Convert metal storage shed to coop?

[SleekDominique]

I'm feeling rather crestfallen after looking at all these wonderful, exciting chicken coop designs and photos. My 2 chicks (soon to be as many as 6) are still young, but I know how fast they grow into needing real housing instead of my converted chinchilla cage! I am a single mom and totally inept with a hammer, let alone nails. I'm fairly new to my city, so don't have a network of people clever at building a chicken coop.

Aside from whining, my question is whether it is truly feasible to convert a metal storage shed into a hen house. I noticed that someone posted photos of such an adaptation, but I am concerned about the notorious Central Texas summers--hot and usually humid. I'm staring out at the shed in my big backyard. It's 10 ft long by 8 ft. deep and 5-6 ft tall. It has a sliding door but no windows. There's gotta be a way to make use of that bad boy! But I sure don't want to turn my pullets into broilers by trying to house them in metal. Could I cut out windows? (I have a good pair of hangnail clippers--

Holly

P.S.--Apologies if this was a really dumb question.

 

[allen wranch]

Hi Holly,
Welcome to Backyard Chickens !

No, you are not asking a dumb question. We were all beginners at one time, and there are no dumb questions.

Lots of people buy or convert metal sheds into coops. And yes, you have to make allowances for heat, cold, ventilation, etc.

If you are not familiar with building, it would be best to hire or try and find some one to help you. Maybe you could check Craigslist for someone to barter with.

Somewhere I have pictures of a shed conversion, where they replaced the sliding doors with hardware cloth. Will look and post it for you.

BTW, where in central Texas are you ? I am in San Marcos.

 

[4H kids and mom]

I converted the back end of my garage into a coop! So you can easily turn a shed into one too!

I am also not good with tools, and the hub is an OTR driver so hes rarely here to help out, so I was mostly on my own.

He was there to guide me through finishing it though. After a couple failed attempts with words so foul that even my DOG left me alone....I finally got somethin I'm happy with. lol

You'll need to insulate it and put up some inner walls (to keep the insulation in, and to keep tender tushys off hot summer metal walls!). I would use either plywood (if you dont mind the cost) or OSB which is similar but by far cheaper. If you want/need windows, you'll need to get those first (again, I learned this the HARD way lol) and measure, measure, measure. I found small 'utility' windows at Lowes for about $10 a piece. Not bad, and they had the screen and everything.

 

[allen wranch]

Here you go:

This is from The City Chicken website.

 

[jmofaustin]

My old 1960's metal shed is a chicken coop slash mini horse/goat stall. I have had no complaints from any of them. I live in Austin and have decided this year I will cut windows and install hardware clothe over them. I would show you a picture, but after the one Carla threw up here, I am too embarrassed. You can actually see it in this thread in the pic behind my seramas https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=1850

 

[SleekDominique]

Thank you all (ooops, I'm in North Austin,* Texas now, I meant y'all) for the terrific advice and pictures. What a relief to have a solution close at hand. Now to read up on the details. This forum is the BEST! One more question: this is one of those inexpensive Arrow steel sheds and has no floor. Do you simply lay sheets of plywood over the packed earth presently serving as a floor?

Cheers,
Holly

* I am 40 minutes from San Marcos!

 

[allen wranch]

A wood floor directly on the ground eventually rots . Also, rodents can burrow under the floor and thrive. On the other hand, with a dirt floor you have to be careful of varmints digging under. I would throw some sand on the floor to soften it, and reinforce the outside with an "L" shaped welded wire apron attached to the coop and staked down. Varmints dig at the base and don't normally have enough sense to go out a couple of feet to dig under. This one is attached to an all metal tractor hoop coop, but it works around the fence line and any coop. The grass eventually grew over and you can barely see it.

 

[heatheromak]

Great thread! Thanks!

 

[Dogfish]

Holy thread resurection Batman!

 

[Cargo]

Holy thread resurection Batman!

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