DIY Coop and Run -- Design Feedback

[dvsmith]

Despite the crazy high temps today, I managed to get the siding painted with a top coat of red barn paint.

Meanwhile, the girls enjoyed the new feeder, grass clippings, and lots of watermelon. Locating the coop in the shade makes it a good 5-10°F cooler during the heat of the day.

I still need to paint the white trim, build cabinet doors, trim out the nesting hutch door, make nesting box curtains, add a second 4 gallon water reservoir, and put the glazing into the side and rear windows.

Tonight’s forecast calls for thunderstorms, so we finally get to see how the coop performs in the rain.

 

[dvsmith]

The thunderstorms did not materialize the other night and ambient daytime temperatures are projected to reach 100°F (38°C) and overnight lows only dipping to the low 80s (28-29°C). So, I decided to make another running change to the henhouse (I’d already been considering it when @aart suggested it a few weeks ago)

I spent a very sweaty morning cutting a window into the run-side wall to mount a window fan.

Even without the fourth window, temps in the henhouse have been cooler than ambient; nighttime temps have kept apace with ambient, but I figured a fan that can run in any weather couldn’t hurt.

Right now, I’ve placed one of the knockouts in the cutout to help retain the fan until the time that I’ve built a proper window frame.

 

[GiraffeRage]

Wow! I built my own coop but I had no prior experience. Yours is so well done and thought out. I wish I would have found this site before I started mine haha.

Looking forward to seeing more progress pictures!

 

[dvsmith]

Thanks for the kind words. I’m just learning as I go along.

 

[GiraffeRage]

Thanks for the kind words. I’m just learning as I go along.

I was doing the same but you put me to shame! Amazing work.

 

[dvsmith]

I added 1x4" trim work yesterday, to help protect the siding and make it look a little more finished.

I also framed-in the windows for the front doors and for the interior ventilation window, as well as adding a trapeze roosting bar.

 

[dvsmith]

I was doing the same but you put me to shame! Amazing work.

No reason to feel any shame.

I had to build mine to code, so I went all-out. (I also figured that if the chicken experiment didn't take, we could repurpose the framing for something else.)

 

[dvsmith]

Other than some touch up paint, installing a drip edge on the east roof, glazing the windows, boxing in a dust bath spot, building a stand for the water bottles, and making cabinet doors, the coop is finished as far as I’m concerned.

Have I missed anything?

 

[dvsmith]

New update: nesting box curtains!

 

[PhylWith]

Love your coop! You did an excellent job with it. You mentioned you are in the Piedmont of NC, which is where we are, and I totally get the monsoon / heat wave cycle this year. It’s been challenging for the girls and our garden.

Just wondering, did you choose to follow code or was that a requirement? We are about to embark on a coop project, definitely nothing as elaborate as you’ve accomplished, but wondering at what point a coop becomes a code-required enclosure? We don’t want to go there for sure so trying to learn where that threshold starts.

Thanks in advance.