This will be a photo journal, rather than a how-to. We made up the design based on a mishmash of coops on this forum. The main inspiration was The Colorado Coop but we wanted to make it bigger (and so needed to access the inside) and have an attached run. But we loved her ventilation system and many doors!
My husband has always been interested in post-frame building (we love RR Build's Youtube channel) so we used the coop to play with that style. Starting with the holes:
We then got some posts leveled up and built from there:
We decided on a 4/12 roof pitch and added corrugated galvanized panels over tar paper. We had a lot of spare 1/2 inch plywood so used that for roof sheathing (despite it being $70 a sheet right now! So wild!)
The dogs seem to like the shade!
Used a variety of Simpson strong ties to connect posts to beams and start to frame out where the hardware cloth would go:
We built out a little annex area for the nesting boxes and a storage area where we keep food and treats. So glad we added the storage section! It would be a pain to shuttle everything from the house.
Being a bit extra we added this window into the run:
I also made the ladder out of a scrap 2x10 and thin strips of plywood. It's attached with hooks like many people on this forum.
We clad the structure in plywood siding and painted that with linseed oil and dark pine tar. Then did black pinetar on the one-by trim. All pine tar was from Earth + Flax -- I love their natural products that protect against our Colorado sun!
One mistake we made was that we should have added hardware cloth behind the siding for our vented areas! but we just tacked in on from the inside and then covered with interior trim.
We then added doors and vents that can open and close, as well as the hardware cloth. We trimmed out the hardware cloth with one-by material. We also buried two feet of hardware cloth in an L shape to prevent predators from digging.
We painted the interior floor and 8 inches up the wall of the inside of the coop with Rubr Coat (much cheaper at Ace than Amazon btw!). I then added a roosting bar inside (just fastened to the base with simpson strong ties):
We added sheep wool insulation in the ceiling to keep it cooler in the summer and covered that with scrap plywood:
We also were gifted a couple chickens from a neighbor and had to build a "mini coop" for help quarantining and integrating our flocks:
And then our final touches: we added a Ladies First Solar Powered Coop door, made a no waste feeder, and a 5 gallon bucket waterer with dispensers from Tractor Supply.
And so, our final product:
My husband has always been interested in post-frame building (we love RR Build's Youtube channel) so we used the coop to play with that style. Starting with the holes:
We then got some posts leveled up and built from there:
We decided on a 4/12 roof pitch and added corrugated galvanized panels over tar paper. We had a lot of spare 1/2 inch plywood so used that for roof sheathing (despite it being $70 a sheet right now! So wild!)
The dogs seem to like the shade!
Used a variety of Simpson strong ties to connect posts to beams and start to frame out where the hardware cloth would go:
We built out a little annex area for the nesting boxes and a storage area where we keep food and treats. So glad we added the storage section! It would be a pain to shuttle everything from the house.
Being a bit extra we added this window into the run:
I also made the ladder out of a scrap 2x10 and thin strips of plywood. It's attached with hooks like many people on this forum.
We clad the structure in plywood siding and painted that with linseed oil and dark pine tar. Then did black pinetar on the one-by trim. All pine tar was from Earth + Flax -- I love their natural products that protect against our Colorado sun!
One mistake we made was that we should have added hardware cloth behind the siding for our vented areas! but we just tacked in on from the inside and then covered with interior trim.
We then added doors and vents that can open and close, as well as the hardware cloth. We trimmed out the hardware cloth with one-by material. We also buried two feet of hardware cloth in an L shape to prevent predators from digging.
We painted the interior floor and 8 inches up the wall of the inside of the coop with Rubr Coat (much cheaper at Ace than Amazon btw!). I then added a roosting bar inside (just fastened to the base with simpson strong ties):
We added sheep wool insulation in the ceiling to keep it cooler in the summer and covered that with scrap plywood:
We also were gifted a couple chickens from a neighbor and had to build a "mini coop" for help quarantining and integrating our flocks:
And then our final touches: we added a Ladies First Solar Powered Coop door, made a no waste feeder, and a 5 gallon bucket waterer with dispensers from Tractor Supply.
And so, our final product:
