Winter Coop out of Straw Bales

[Ridgerunner]

People build houses out of straw bales and they are very well insulated. I would not worry about that part at all. I would not worry about a coyote tearing through a bale, especially if they are baled with wire. My concern would be with ventilation. You need to ventilate to get rid of the moisture from the chickens and poop and the ammonia from the poop. If you haven't seen it, there is a good link at the bottom of Patandchickens' post.

The weaknesses I can see as far as predators is the floor, and yes they may be able to tunnel that far in a night, depending if your ground is frozen or how rocky it is. Those bales are what, about 3 to 3-1/2 feet long? They may be able to get in under the tarp and plywood too, depending on how that is done.

You can expect mice to live in the bales. Probably some bugs too. You can also expect the straw to be covered with poop. It would still be good for mulch or compost.

 

[farmerjill]

In addition to the ventilation issue, I'd worry about weasels getting through. They're active in winter, and can worm through tiny, tiny holes, such as those between straw bales.

 

[hennypenny9]

I just wonder if it wouldn't get too wet? We Washingtonians know that rain doesn't always fall straight down, and things don't always dry... ever... here. That's my concern, but I have never tried it, so I don't know for sure.

 

[New adventure]

My 2 goats live in a straw bale house and are very cozy. I left a gap for ventilation at the top under the rafters and I've had to replace a few bales after 5 years but it seems to be permanent instead of the temp. shelter it was made as.

I think for chickens, I would cover the ground with chicken wire first then build the bale house on top of that. Also, possibly surround the house itself with chicken wire. (Then if it works well you'll be all set to add an adobe plaster layer next year)

 

[Kansaseq]

You should read the book "Chicken Tractor" by Andy Lee and Pat Foreman. They have a chapter specifically on building, and keeping chickens in a straw bale house. It might be worth your while to at least check it out from the library before you decide to give it a try. Good luck!

 

[CATRAY44]

My birds did great and some even kept laying at -30 in a plywood doghouse with straw bails stacked up on the outside. I would imagine straw would insulate them well as long as you have some kind of door.

 

[patandchickens]

The problem isn't predators digging through individual bales, it's that they can easily pry the bales apart from each other, you know? I've had raccoons do this with stacked hay in the loft when they wanted to get to the other side of it (it was a two-bale-wide [narrow ways] 'wall', essentially, that they pushed apart to get through. They are STRONG. So are dogs and coyotes)

And straw windbreak shelters for horses can become mold farms in the wrong climate/weather, I would think that a small enclosed structure like a chicken coop would be far more susceptible yet.

I dunno... it is one thing to stack straw bales outside an existing coop to insulate it; it is another thing to do it with no structure there in the first place. If you will be distressed by losing chickens (which is not a certainty but the odds aren't in your favor) then I really wouldn't recommend it.

JME,

Pat

 

[sm0kin]

i have read some where probably on motherearthnews.com of using bails of hay for walls and sealing the outside with wire and a stucco to water prrof it. if there were vertical post run every so often u could attach siding to them and stack bales inside.

 

[One Acre Wonder Farm]

We live in Vermont (cold and snowy) and we built a bale house last fall for our girls. We used Andy Lee's Chicken Tractor design for inspiration. We used pallets for the floor, 4 4x4 posts for roof support, 2x4s to frame the door and metal roofing. It wasn't fun to build (we tried to have a good plan before we started but we had to do a lot of troubleshooting along the way) but it works. It is nice and dry inside, the girls are cozy, out of the wind and there is plenty of ventilation (we left 6" between the top of the hay bale walls and the roof). We ran wire fencing around the top of the walls and secured it to the roof posts. It is not completely predator proof but it is close to our house, we have dogs that alert us when we have wildlife around and it is not permanent. It got us through the winter.