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Chicken Coop design

9 months ago

Hi, I want to convert this shed into a chicken coop.

best option for adding a fenced chicken run to it?
ideas on how to design the inside for egg nest, and general housing of half a dozen chickens

Thanks.

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Comments (5)

gawdinfever Z6
9 months ago
What are the dimensions of the shed? Can you provide pics of the inside with the door open? Have you ever had chickens before? Where are you located?
Jon P
Original Author
9 months ago
The size is 8x12 feet. Inside is open with a roll up door and two windows. It is open for configuration.

We owned chickens when I was a hound child, and non since.

Located in Bay Area California.
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My chickens and coop don't smell, even if you stick your head in the coop. Any conscientious pet owner takes regular care of their pets' needs, including cleaning up after them. Folks who let dog poop accumulate for long periods around their yards or cat boxes left uncleaned have homes or yards with bad smells. Same with chickens. It is people who totally neglect their chickens or keep more chickens than their space can handle that have "smelly" coops or chickens. Treat them well like your other pets, and they won't be smelly. If you let chickens free range, make sure you set up your yard so they stay off of patios, porches, and furniture. If they poop on that, it can get unsanitary and you'll be doing a lot of hosing down of the surfaces. Baby chicks raised in the house could potentially be smelly if you don't change the bedding a couple of times a day. They also make a lot of dust in the house. I usually clean under the roosts most days in my coop since that is where the majority of the droppings end up, but have let it go as long as a week with no real noticeable smell from the outside of the coop. Typically, I only clean the rest of the coop really thoroughly every few months. If chickens will be confined to a coop for a long cold snowy winter, an owner will need to make it extra big for them to have lots of room while they are shut in in order for them to have healthy conditions. I would recommend maybe doing more research to support your case if your husband isn't on board with chickens. www.backyardchickens.com is a really good online resource to start with where you can get all sorts of chicken questions answered. There is a large community of chicken keepers there, both rural and suburban. Here is a link that might be useful: Backyardchickens.com
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Stax
9 months ago
Google on "Chicken Coop Plans" There are a wealth of plans and tips out there!
beesneeds
9 months ago
If that garage style door is the only door on the building, you might want to convert that to regular door(s). It can be handier to have a regular door, particularly one with a chicken door in it. You could also do it like a dutch door, many coop folks seem to like dutch doors because it allows the human to access while keeping the bottom door closed.

Which way do the windows face? Does it heat up much during the day? You might need some ventilation in there since you will be having animals in it and they need some air flow.

Is there water in there? If not, you will need to make plans to get some. You might want a refillable stock tank, or perhaps gutters and set up rain catchment on the building.

Do you have storage for necessities? Like bags of feed, bedding, ect. If not, you will need it. Either somewhere else or planned inside that building.

Where do you want to have your run? Right in front, off to the side? While a hard surface floor can be handy to clean in a coop, their run needs to be free of pavers or bricks. They will appreciate some shade, and protection from predators. So you will likely want to rig up a roof or fencing top to your run as well as the sides. If you want to plan in planting, a tree can provide shelter, particularly one with an umbrella kind of habit.
gawdinfever Z6
9 months ago
There are so many ways to do your setup. When I had my chickens, my go to resource was backyard chickens site. Google is helpful too, but reading about different people's experiences with different setups is most helpful. We had bought a shed for a deal and modified it. Ours had the 2 windows and roll up door. We created pop doors and initially built a chicken tractor that we pushed up against the shed over the door. Eventually, we decided to just build a permanent pen. Word of wisdom though; use steel mesh versus chicken wire around the bottom and bury some in the ground as well. Also make sure to cover the top. Let me just say they everybody and every animal likes chicken! Raccoons, hawks, and coyotes were our biggest problems.

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