chicken poop. As long as it stays dry it is not going to hurt anything. It's when it stays wet that it is a problem. Besides the wider you make it the harder it is to grab a chicken off of the back roost at night if I want to treat or check on it, let alone reach to the back of the droppings board or to the wall.

I think 36" sounds perfectly great! Thank you so much!

We are all over the place but priced out the costs of a pole barn, then the cost of the shed+conversion and the *labor saving cost* of just converting the shed is what us retired people can manage.

My husband can still build a pole barn, but we need the shed sooner rather than later, so we're going to convert a 10x16 shed.

I cannot WAIT to get the PDZ tables oh my godddd, I also can't wait to hang all the food and water up off the ground and top-filled. Our hose(s) with connections can reach out there lol

 

[paintedChix]

Have you checked out 3killlerBs build?

Go check that out. Unfortunately, my icons are grayed out again, so you will need to copy & paste.

NC Open air coop (3killerBs- NC) https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/large-open-air-coop-in-central-nc.1443812

Personally, the thought of walking into a shed at the 110° - 120° heat we had a couple weeks ago, would "kill" me. I brooder chicks in a shed we have in early spring. Had freezing temps & rain. Even w/ decent ventilation, I didn't like being in the shed... smile.

I LOVE how relatively inexpensive my hoop coops are, how easy to maintain (clean out? Droppings board? NO. Compost for garden? No work if don't want it? YES) they are & I've been able to construct them mostly by myself... mine aren't as pretty as some, but they have worked & I'm slowly refurbishing some now (no article yet, though).

 

[ChickyCh00k]

Yes, that's why its wood and you cut more?? I'm confused. That's obvious.

There are 2 2x3 windows on the brown shed *and* vents *and* any other ones we cut *and* exhaust fan(s).

It is not obvious to everyone who buys prefabs or sheds that more ventilation is necessary. In fact, MOST people who post about these things are not aware of it. That is why you have people here letting you know. They are trying to help.

 

[chicken1234]

I would line it with hardware cloth if you are keeping them in with an enclosed pen? Now that my coop is predator proof and no chipmunks can get in I am saving a tonne of money on feed. You will like being able to walk in. Add a screen door too! It is super cute, will you paint the same colour?

 

[thistlewick]

Have you checked out 3killlerBs build?

Go check that out. Unfortunately, my icons are grayed out again, so you will need to copy & paste.

NC Open air coop (3killerBs- NC) https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/large-open-air-coop-in-central-nc.1443812

Personally, the thought of walking into a shed at the 110° - 120° heat we had a couple weeks ago, would "kill" me. I brooder chicks in a shed we have in early spring. Had freezing temps & rain. Even w/ decent ventilation, I didn't like being in the shed... smile.

I LOVE how relatively inexpensive my hoop coops are, how easy to maintain (clean out? Droppings board? NO. Compost for garden? No work if don't want it? YES) they are & I've been able to construct them mostly by myself... mine aren't as pretty as some, but they have worked & I'm slowly refurbishing some now (no article yet, though).

The chickens free range all day, so no one will be in the coop during the heat of the summer days in July, but we will have exhaust fans pulling out the hot air anyway, as I mentioned earlier

And while it does get BAKED hot in July, it's calmer and less center-of-the-sun every other month lol And it gets quite freezing in the winter in January where I am in NC so being out in the open I think wouldn't be great for my location overnight.

Not to mention the gargantuan amounts of rain we can get.

But thanks for showing me that post!

 

[thistlewick]

I would line it with hardware cloth if you are keeping them in with an enclosed pen? Now that my coop is predator proof and no chipmunks can get in I am saving a tonne of money on feed. You will like being able to walk in. Add a screen door too! It is super cute, will you paint the same colour?

They free range all day - we will add a run but later. But we are still going to cover every inch in hwc anyway because of nighttime predators for sure!!

