The Great Cleanup – Chicken Coop Restoration Part 2

Sat, 04 Mar 2017 11:38:48 -0400

Welcome to Part 2 of the Coop Restoration series. In this post, I’ll go over the cleanup that I did this past weekend. The coop started out in rough shape. There were rolls of old insulation, mouse nests, mold… It had been used as a storage space for transient garbage for years. Below are some pictures after I pulled out the worst of the insulation. You can see some of the nest in the back left corner behind the cabinets and dog crate.

Once the big items were moved, sorted, and mostly thrown in the garbage, I did a preliminary sweep up. Turns out that half of the coop has unfinished hardwood floors! Bonus! After inspecting the chicken wire, I saw lots of rust, holes, and filth. There was no way to clean and reinforce it, so off it came. I also pulled off the old roosts and low panels as well.

I debated pulling out the old flooring and walls, but there’s only so much I can do in two weeks. The plan right now will be to disinfect them thoroughly, and lay some washable hardboard over them. This is the same material that I’ll be using for the lower two feet of wall as it’s easily cleanable and a great draft blocker.

After another sweep up, and vacuum, the place looked a lot better. The door was in pretty good shape, so that got left in place. I may have to pull it in the long run, though, as it currently swings inward and the wife and I are thinking about deep litter, but that’s an easy change at a later date.

Next up, in part 3: Framing and Re-Chicken-Wiring the coop!

Chicken Coop Restoration Part 1

Tue, 28 Feb 2017 10:41:14 -0400

One of the wonderful things about our homestead is that we inherited several outbuildings. We have a large post-and-beam barn (40 x 60), equipment shed (16 x 24), storage shed (14 x 24 + lean-to), and a rather large chicken coop turned racing pigeon coop (14 x 24). Yes, you read that right. The previous owners really loved their racing pigeons and converted a perfectly good chicken coop into a palatial (for a pigeon) loft! Unfortunately, the barn is the only structure in good shape, having been rebuilt by the previous owner. The rest of the outbuildings are in various states of disrepair.

Since we’re starting the new year off with a focus on sustainability, it’s time to look at our outbuildings and restore them to their former glory! Or at least, to a usable state. The first project will be to rebuild the chicken coop and get some birds in!

About the Chicken Coop

The Coop is a semi-insulated structure, elevated on piers, with a door on the short end closest to the house. It has several windows along the south wall, electricity, and a freeze-proof yard hydrant, and is in desperate need of a paint job amongst other things. Inside, there are two large rooms separated by wall. Each of those rooms has a wired off coop area and an open area. The previous owners must really have loved their racing pigeons to build such a large structure for them!

Plan for the Chicken Coop

In addition to the basic cleanup of the building, the goal for the coop project is to make it able to hold a brooder in two weeks. As part of that, we want to do three main things: extend the interior coop wall to include the exterior chicken door, create removable roosting space, and build exterior-accessible nesting boxes.

By extending just one section of the coop to include the exterior chicken door, we can keep more room for storage of supplies for the birds and other critters. If we end up running more birds than this space allows, I can always extend the entire wall.
The roost space will be angled and removable. When brooding chicks, the roost will come out and the hover-brooder will go in the corner.
Finally, having nesting boxes that we can access without having to go into the coop itself is just easier in the long run. I would very much like to have roll-out nesting boxes, but they tend to be expensive and we already have enough expenses rehabbing the coop this year.

So, what do you think?

Next Up, in part 2: The Great Cleanup!

Construction | The End of the Tunnel

The Great Cleanup – Chicken Coop Restoration Part 2

Chicken Coop Restoration Part 1

About the Chicken Coop

Plan for the Chicken Coop