[joe2369]

nesting

[joe2369]

And here is were they are to live, there is also a door for me going in cleaning out, was going to make a little compound 6m x 6m for 3 hens thought that was more than enough

[Sassy]

I cannot see the photo very well on my computer. Do you have roofing felt on the coop? If so this is definitely not a good idea as it will provide an ideal home for red mite, then you would need to strip it off and burn it, with the problem of nowhere waterproof for your chooks. Sorry if I'm wrong. You are doing a great job recycling materials

[joe2369]

I cannot see the photo very well on my computer. Do you have roofing felt on the coop? If so this is definitely not a good idea as it will provide an ideal home for red mite, then you would need to strip it off and burn it, with the problem of nowhere waterproof for your chooks. Sorry if I'm wrong. You are doing a great job recycling materials

How do you get it water proof without felt / plastic , seems every chicken hut I look at has felt on not even got chickens in yet and seem to be going backwards already. I am on farms every day most have hens , most have felt on wood     seems I am half way through there compound and £100 spent on posts and 3x1 tanalised timber £60 on chicken wire "not welded type"    why do they sell it if it is no good ??   and I honestly think cut losses and forget it after reading this 

[joe2369]

just looked on web most new 1's have felt

[joyfull]

this photo shows a coop with onduline on its roof - onduline is a bitumen covered corrugated sheet that can be bought from most diy places.

[Markw]

I like this idea of lining the coop with plastic, but as other members say mite is the problem.
I am looking at using 3mm thick plastic sheet on every surface in the coop. I will not be using any wood at all.

And for the roof I am planning at using CIM 800 I have used  this many times,It is a fantastic
product you could also paint the inside if you wished..

http://www.cimindustries.com/products/cim-product/cim-800

[joyfull]

is this available in the UK?

[GrannieAnnie]

Although many chicken coops are still roofed with felt, that is to keep the costs down, not because they care about the chickens you put in them.

It's all about the manufacturers getting as much money they can with as little output.  Please don't be put off by any of the comments on here.  The people who are replying to your post have kept chickens themselves, some for as long as 40 years, so they know what they are talking about.

IMHO, Joe, you could make that window a bit smaller, or maybe longer, but not so deep.  Chickens don't like drafts, and that window does come down in the coop a long way, also it will let rain in if the wind is in the wrong direction.

Like Joy said, onduline roofing is great, you may even find some on freecycle for free, we once got 8 sheets for nothing!

Chicken wire is sold to keep chickens IN, not to keep foxes out, so it does the job it is meant to do.  To keep the foxes out, weldmesh is best.

But like I said, don't be put off, we've all been there, all made mistakes, but we learn from them.

Research is very under-rated.  One of our members who I have met spent 2 years researching keeping chickens before she actually did it!

 Good luck!

[joyfull]

onduline or coroline is readily available in a variety of colours - it can be ordered from most builders merchants and big diy companies. It comes in large sheets and if you shop around you can find it for around £10 - £15 per sheet.
Here is a link to the onduline company to get a better look at the product:-

http://onduline.co.uk/products/

and one to the coroline website:-

http://www.arielplastics.com/mainframe.aspx?http&&&www.arielplastics.com/products/coroline/index.aspx

[Markw]

This product is only available from one company in the UK. It is a specialist product and it is expensive. I have used hundreds of gallons of the stuff. There are other products you can get in the UK.
But I like this as it is UV stable and food grade, and has a 20 year life.

As GrannieAnnie has said it is all to do with cost at the end of the day, and then you have to maintain the coop over many years ,new roof, tread the timber and replace bit and bobs, it all adds up over 10-20 years.

I might look at it in a different way! The rubber coating system is expensive. but you could use chipboard if you wanted when it is painted with this stuff it will never get damp.  chipboard is far cheaper than treated timber. And then I would look at cleaning the old timber coop, mite hiding in the joints and cracks. you still have all the poop soaking into the timber so you need to give it a good scrub. the bacteria will still be living in the wood most cleaners will only kill germs on the surface.

A rubber coated coop, all you do is jetwash it when needed 5 minutes work. Still use disinfectant, it is all cost and time at the end of the day. for an extra £10 when making the coop you could  give the girls some solar heating in the sunny winter days.

[joyfull]

I'm not knocking it (in fact quite interested as we want a wet room and this seems ideal  ) but after having had redmite in the past I cut my loses and bought a couple of big Solway Recycling arks which are made from recycled plastic. They are made from the waste plastic from farms and as the company we own are involved in the recycling trade I decided to carry this through to my home life which includes my chickens  .

[Markw]

Yes that is the stuff you need I have done loads of wet rooms in the hospital, If you PM me your email I will send you a few names of products that will do a good job. just need to no the size and if it has up-stands.

[joyfull]

no need for my email address just click on my name and send me a pm - it will reach me 

[Gemjt]

Hello there,

I think your coop looks fantastic!  I have been keeping chickens for a year now, started with four and have just got 4 more (one unfortunately got taken by a fox.....).  it does get very adictive and it is also very rewarding (when they are not destroying my veg patch and flower beds that is!)....  they all have such lovely personalities and are facinating to watch - stick with it!  it will be worth it, honestly.....

I use Verm-x and haven't had any issues with worms in the last year.  I spray poultry-sheild in all the corners, nooks and crannies when I clean the girls each week and put red mite powder all over their chop straw in their coop (and actually spray it in the corners of the coop also).  I have just moved the girls into a nice new Coop - a 8 x 6mtr coop with a 2 x 2mtr run (I think that totals to 11sqr feet each, I think!)..... We pot onduline on the new coop as in our previous coop we just had a feather edge roof which leeked in the middle, the onduline is fantastic and run to keep the wet out.  I have attached a picture of the coop and run here also (just in case your interested).  I have found that the rain doesn't come in through the cladding on the sides of the old run and new run.  I have just treated mine with fence wood treatment stuff (the stuff that does what it says on the tin). 

Keep us posted with your progress, it would be great to see the finished run!

Gemjt