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Chicken Coop design

last year

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

  1. best option for adding a fenced chicken run to it?

  2. ideas on how to design the inside for egg nest, and general housing of half a dozen chickens

Thanks.

Comments (5)

  • last year

    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?

  • last year

    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.

  • last year

    Google on "Chicken Coop Plans" There are a wealth of plans and tips out there!

  • last year

    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.

  • last year

    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.