Our new shed to coop conversion!

[freesoul]

We have 11 hens at the moment, the current run and coop is built onto the side of our garage. They are being relocated to a shed which will give them full time access to compost adjacent to our garden and also to the garden over the winter.

I just had a 10x12 shed delivered today, going to start fitting it out and will post the progress here. My goal is to give them enough food and water for 3-4 weeks at a time with an automatic door for less maintenance. I got the secondhand shed from a local place that sells new ones, they occasionally get old ones in return and the cost to get these is the delivery cost which in my case was $250. The foundation I did with cinderblock and brick, levelled with string line... I measured the shed exactly and was right on for the most part.






I have gotten a bunch of ideas from this forum to incorporate. Stay tuned! Hope to have them settled in a week.

 

[CountryBoy16]

Hey that looks great! When we moved to our new home in the country I turned an old shed into one of my chicken coops an I also built two runs onto two rooms of an old trailer that the previous owners left and made two more pens. Cool to see someone else doing something similar!

 

[freesoul]

Got some work done this weekend. For now I have only insulated the corner where the roosts will go which faces SW. I have put an outlet above for a heat lamp if needed, here in SE Penn we didn't need one last winter. The Pullet-Shut automatic door is installed and working great. The gable vents will have covers. I may lower the roost area a little, I wanted space underneath for raising new chicks but think I went a little generous on that. I am also going to cut a door in the back wall for ease in cleaning the coop and putting all the poop into their run/composting area which is just adjacent to the garden. I decided not to glue down the vinyl flooring, the wood I added seems to hold it down fine.

 

[freesoul]

More photos, the girls went in last night although I still have a few odds and ends to take care of including painting the shed to match our garage. Had a few escape the fenced in compost area this AM, not sure how they got out but think they flew over the 4 ft fence, need to clip their wings again I guess.

I am not a carpenter by trade, just figuring it out as I go. I plan to add a bigger water and feed source.

 

[freesoul]

Last night none of them made it in, I had to round them up after a few beers. One ended up across the yard in the old run, old habits die hard I guess!

This am there were still a few on the roost at 9am, I issued them demerits and shooed them off. They are using the boxes. Hope they figure it out quick, think I may adjust the pullet-shut door to stay open later tonight

 

[PatchtoTable]

it looks great - its got a bit of a barn look to it.

I like that the beer features in the photos.

Chickens are really creatures of habit - they don't like change at all.