Convert a Dog House into a coop?

[SophieLain127]

I want to convert a dog house into a chicken coop.

I have a large wooden dog house, I know I need to cover any holes with mesh wire. I also need to put a door that locks on the front. I am also going to be building a run for the chickens that is attached to the dog house.

I found a design similar to what I wanted to do here: http://greengardengirl.wordpress.com/2009/06/12/how-to-convert-an-old-dog-house-into-a-chicken-coop/

I have a few questions though. The dog house has no bottom would it be acceptable to take chicken wire and cover the bottom then use straw and bedding to cover the chicken wire.

It is a large dog house for two large dogs about 3ftx4ftx3ft how many chickens would safely fit in this size coop?

Can I use a milk crate for their nesting box?

Also at the bottom of the run should I put wire or would it be find being bare ground?

 

[Ms.FuzzyButts]

Quote:
***** Leave it as bare ground. Maybe someone with a little more knowledge will chime in. I am currently using a large dog house with a larger run for my Silkies. I have 11 in it, but they are small and it suits them just fine.

 

[Keene's coop]

that sounds like a good idea. my coop is going to be 5'Wx4'Lx4'H and i'm putting 5 chickens in it. so i would say 2-4, i would think. but it also depends on the size of your chickens when they are full grown.

 

[SophieLain127]

Thanks. I was thinking that way if something tried to dig into my hen house they wouldn't be able to. We have a couple of stray cats that won't go away. Also over the last three years I've seen a raccoon or opossum a few times.

 

[catdaddy66]

That design and modification were pretty thorough. It came out very well, but I did not see a nest box. I need a similar setup as my flock grew by 4-5 and my first order of 25 has not even arrived yet!!

 

[SophieLain127]

I noticed that too while reading over their blog. I'm planning on using a milk crate for mine. I figure those will be super easy to clean. Everything we do though has to be inspected and approved by the city.

 

[CityChook]

Quote:
If you want to raise the dog house off the ground as the photo in your example shows, you will need to build a floor. Chicken wire will not be strong enough to hold the weight of your birds. Additionally, it's bad/uncomfortable for their feet, lets in draft at the floor level, lets your bedding fall through and it will not stop a predator from entering your coop. 1/2 inch hardware wire would be a better choice, but still not optimal.

Quote:
Max 3. If you put a nest box inside the coop, or have food/water inside, then max 2 chickens. If you live in a cold climate, then you'll want a taller set up as the ventilation in this design would be at roost level, creating a cold draft on your sleeping birds.

Quote:
Yes, but depending on the size (probably 2x1), you're going to give up a fair amount of square footage.

Quote:
Chickens like to dig, so putting wire on the ground is not desirable. If you want to have a run that is portable, then an apron of wire surrounding the coop would probably be the easiest. If it would be stationery, then I recommend burying wire 12-18 inches around the perimeter. Preds can still dig deeper than that, but it will depend on how hard they want to work to get inside.

 

[greenpeeps]

I used an old doghouse for our chicken coop, it's 4x4x4 and we started out with six very happy chickes. Due to preditors we currently have 4 chickens living in the coop. I have a roost that runs across the back of the coop about 2'off the floor and two nesting boxes on the side near the front, for easy access. If possible I would of put the nesting boxes on the outside but that wasn't an option at the time. I also added a run onto the front of the coop, due to our losses. The run is working our great, it gives the girls more room in the winter.

Good Luck with your remodel!! Oh there are pics on my page.

 

[SophieLain127]

Quote:
If you want to raise the dog house off the ground as the photo in your example shows, you will need to build a floor. Chicken wire will not be strong enough to hold the weight of your birds. Additionally, it's bad/uncomfortable for their feet, lets in draft at the floor level, lets your bedding fall through and it will not stop a predator from entering your coop. 1/2 inch hardware wire would be a better choice, but still not optimal.

I wasn't going to have the dog house up off the ground. It was going to sit right on the ground. I was also thinking of putting a tin roof up over it and using rain water to water them.

 

[PeepsInc]

Here's mine. I hinged the roof on 1 side & added 3 perches. It's big enough to house 6-8 bantams. The bottem tray became a metal roof for the run area. Watch craigslist for those free dog crates.