# Coop renovation & reactivation



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

Hello and greetings from Germany!

I'm writing here in this forum, because in Germany there's only one reasonably active chicken forum and there you can only upload photos with up to 200KB (yes! really! Don't know why) so everyone is also a member of a photo-upload-website to generate URLs to post in the forum where people have to click on to get to a website to see a photo... 🤪🤯 That's a joke in 2021, in my opinion.
So that's why I'm here. I hope, my English is sufferable 😅


OK. So we bought a house in the countryside a few years ago which also came with a chicken coop. Two in fact, but the (unfortunately) smaller one is much better positioned. We hope to be able to use this one, but it needs renovation. Although it has been used before, we'd like our chickens to be happy. So, if thats not possible with this one, we'd reluctantly use the other one.

The coop is the northern half of a shed (southern half a greenhouse), 4,8 m x 1,65 m (15.7 ft. x 5.4 ft.), in the middle is a "chicken wire wall" with a door. In the "back room" are chicken perches and laying nests on the wall (like a shelf). In the front room is nothing. Both rooms have a chicken flap leading to separate (or seperable) outdoor enclosures.

First problem: the coop is too dark. The two windows are near the gound and are north-facing to an apple tree in the enclosure, which throws additional shade. I want to build a window into the east-facing entrance door.
Additionally,

would a skylight be a good idea, or is that frightening for the chickens (predators attacking from the sky, which they cant, of course, but do the chickens know that 😉)?
can I put a window behind the chicken perches (west wall), or is that frightening as well?

Second problem: the wooden walls have many fine gaps between the boards. I already see mites & Co. moving in 😉 Are there any ideas how to fill these inexpensively? Or smoothen the walls in another way?
We want to paint the ceiling and walls with lime paint afterwards.

We want to put about 5-6 chickens and one rooster in there.
What do you think? Could this be a suitable coop, or should I rethink it?


Now, here are two photos. We wanted to start renovating in spring, but something came up. Back then, we powdered the floor with slaked lime, so thats what this white stuff is.


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Welcome, your English is fine. 

How large is that area behind the second door? You need it to be 28 square feet of open floor space for that many birds. You could remove that divider and use the other area for them too.

Windows are scary things when it comes to birds. They can crash through them if something upsets them. Having wire over those windows would prevent that. 

If you could get more pics of the exterior we might be able to give you better advice. So far, I don't see any reason why it can't work.


----------



## danathome (Sep 14, 2020)

Chickens2022 said:


> Hello and greetings from Germany!*Hello from Wisconsin.*
> 
> I'm writing here in this forum, because in Germany there's only one reasonably active chicken forum and there you can only upload photos with up to 200KB (yes! really! Don't know why) so everyone is also a member of a photo-upload-website to generate URLs to post in the forum where people have to click on to get to a website to see a photo... 🤪🤯 That's a joke in 2021, in my opinion.
> So that's why I'm here. I hope, my English is sufferable 😅 *Your English is great.*
> ...


----------



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

Hi, thank you both!

Concerning the space: I think that should work then, the divider is almost exactly in the middle, so there are two rooms with 42.6 square foot each. I assume the door is supposed to be kept open, except for cleaning purposes (I guess), so in practice, the chickens could use the whole coop.

Concerning windows: The "leak"-argument regarding skylights is indeed a good one. Since you think it may be cause for alarm too, skylights are canceled.
I assume the possible window behind the chicken perches wouldn't overheat the coop – there are some higher shrubs blocking the sun from time to time. If the remaining direct sunlight would be too much, a shutter could be easily attached.

When you say "caulk", do you mean this acrylic stuff?

The coop has a thin layer of glass wool between silver foil as an isulation. Also, the wood used is quite thick.

I read a lot, and almost everywhere is stressed, how important light is for the chickens to lay appropriate amounts of eggs. Even with the two windows added I assume that the coop won't be very bright. What would you say – how important is this really?


Oh, I forgot the pictures:
1. Side view, the door to the right leads to the coop.
2. Detail of the wall gaps.
3. This nettles-paradise is to become the enclosure again 😅


----------



## imnukensc (Dec 5, 2020)

Looks like you have a very good coop to make improvements to. Adding some east facing windows would be a plus. The floor doesn't appear to be dirt/soil. Is it concrete or? Do you plan to let your chickens free range or stay in the coop and run permanently? If in the run all the time you would definitely need something beside concrete (if that's what it is) for them to scratch around in.
As far as light goes, it's been my experience that newly laying pullets will continue to lay throughout their first winter. After that some folks add artificial light to keep their birds laying through winter. I do not do that as I believe the chickens deserve a winter break from laying.


----------



## Overmountain1 (Jun 5, 2020)

I think it’s a lovely looking coop, or soon shall be! What they said, but what come to the forum! We like pics so post lots!


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

As you can see, folks thinks you've got a great pallet to work with.


