Coop In Progress- All suggestions welcome! But be NICE! Lol

[mandymcg05]

Alright. So some of you may remember my water fiasco in the original coop my husband and I built about two weeks ago. Our pallet built coop was found with standing water after a couple days of heavy storms. So... hubby and I panicked. Bought a ton of wood. And started building.

Keep in mind, we are not builders lol. This is just the progress on it so far. The floor took the longest because we didn’t measure correctly so ended up having to build bigger than we expected. So it’s “about” a 10x10 coop and the run will be around 10x30ish lol.

took us an entire day for the floor and posts geez it was hard lol

Three solid walls with a little exit door going into their run (bottom right side)

A cute little window (using only for light and good looks) and our door entrance!

ventilation added along the entire top. There will be more ventilation down the sides of coop since the roof is a slanted style roof.

Front side facing the house. I get to wake up and look outside and see them!

I am living the chicken mama dreams right now!! Hahaha. My husband thinks I’m crazy lol.
I would like some input on ventilation. So far we have both sides (left and right walls) along the top. We have the entire front top and above the door that will be open. Is this enough? I could add a few openings along the back side under the roof overhang.
And also, we will be using a sealer/stain for the outside. We have metal roofing. But I need input on the inside. I seem to be torn between lime washing and painting a high gloss. I need to get my roof on and paint done ASAP. What do y’all think so far?!?! The girl will be out there in less than TWO WEEKS! Ahhhh!!!

 

[mowin]

I will always be kind.
But I will always give advice and thoughts on what to do.

Your doing fantastic on your own. It's looking great.

Ventilation. Leave the upper and lower soffits open. Cover with HC.

As far as paint. Well do whatever you want. Didn't paint mine. Gals haven't told me they want a certain color or no eggs, lol.

 

[mandymcg05]

I will always be kind.
But I will always give advice and thoughts on what to do.

Your doing fantastic on your own. It's looking great.

Ventilation. Leave the upper and lower soffits open. Cover with HC.

As far as paint. Well do whatever you want. Didn't paint mine. Gals haven't told me they want a certain color or no eggs, lol.

HAHA thank you so much! I've been researching for weeks. I'm an over thinker HA! I really wanted the lime washing for the antibacterial benefits BUT I've heard it can rinse right off and need to be reapplied multiple times a year and I just aint got time for that! lol. Thanks for the input! I'm sure the girls won't care either way!

 

[sailtexas186548]

I went with grey exterior gloss paint everywhere litter/poop/dirt/food/water will touch to make clean up easier. I think paint is a big yes especially on the plywood floor to prevent checking and delam as it swells/shrinks with moisture changes

Looks good!

 

[blackdog043]

It's looking good!

I didn't paint the inside of my coop, my ladies like the natural look.
I did use Blackjack 57 on my floor and about 12 inches up the walls.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/black-jack-rubr-coat-57-for-your-coop-floor.75145/

I would add windows on both sides that open, for ventilation and more light, also think about replacing the front window so it opens. When it gets hot, the chickens will like you even more. Are you putting a wood roof on, then putting the metal on top of it?? I've seen on here where people use metal only and the roof sweats causing moisture to drip inside the coop.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Looking good! We did not seal or paint our floor and REALLY wish we had. Impossible to do now, it has chickens in it (duh).

 

[blackdog043]

@BigBlueHen53 You could pull all the bedding out and put a piece of vinyl in, in a few hrs.

 

[BabasCoop]

Looking good! We did not seal or paint our floor and REALLY wish we had. Impossible to do now, it has chickens in it (duh).

We have an old rubber truck bed liner that my husband is cutting up and we are putting on the floor. I offered to paint it and he said that rubber flooring will be more waterproof and easy to clean than anything else we could use.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I agree on adding more windows if possible (don't know if habitat for humanity or other architectural salvage/recycle type stores are open nowadays, that's a good way to get 'em cheap) and then covering them with hardware cloth so you can safely open them for additional ventilation. Some additional natural light is super nice to have in a coop.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

@BigBlueHen53 You could pull all the bedding out and put a piece of vinyl in, in a few hrs.

Ah that's true, thanks. Or those sticky vinyl tiles, those would be easier for me to handle. Hmm. I will just growl back at the chooks when they growl at me, haha.