What do you guys think of this shed conversion?? 10x12, gabled roof; pics inside

[Sefirothe]

I bought a 8x12 shed and with my retired general contractor father's help put up a dividing wall to make two 6x8 spaces. One for storage and one for chicken living quarters.

I have a post here detailing the work we did with lots of pics. Probably too many pics. Might give you some inspiration tho.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/sefis-shoop-progress.1603170/

 

[Ridgerunner]

My notions of chicken keeping has changed *dramatically* from when I began in May.

That very often happens. Portions probably will again.

IF you could start from scratch with something like this; what would you do inside?

How many total chickens? Flock make-up: just hens, hens and a rooster, will you have baby chicks either in a brooder or raised by a broody? What are your goals: eggs, meat, eye candy, bug patrol, a mixture of these or something else?

First let's discuss ventilation. Does that have a ridge vent? In your area you probably won't see enough snow to block a ridge vent if you have one. Those can help a lot with ventilation.

I see you just posted about ventilation so I'll go to the next phase.

I can't go into too much detail unless I know how many chickens and a bit about how you manage them. With a 10 x 12' coop you have enough room to be somewhat flexible.

My first effort would be to determine where the floor level is, including bedding. Then I'd position a pop door high enough that the bedding won't be kicked out but reasonably low. I'd want access to the pop door from inside the coop and outside. I find that a 12" x 12" pop door will be plenty big enough for any chicken. I want to use a smaller pop door instead of the human door as that keeps a lot of weather out of the coop.

Then I position the nests. The rule of thumb is one nest for every 4 hens with a minimum of two nests. So two hens is two nests. Eight hens is two nests. Nine hens is three nests. Most hens will probably use the same nest but an extra nest gives you options if you have issues. I don't plan for everything to always go perfectly. I like flexibility when I have to deal with issues.

Some people put the nests at floor level. Some like the nests high enough so they don't have to bend over that much to gather eggs, that makes it easier if you have a bad back. In my opinion, the chickens don't seem to mind whatever you do. I have two nests about 2 feet off of the floor with two more nest above them at about 4 feet off of the floor.

I don't want my nests to become ovens on hot sunny days. If you have shade this may not apply but in North Carolina the hottest directions will typically be south and west. I don't know how your coop is oriented but I'd want my nests on the north or east side of the coop. With my walk-in coop I like gathering eggs from inside of the coop. I know a lot of people like to gather them from the outside but I've found snakes, dead chickens, and even a possum one time by going inside that I would have probably missed if I was gathering the eggs from outside. However you do it, give yourself access.

I make the roosts noticeably higher than the nests so they are not as likely to sleep in the nests. In a coop your size I'd want the roosts a minimum of 12" higher than anything else you don't want them sleeping on or in.

You say you want a droppings board. There are a lot of different styles of droppings boards. Some have recessed bottoms that hold sand or some other media. Mine is a flat board that I scrape. Consider how you are going to clean it to determine how much room you need to access it below the roosts.

I like the roosts out of the way when I'm inside. I don't like to bump into poopy roosts. With mine that means along the back wall but in your size you can put the roosts along one side. I don't worry about the heat from the sun for roosts. By the time they roost the sun is going down and it has started to cool off.

In winter I like the ventilation over their heads so they are not caught in a crosswind when it is really cold and windy. In summer I don't worry about it. A cool breeze hitting them might feel good.

Some of us feed and/or water in the coop only. Some in the run only. Some of us have food and water in both the coop and run. We all come up with our own reasons and rationalizations on how we want to do this. I almost always have immature chickens in the flock so I feed and water in the coop and have two or three water and feed stations outside.

That's about it for the basics. Depending in how you manage them and your flock make-up you can have specialty items. I have a built-in brooder where I put chicks straight from the incubator or post office. I can use that as a broody buster if it does not have chicks in it. I have a juvenile roost so the young have a place to sleep that is not my nests since they won't sleep on the main roosts with the adults.