----------



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

OK, now I'm relieved 😀 👍
In the state its in, the coop is a rather dark hole, I feared some might say that its not suitable. I mean, I know there lived chickens before, but I have no idea how happy these chicken were 😉 And there are Youtubers with chicken coops (for not _that_ many chickens) more spacious than our living room, so I had doubts 😅

@imnukensc: The floor is (garden-)clay, but right now powdered with slaked lime. The foundation for the walls is concrete, though.
I absolutely agree on the artificial light/winter break issue. For us, its supposed to be a hobby, so there's no need for the chickens to lay eggs all year round. 

I'll post any progress 🙂


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

We love progress photos. It's always fun to see the before and afters.

Remember, when you paint the interior white it will brighten the area up a ton. Also you asked about the caulk, it's in a tube. There are different types. Look for paintable.

If you can trim back the greenery you should get better natural light into the building. Any chance for electric to be run to it? 

We have one other on the forum from Germany. And right now I absolutely can not remember her username. When I do I'll let you know who she is.


----------



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

Hi,

first of all, I noticed that what I called "enclosure" is called "run" – which makes me realize that I totally didn't get the pun with the movie title "Chicken run" 21 years ago 🤣
(Although, in my defense, the German title has the added line "Hennen rennen" ("chickens [are] running"), which is misleading 😉)

@robin416: The coop is not electrified. If its needed for something it could be done, though. The coop is about 82 ft. away from our house and there's lawn in between. A small... well, Google won't tell me how it's called in English in a small, garden-sized variety, so: a handy sized "trencher" would do the job relatively quickly.
I thought about it for lighting in winter. But after I read about the winter pause issue which imnukensc mentioned as well, I thought I don't need lights anymore. What do you have in mind?


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

We might use American idioms that you will have to point out to us. I know I've thrown a few people off when their first language isn't English.

Well, you had concerns about the dullness of the coop. I have a light in with my birds on those dark, dreary days where their digs are just dark. There might be times you have to go in at night. One night I stepped out the back door just in time to hear one of my Silkie hens make a noise that wasn't right. When I went to investigate I found an opposum in the chicken pen. It had snuck in during the day. Because I could turn on a light I could see it and drive it out.

A trencher would work. Were you thinking tiller? It's what is used for turning the soil in a garden.


----------



## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Welcome to the forum!


----------



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

robin416 said:


> Well, you had concerns about the dullness of the coop. I have a light in with my birds on those dark, dreary days where their digs are just dark. There might be times you have to go in at night. One night I stepped out the back door just in time to hear one of my Silkie hens make a noise that wasn't right. When I went to investigate I found an opposum in the chicken pen. It had snuck in during the day. Because I could turn on a light I could see it and drive it out.
> 
> A trencher would work. Were you thinking tiller? It's what is used for turning the soil in a garden.


Ah ok, that's true. I thought maybe you had some electric "gimmick" in mind – for instance, I already discovered that there's a vast array of automatic chicken coop doors 😅 
But you're right, I will need some lighting even with new windows. I think I'll try solar lamps. If these prove to be impractical I think I'll go with the underground cable. I could use electricity in the greenhouse-part of the shed as well. 
(For that cable I'd use a "walk behind trencher" or simply "mini trencher" 🙂 – after I looked up "trencher" I googled it and the search showed mostly images of gigantic machines. But, as usual, scrolling down a bit more helps 😉 and now I found them as "walk behind trencher".)

By the way, are there any special recommendations regarding coop equipment?


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Goes to show that solar is not front of mind with me but that would be a great option for lighting the coop as long as you can control the off and on times. 

Yes, we've used those small trenchers. They work quite well if you don't have a bunch of rocks to deal with. 

Roosts, waterers, feeders. Shavings. Wow, I'm drawing a blank and I know I've got to be missing something. It seemed like I was always buying something more for the birds. 

And when in the heck do you sleep?


----------



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

robin416 said:


> And when in the heck do you sleep?


😅 Well, for me right now its 19:30 or 7:30 p.m. – so last time I slept was sometime between post #8 and #10 😂


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Chickens2022 said:


> 😅 Well, for me right now its 19:30 or 7:30 p.m. – so last time I slept was sometime between post #8 and #10 😂


LOL I thought you'd be more like 12 hours ahead of us which would make it the middle of the night right now. I think. I'm posting 17 minutes after you, it's 12:48 PM here. I don't even have to translate that time.


----------



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

robin416 said:


> LOL I thought you'd be more like 12 hours ahead of us which would make it the middle of the night right now. I think. I'm posting 17 minutes after you, it's 12:48 PM here. I don't even have to translate that time.


I'm at a loss with time zones as well 😉 And it absolutely escapes me, how "national tv" could work in the US with that many time zones 😄


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Truthfully, I don't know how they work either. Live shows are on super, super early. Taped shows are usually shown an hour earlier in my time zone but I don't know what they do when the get further West. I mean some of those shows would be on when kids' shows should be on. 

If I count only the mainland of the US there are four time zones. Wouldn't Germany have more than one?


----------



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

Luckily not, Germany is not that big. If you take Montana minus New Jersey you've got the size of Germany. So we have only one time zone – but, to keep the confusion going, we're in the same time zone as South Africa 😄 So if I were to travel there I'd have to pack for summer if I leave in winter, but wouldn't have to change the time on the watch – 5700 miles away from home 😁


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

OK, now I know I have to be careful not to take a sip of coffee when reading one of your posts. 