 

[Plants_Pets_Projects]

We converted an 8x14 shed to a coop. There's roosting bar with poo board along the back. It's 24" deep with the roosting bar in the middle and there's rarely any poo on the walls. One thing I wasn't prepared for was for them to roost on the edge of the poo board so I ended up making the edges 2x4's. It's fine, because it double their roosting space. I chose the back wall because the window was on the long side of the shed and wanted to be able to put another opening on the other side of the shed for ventilation and I didn't want the chickens too close to the windows (personal choice), even though they're covered with hardware cloth.

Below the poo board is a quarantine area with removable sides if I don't need it. My chickens are in a run, so the quarantine area has a separate automatic door and penned off outside space with a removable door for when it's not being used.

I have a framed out 'wall' in the middle of the coop with a man-door and a small door access to the nesting boxes. My coop is clean, and I don't mind going inside it, so the door to the boxes is just for convenience. The man-door is a screen door with hardware cloth, and the framing is covered in hardware cloth.

We're going to be building our next shed/coop next month when we move and there are a few things I'd change. I'll probably have the poo board a little lower. Right now it's 3' off the ground and the ramp is a little too steep for some of my bigger girls. I may go with a half-wall instead of mostly HC as a wall, because everything gets super dusty. If I don't do that, I'll probably put my supplies in a cabinet instead of shelving (I know, I know, chickens are dirty, but I like to keep a clean coop!). I'll probably hang my nesting boxes a little lower too. I put a 2x4 bar in front of the boxes so they can get in and out easily. My ramp and the bar on hinges so I can lift them up to sweep/clean as needed.

Keep in mind that if the shed has rafters, they're going to roost in them instead of the roosting bars

 

[thistlewick]

We converted an 8x14 shed to a coop. There's roosting bar with poo board along the back. It's 24" deep with the roosting bar in the middle and there's rarely any poo on the walls. One thing I wasn't prepared for was for them to roost on the edge of the poo board so I ended up making the edges 2x4's. It's fine, because it double their roosting space. I chose the back wall because the window was on the long side of the shed and wanted to be able to put another opening on the other side of the shed for ventilation and I didn't want the chickens too close to the windows (personal choice), even though they're covered with hardware cloth.

Below the poo board is a quarantine area with removable sides if I don't need it. My chickens are in a run, so the quarantine area has a separate automatic door and penned off outside space with a removable door for when it's not being used.

I have a framed out 'wall' in the middle of the coop with a man-door and a small door access to the nesting boxes. My coop is clean, and I don't mind going inside it, so the door to the boxes is just for convenience. The man-door is a screen door with hardware cloth, and the framing is covered in hardware cloth.

We're going to be building our next shed/coop next month when we move and there are a few things I'd change. I'll probably have the poo board a little lower. Right now it's 3' off the ground and the ramp is a little too steep for some of my bigger girls. I may go with a half-wall instead of mostly HC as a wall, because everything gets super dusty. If I don't do that, I'll probably put my supplies in a cabinet instead of shelving (I know, I know, chickens are dirty, but I like to keep a clean coop!). I'll probably hang my nesting boxes a little lower too. I put a 2x4 bar in front of the boxes so they can get in and out easily. My ramp and the bar on hinges so I can lift them up to sweep/clean as needed.

Keep in mind that if the shed has rafters, they're going to roost in them instead of the roosting bars

We finished it a week or so ago and they have been in it since!!

We ended up making tall poop tables with PDZ/Sand mixture that I go clean (like a litter box lolol) every day - which is a nice chore, letting them out and talking to them in the morning, they are always so talkative and friendly. Two hanging feeder/waterer -- the feeder is fine, but the waterer is not. It leaks when they drink (not when its just standing there, but when they drink it leaks a lot) so I have to come up with a solution. I don't want the cups or any reservoir -- they just get dirty. So it's nipple drinker, I just need a different non-leaking variety.

Mine free range but they are free to go in and out of the house as they like, which they mostly just stay "around" it or go down to our little rill/rivulet that is in the pasture which is overgrown and flooded with yummy morsels for them to nibble on.

The loft bits have been covered with hardware cloth and chicken wire - just what we had on hand. Window is covered with hwc. I just put a huge skirt of hwc around it, even though it's completely above ground, I did it anyway so they wouldn't go hang out (or nest) underneath.

We will build a run over the winter- when its cooler to work outside.