Metal Shed as a coop?

[nikkik0720]

My fiance and I are buying a house and it's in an area that we can have chickens. I had 3 chickens years ago, and my dad and I built a coop out of free wood pallets, scrap plastic siding, and an old window. It worked well (it was super heavy, despite not being huge) but it was never properly 'winterized' so the years of PA winters took it toll on it.
My fiance and I want to get 5-8 chickens, and to buy a pre-fab coop that will actually be big enough just isn't feasible for our budget. He did read somewhere that a metal shed can be made into a chicken coop, and we can get a big 10 x 10 metal shed for less than half the cost of a pre-fab coop. I was wondering if anyone's done this and how it worked/how you did it. I know we'll have to add some sort of insulation to the roof/sides, and add in a window or two. We would also add a little door for them that would lead right into a 6 x 10 fenced area (and then they'd also be allowed out in our fenced backyard when we would be outside (there's a lot of hawks in the area, so they wouldn't be allowed out of their specific fenced area without us. Their run would be covered).
I guess long story short, I was just wondering if anyone's made a metal shed into a coop/how it was done/if you recommend it.

 

[Rick589]

I had people on here comment that the metal sheds would be too hot in the summer.

 

[CocoL]

Few years back we used a metal shed for our chickens and I understand people worrying it'd get hot. But it was huge and so opened with a window and large door that they were fine, even in hot texas summers. But again it was a HUGE shed. So I would worry smaller metal sheds might be a hot box.

Only issue we had was a darn mouse living under it and enjoying free chicken feed

 

[nikkik0720]

The area in the yard where we would put it would be shaded part of the day. And i read somewhere that putting styrofoam insulation inside on the ceiling helps keep the heat out a little bit in the summer and heat in during the winter. I guess I'm worried about putting a window in and it not sealing right and letting water in the coop.
If we go the shed route, the smallest size we would get would be a 6 x 10, but we're really thinking about going with a 10 x 10, if we get one.
I personally would rather have a wooden shed, but the price of those are insane in my area right now.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I've had metal sheds used for storage. When I built my coop some sides were wood but the south side was salvaged metal roofing. The metal would get hot on those summer afternoons where the sun was hitting it. But the coop itself wasn't that bad. It was tall and had great ventilation.

People use wooden, vinyl, or metal sheds as coops. They take some work to convert. You need to add nests. Do not put nests on the south or west walls, those can get really hot. Put them on the north or east walls. The roosts are not as critical but east or west sides are better. By the time they go to bed that side should have cooled off. You are correct, you need a small pop door. A big human door left open lets in too much weather in the rain or the winter.

I think ventilation is the key. With good ventilation I don't think you need insulation. How are you going to attach insulation? Unless it is covered the chickens will peck at it and at many types of insulation. How are you going to cover the insulation? If you have much of a gap that space becomes a great place for Mommy Mouse to raise a family. Insulation can be a pain and I don't think you need it. I'd want the metal to be white on the outside so it reflects sunlight and does not absorb heat like a dark surface would.

Metal sheds are not going to have much ventilation, if any. You will need to cut some big holes and cover them with hardwood cloth to keep predators out. Those big holes can allow rain or snow to blow in unless you use something like louvers or guards to block the snow and rain. I like ventilation up high in the winter, that keeps cold breezes off of them. In warm weather that doesn't matter.

Attaching anything to a shed wall (wood, vinyl, or metal) can be a problem. When I cut a hole for a window, pop door, or attaching hardware cloth I use the sandwich method. I screw two pieces of wood (say 1" x 3") om each sided of the wall. This tremendously stiffens the wall and gives me something to screw to.

You are going to have some of these issues no matter what material you use (attaching to the walls and rain or snow blowing in). But people do it all of the time. Partial shade in the hot afternoon sun can be very beneficial if that is where yours is. Wood or vinyl would be better as they do not conduct heat as well as metal but they can still get hot if not ventilated.

Good luck!

 

[Percheron chick]

You don't need a 4 sided shed for a coop especially in the south. You want as much air flow as possible. A 3 sided loafing shed works great as a coop. My guineas are in a wire covered free swing set "coop" in Colorado. They've done just fine this winter. The lumber was less than $100. It was "cull" lumber from Lowes. 90% off. 6' tall chainlink panels make a fine run and easily expand as you find more.