Good luck!

 

[thistlewick]

How many total chickens? Flock make-up: just hens, hens and a rooster, will you have baby chicks either in a brooder or raised by a broody? What are your goals: eggs, meat, eye candy, bug patrol, a mixture of these or something else?

Right now I have 20 chickens -- but we have 24 total land acreage and 6 acres of pasture in our 'backyard' and 4 more acres of hay fields not to mention the acreage around the house and to the road frontage, which is about another 6 acres. We are set FAR back from the road.

So I can afford a LOT more chickens. I have 2 Cockerels to 18 pullets. We love to keep the cockerels and are happy to as long as they stay gentlemen, crossing fingers for that.

(Our small 8 week old EE Cockerel crowed for the first time yesterday omg lol Our 14 week old Sapphire Splash one hasn't even tried, I am not sure he thinks he can lol)

Anyway our goals are eggs and more chickens for the pure unadulterated pleasure of keeping chickens. We will give the eggs away to people. The bug patrol is a complete bonus. We love having them free range.

Some people put the nests at floor level. Some like the nests high enough so they don't have to bend over that much to gather eggs, that makes it easier if you have a bad back. In my opinion, the chickens don't seem to mind whatever you do. I have two nests about 2 feet off of the floor with two more nest above them at about 4 feet off of the floor.

Ooooh I did NOT think of this, thank you for this so much. My back is okay but yeah, leaning over 2x a day to grab eggs would probably suck.

I don't know how your coop is oriented but I'd want my nests on the north or east side of the coop. With my walk-in coop I like gathering eggs from inside of the coop. I know a lot of people like to gather them from the outside but I've found snakes, dead chickens, and even a possum one time by going inside that I would have probably missed if I was gathering the eggs from outside. However you do it, give yourself access.

Yes, this will be walk in and the way I had them oriented in the little image/floorplan I made had them on the North/East side of the coop.

You say you want a droppings board. There are a lot of different styles of droppings boards. Some have recessed bottoms that hold sand or some other media.

Yes, I was wanting those recessed bottoms with sand so I can scoop it like kitty litter lol

Some of us feed and/or water in the coop only. Sone in the run only. Some of us have food and water in both the coop and run. We all come up with our own reasons and rationalizations on how we want to do this. I almost always have immature chickens in the flock so I feed and water in the coop and have two or three water and feed stations outside.

Food/Water in the coop -- there is no run right now, they all free range and have access to come back into the coop to eat/drink.

We will probably build a run, though. That is 80% certain we will.

I have a built-in brooder where I put chicks straight from the incubator or post office. I can use that as a broody buster if it does not have chicks in it. I have a juvenile roost so the young have a place to sleep that is not my nests since they won't sleep on the main roosts with the adults.

Yes!! This is what I want to do -- I didn't think about the fact that the brooder can be a broody buster and that would free up even more space.

Thank you so much!!

 

[thistlewick]

More options, different shed place we stopped by today.

TOO MANY CHOICES lol

This one has venting on each side, not to mention a window that can easily be covered in hwc. We will put in an exhaust fan.

But I am concerned 10x12 isn't enough...

This one has a window on each side and vents (as well as we will put an exhaust fan) and is 10x16! Which is HUGE inside in comparison.

We want to have some simple raised roosts with a PDZ table underneath like this:

But wider, so we can have more than 1 roost along the table - they need to be 15-18" apart correct? That is what google says.

 

[StinkyAcres]

More options, different shed place we stopped by today.

TOO MANY CHOICES lol

View attachment 3924086

This one has venting on each side, not to mention a window that can easily be covered in hwc. We will put in an exhaust fan.

But I am concerned 10x12 isn't enough...

View attachment 3924087

This one has a window on each side and vents (as well as we will put an exhaust fan) and is 10x16! Which is HUGE inside in comparison.

