Turning Lowe's Resing Shed Into Coop - Pictures

[rudimyers]

Thank you Hope49 for the invitation.

My Mom went home after church today. My husband, the boys, and I kept working on the coop. Well, toward the end, the boys got in the way.

We snapped in the walls. We made sure to unscrew the floor slightly from the base but even so, my husband had to use screwdrivers to give a bit of room so the walls could snap in. It took a good bit of muscle to snap in the corners and one of the walls.

My husband cut a "doggy door" into one of the walls. He will frame it later with wood.

I put together the doors and put in one of the roof pieces by myself. My husband helped me with one other piece and one of the pieces with a skylight in it. Three more pieces of roof to go! After that, we will need to figure out where to put the roost and how to mount it. Then, I will need to put two nesting boxes in there. Any suggestions for nesting boxes? I have enough materials to build them out of wood, but I have read you can use plastic barrels (with part of them cut off), and Henrietta is currently very happy with a banker's box!

 

[rudimyers]

Everything is in place except the roost! Because my three year old is having a birthday party at our house tomorrow, we moved the rabbit hutch into the shed so the chickens would have someplace to sleep. I wonder if that will make their transition easier as well?

Anyway, my husband built a way gorgeous doggie entrance/exit with a latchable door. The chickens can walk out of the hole and down the door. The door will need one piece of wood in it as the chickens slip a bit going up and down.

The run is 8X8X about 6' tall. We plan to keep Bob and Henrietta in their run/coop all day long tomorrow and maybe free range them again on Sunday. Is that too early to let them free range? Will their little pea brains remember where home is?

Below are pictures of the run and door and inside of the shed. Feel free to ask questions!

Oh, forgot - my husband found a great idea for a floor to put on the shed floor. The shed floor has lots of grooves - awesome for catching poo. We have been talking about linoleum, etc. A guy at Lowe's suggested plastic floor guards - yes, the kind you put in cars. The bottom has the pokey things. Andy bought three sheets of the stuff for cheap cheap cheap. We will need one more sheet. It is mucho light weight. I can just roll the sheets up, carry them to the spigot, and rinse them off. AWESOME

 

[MamiPollo]

What a great idea on the plastic floor guards! Love it! Please let us know how it works for you.

I am following your thread, because I am converting an old metal shed into a coop. You can follow it here also in the obviously named thread.

 

[rudimyers]

Are there vents (or airflow) already in the metal shed, or are you going to have to jerryrig/cut some?

 

[gertiie]

I love watching other peoples coops come to life with pictures ! thank you so much for posting them and sharing them. The coop looks good ! Love their run area !

 

[mmaddie's mom]

The advantage with going soooo slow with my own project is that I get to see other folks and get good ideas from them. We, too, are in the process of setting up a resin shed coop. Thanks for the pics... looks great!

 

[rudimyers]

Thank you all for looking and responding. The chickens have been free roaming today. They are soooo funny to watch as they "discover" different areas of the yard.

 

[2y4life]

Rudiymers,

What did you use to cut the resin? And does it feel extremely warm/hot at all?

 

[rudimyers]

Sorry to take so long about answering the cutting/heat question. My husband drilled a hole and then used a very small hand saw - the slightly curvish one. I will ask him when he comes back in from being outside.

It feels like being under tree type shade when standing inside. I keep the doors closed because of black snakes. I had been keeping one door open to help air things out. The shed has a window that we kept open (there is a plastic thingee that you can put in the window to seal it up but that is put to the side). Also, there is are vent holes - one on one wall very up high in the triangle and one in the other.

 

[ChixWrangler]

Lookin' good