8 x 12 coop - Height of walls?

[sueiris]

My friend is helping us build an 8 x 12 foot coop. I want to divide it into two coops. Right now he put one 8 foot wall up. I'm looking at it and thinking that is a pretty high wall. originally i wanted to do a peaked roof, but now I'm thinking that will be a lot of wasted space and I think the 8 foot high walls are overkill and it will feel massive, but then again, i'd have some room for a brooder in there and maybe a cabinet or two. I'm considering doing the other wall at 6 foot and just doing a lean to coop. Thinking with two 8 foot high walls, that's a lot of cold air in the winter too. (Planning lots of ventilation but insulation also.....) Any thoughts about this? I'm hoping this coop lasts a long time and want to make the best decisions for my investment.

Thanks,

Susan

 

[fischnchix]

It felt overkill to me too on my 8×12 but now I'm enjoying the head room. I ended up making a shelf around six foot for the bales of shavings.

 

[PapaChaz]

most likely the walls in your house are 8 ft high. That's overkill for a chicken coop yes, but as mentioned, there will be room for plenty of shelves and cabinets. Just don't make anything the chickens can get to or they'll roost up there and possibly injure themselves coming down if they don't have enough room to fly down and land right.

I built my coop with the walls 6 1/2 ft tall, plenty tall enough to walk around in, and the gabled ends are 8' to the peak. I used the other foot and a half of siding sheets to make the nest boxes and feeder bin from. I also added a couple of beams in the ceiling and used some of it up there for storage, buckets, left over vinyl flooring, extra feeders, etc etc.....

 

[21hens-incharge]

My coop is dividable and is 8x14. Maybe this will work for you as well.

Less siding with one wall at 4 foot.




Lots of windows were hand made for this coop. Not willing to pay what they wanted for the new windows so I made mine. The first one is the outside after I got the windows done. The second one is of the inside during construction. Hardware cloth is up and plastic is on the outside of the windows to keep rain out. It now has a wire wall to divide it into two sections and has about 30 linear feet of roost space as well as a nest box bay under the windows to the right in the second pic.

 

[sueiris]

My coop is dividable and is 8x14. Maybe this will work for you as well.

Less siding with one wall at 4 foot.




Lots of windows were hand made for this coop. Not willing to pay what they wanted for the new windows so I made mine. The first one is the outside after I got the windows done. The second one is of the inside during construction. Hardware cloth is up and plastic is on the outside of the windows to keep rain out. It now has a wire wall to divide it into two sections and has about 30 linear feet of roost space as well as a nest box bay under the windows to the right in the second pic

Very nice coop! How did you make the windows? So your one wall is 4 foot...is the other 6? Like the overhang.

 

[21hens-incharge]

One wall is a little over 4 foot but could have been made 4 foot. I used some salvaged crates to make the long walls. The tall wall is 7'5" to the rafter. (That is how tall the crate pieces were.)

There are a few ways to make windows like mine are. I had some salvaged 1/4 inch thick smoked lexan laying about for years and made most of the windows out of it. I cut the lexan to fit just inside the opening and framed it with 1x3's and made basically a picture frame corner on them. I have the 1'3 hanging over the lexan by 1 inch. This took some measuring to get it right. I used 8-32x1.5 inch screws with washers on both sides and nylock nuts to hold everything together. They fit inside the window frame with the 1x3 overhanging to give me a good closure against wind. (I hope I described that well enough)
I also ran out of the lexan so 3 windows are done using the piece of siding that was cut to make the opening.


I think this one has the details showing better. (click picture to enlarge) You can see the screws and the piano hinge since the window frame is not yet painted. You can also see I framed the opening on the wall with 1x3's as well. The piano hinge is sold at Home Depot for like 16 dollars and I got several hinges out of it.
I hold the windows open using scrap pieces of the 1x3 and can open them up to sticking straight out for maximum air flow. (There are 11 windows total as well as the overhang on the run side having hardware cloth on the underside.) I did have snow blowing in through the overhang during a bad windy storm this winter and had to put plastic on the inside of the coop. The windows open awning style so it keeps rain out if I have them only partially open.
Kinda proud of this coop I am.

I built all the walls in the workshop and Hubby helped me set everything on the platform.

 

[sueiris]

very nice coop....thanks for sharing the details.......

 

[21hens-incharge]

Thank you. I hope it helps and that I explained it well enough.

 

[sueiris]

most likely the walls in your house are 8 ft high. That's overkill for a chicken coop yes, but as mentioned, there will be room for plenty of shelves and cabinets. Just don't make anything the chickens can get to or they'll roost up there and possibly injure themselves coming down if they don't have enough room to fly down and land right.

I built my coop with the walls 6 1/2 ft tall, plenty tall enough to walk around in, and the gabled ends are 8' to the peak. I used the other foot and a half of siding sheets to make the nest boxes and feeder bin from. I also added a couple of beams in the ceiling and used some of it up there for storage, buckets, left over vinyl flooring, extra feeders, etc etc.....

Love your dropping board and brooder underneath..........

 

[redsix]

My building is 8 by 8 by 8 ft. tall. I have windows in it that are 5 ft. tall and built a shelf for storage of chicken feed and supplies. The roost goes all the way to the ceiling. I like it.