 

[nikkik0720]

How are you going to attach insulation? Unless it is covered the chickens will peck at it and at many types of insulation. How are you going to cover the insulation?

We would use styrofoam insulation sheets on the inside and then cover it with plywood so the chickens couldn't get to it to eat it. The wood would also be painted/sealed so it could be easily cleaned.

You don't need a 4 sided shed for a coop especially in the south. You want as much air flow as possible. A 3 sided loafing shed works great as a coop.

Unfortunately we live in southwestern Pennsylvania, so a 4 sided shed/coop is a must. Otherwise, we wouldn't have a problem, as my dad probably has enough scrap wood that we could easily build a small 3 sided coop.

 

[EagleEyes]

I converted a eight by ten metal shed to a chicken coop, you can look up my build.
Click on my avatar and go to my two articles and the newest one chicken run build and shed conversion 25 pages

 

[nikkik0720]

I converted a eight by ten metal shed to a chicken coop, you can look up my build.
Click on my avatar and go to my two articles and the newest one chicken run build and shed conversion 25 pages

That is absolutely awesome! I'll definitely show this to my fiance.

As of right now, I think we've decided to go with a resin/plastic shed like this. It has a snap together plastic floor, which we'll probably get a piece of waterproof vinyl to put over it (we will be doing the deep bedding method in the coop)
The windows don't actually open, but I was thinking we could cover the openings with 1/2" hardware cloth, and then frame out some plexiglass and put hinges on it so we could close the 'windows' depending on the time of year/weather. We also found a really nice set of solar powered exhaust fans that we can install. Would you think 1 on the front of the shed and 1 on the back should be enough? Or should we put an exhaust fan on each wall? (picture of what we found below)
Do you think the plastic/resin would have similar issues to getting too hot in the summer/too cold in the winter?

It isn't quite the 10 by 10 that we originally wanted to get, but when we priced stuff out, to do a 10 by 10 metal shed would end up costing us another $300+ until we got the wood to make a foundation and got marine grade/treated plywood for the flooring, and insulation/plywood to cover the insulation.
Plus from what I've heard and what my dad has told me (he's a jack of all trades, and has tried cutting/adding windows to metal sheds before) it can be a pain in the butt to try to modify with the metal and cutting into it can damage the integrity of the walls depending on how much we'd cut/add.

So the metal coop shed isn't 100% out of the question, especially now since EagleEyes has showed me what they were able to do, but we're definitely considering other options.

Our other obstacle right now is also figuring out how to connect the shed to the run. I said about sitting the front of the shed a foot or two into the run and taking the fencing to the sides of the shed, then adding some hardware cloth to fill the gap between the end of the fence post and the shed (even though it'd probably only be two-ish inches, I know it'd be enough that something could possibly get in) We aren't super concerned about large predators getting in (like dog, coyote, fox, bear) since the run and shed will also be inside of our fenced in yard (which I know wont necessarily keep them out, but may help deter them). But I know for a fact that racoons couldn't care less about a chain link fence and will happily climb over them to get where they want to go.

We did end up ordering chicks through Mt. Healthy hatchery, and they have a hatch date of 5/28, and should arrive at the post office either 5/29 or 5/30. We ordered 10 chicks (minimum order was 5, but if you ordered 10+, then the shipping/order fee decreased from $40 to $25). And a 6 by 8 shed would still give each chicken 4.8 sqft of space (that is counting on all 10 making it and all being hens, hatchery offers a 90% sex guarantee. Any roos will be either raised and butchered once they reach a good weight, or they'll go to the sale since we cannot have roosters.)

We plan on building the nest boxes so that they sit up off the floor some so we don't take up flooring space, and then of course we'll have plenty of roost space, I want to build 2 separate roost areas, one up a little higher and one down a little lower since some of the breeds we ordered are heavier breeds (buff brahma and orpingtons)


This is the shed, except the one we would get is a dark brown (white one is $50 more

 

[ChookaPete]

My chickens have half of my 6m x 6m metal shed.