We want to have some simple raised roosts with a PDZ table underneath like this:

But wider, so we can have more than 1 roost along the table - they need to be 15-18" apart correct? That is what google says.

Not nearly enough included ventilation, I'm afraid. And I'm not sure an exhaust fan could handle all the ammonia from 20 birds and the humidity in NC.

 

[thistlewick]

Not nearly enough included ventilation, I'm afraid. And I'm not sure an exhaust fan could handle all the ammonia from 20 birds and the humidity in NC.

Yes, that's why its wood and you cut more?? I'm confused. That's obvious.

There are 2 2x3 windows on the brown shed *and* vents *and* any other ones we cut *and* exhaust fan(s).

It is obvious that if you buy a prebuilt shed, to make into a chicken coop, that you add more vents. It's the first thing everyone screams.

Also I may have mentioned it already in the thread.

Also, the thread is about the layout of the coop.

 

[Logar]

More options, different shed place we stopped by today.

TOO MANY CHOICES lol

View attachment 3924086

This one has venting on each side, not to mention a window that can easily be covered in hwc. We will put in an exhaust fan.

But I am concerned 10x12 isn't enough...

 

[saysfaa]

...We want to have some simple raised roosts with a PDZ table underneath like this:

But wider, so we can have more than 1 roost along the table - they need to be 15-18" apart correct? That is what google says.

That sounds like enough distance apart but I'm not sure; I have a single roost bar.

I know you are getting a bigger coop than the example of the poop board looks like so this isn't likely to apply. That particular example of a roost over a droppings board looks pretty tight between the roost and the roof. I'm sure they will use it anyway but really should have space to at least stand up on the roost. Space to stretch up would be better, especially in climates that get longer nights.

I started out with pdz and it worked fine. I found it somewhat expensive because I carry quite a bit of it out on the poops. I do scoop nearly every day plus whenever I see more - mine hang out on the poop board during the day quite a lot. I usually collect the poops before the pdz has time to dry them out.

I saw that many people use sand, so I tried that mixed into what was left of the pdz and it worked reasonably well. And cost me only the effort of scooping it off the ground. It is not as dry as the other two options.

Then I tried coarse sawdust (also free for me). I am very happy with that. It keeps as dry as the pdz. It is my preferred option now. If I ever use up my supply, I might even buy more rather than buy pdz.

The pdz sifts through very small cracks - you might caulk the poop board box. Or at least build it pretty tight. I was afraid they would eat the caulk and they did try to while I put it on. I don't think they have tried since I smooshed it out of being worm shaped and it stopped being new and shiny. Most of it is covered with the sawdust, also.

 

[saysfaa]

... and is 10x16! Which is HUGE inside in comparison.
...

The more space the better. I was going to put "per bird" in there but I guess the option of more birds is also better, .

You mention exhaust fans for both options - are you familiar with fans designed for barns? They are designed for dusty environments.

 

[thistlewick]

The more space the better. I was going to put "per bird" in there but I guess the option of more birds is also better, .

You mention exhaust fans for both options - are you familiar with fans designed for barns? They are designed for dusty environments.

Yes! There are solar ones that are made for barns specifically that are not too expensive.

Though my husband got this idea for building a pole barn and so now we might not even get a shed at all.

Though that will take MONTHS to build lolol but he's getting excited at the prospect. He was up in the middle of the night last night looking at county regs (we don't have any for farm purpose built buildings with costs less than 50k) and roof pitches and siding options. He's got a plan haha he's adorable.

So we might end up building something after all. His idea is if he builds a pole barn, one side can be just chicken coop, 10x30 (with an outdoor run possible for a later addition) and the opposite side 3 10ft stalls for our dairy cow/horses (which we don't have yet but will)

We have godawful amounts of hwc that I got for cheap on amazon, they have this 19 gauge vinyl covered galvanized, etc etc stuff, 100ft for $139 which is way cheaper than Lowe's or Home Depot. So we will use the HECK outta that for the coop side.