I never gave that any thought. Although I used to cross into Canada all of the time but they were neighbors. Even South America isn't that far away from me. No wait. Now I need a world map. South America might be in a different time zone. 

See what you started? LOL


----------



## Poultry Judge (Jul 15, 2020)

Thank you for sharing with us!


----------



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

Hello there, it's me again 😅
I hope you're all well!

After hibernating for a while, I finally got around to renovating our coop. And I'll have to hurry finishing it, because on March 19th we got to buy our chickens because the breeder won't be there for quite a while after that.

Originally we wanted to have Barnevelder but this year they're "out of stock", if you will. So we'll go for (big) Welsum(m)er chickens. We're quite exited and are really looking forward to it.

I have a question for a well-versed handyman. The coop has a strip foundation made out of concrete. The floor itself is quite wiggly-woggly-scratched clay. I'd like to make a screed with 1.18in floor insulation underneath. Since it's for a chicken coop, it doesn't have to be a masterfully made screed, just one that doesn't crack after 3 months. Has anyone ever done a similar project and what would you recommend as minimal layer thickness for sand and gravel? I know, this probably isn't the right forum for such a question, but I thought I'll try my luck ;-)

Cheers!


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

OK, we have a problem with terminology. Screed? What is that? Are you talking about putting down concrete? 

If it was me and I wasn't concerned that the dirt floor had any dangerous chemicals in it, I'd just put down a thick layer of shavings.


----------



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

robin416 said:


> OK, we have a problem with terminology. Screed? What is that? Are you talking about putting down concrete?
> 
> If it was me and I wasn't concerned that the dirt floor had any dangerous chemicals in it, I'd just put down a thick layer of shavings.


Yes, I'd like to put down concrete and add a bit of insulation in the process. I want to prevent moisture rising to prevent mold or something...


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

Without rebar and pouring a three or four inch layer of concrete I don't think you'll avoid cracking. 

If you used a layer of gravel or compacted construction sand that would help with moisture.


----------



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

I just talked to my neighbor about this coop-floor-problem and he pointed out, that per se a clay floor would be quite nice for chickens. He then suggested a mixture of mostly fine bark mulch and some "regular" bark mulch as bedding and said the coop would be perfect to go and try out "deep litter bedding". What's your opinion on that?


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It's what I would do. It's not that hard to care for. You've got a concrete wall foundation so tunneling varmints won't be able to get in.


----------



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

*Proper coop arrangement?*

Hello,

I recently watched a Youtube-video by an Austrian chicken nerd, and he mentioned that the/his chickens don't poop as much in the area they eat and breed in as in the rest of the coop. He more or less implied, that food and nesting share the same/adjacent space in the coop. However, in mine so far they don't... So far, I went with the setup the previous owners had. Since the chickens won't arrive till March 19th, I'd still have time to change stuff, if necessary.

Here's a picture of the coop layout. The coop is 4,8 m x 1,65 m (15.7 ft. x 5.4 ft.), so it is rather narrow. Also, it gets narrower in the back, I think at least by 20 cm (7.8 in). The coop can be seperated into two compartments in the middle.
In red are the potentially moveable things. In the second picture is a possible alternative, which would actually be a bit more practical because the eggs would be easier accessible. However, the nests being closer to the door also means more prone to interruptions. Also, the entrance has a secondary chicken-wire-door, so in summer, the wooden door is supposed to be open all day to let light and sun through the c-w-door. On the other hand, we are using nests with "shades" or how can I call it? Something like a hanging saloon door 😆 as an entrance to each nest. Could this position for the nests be a problem?

Secondly, which chicken door should be active in the second picture?

Thanks for your help!


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

The guy in Austria is doing some sort of drugs. Chickens poop wherever they are. If that happens to be perched on a waterer that's where they'll do it. They are not like a dog that doesn't want to mess in their living quarters. Chickens just don't care.

Isn't it already divided off? If it was me I would remove that divider, give them the whole area unrestricted. The nest near the door is a good spot for easy access. As to which chicken door, stand back and see what works best for you and them.


----------



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

So, to give this thread a proper ending, I attached a few pictures of the renovation
process. #1 of this thread shows the original state the coop was in.
Although the chickens are already there, I still got some stuff left to do: finish the windows, attach two wall panels and paint everthing with lime paint. I'll do that once the chickens choose to leave the coop, which they haven't done yet in now almost a week...


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It looks so very different from what you started with. I remember you could barely even see the outside for all the overgrowth. 

Before they turned that area into a coop, do you think it had a different purpose?


----------



## Chickens2022 (Aug 1, 2021)

Phew, I'm not sure. We live in a rather old house in a rural area, so some kind of vegetable patch or animal husbandry will have been there for centuries. However, in regard to recent history, I found a date the previous owners left in the concrete foundation of the coop – don't remember exactly right now, but it was sometime in the early or mid 80's. So at least since then the coop and run have been used for chickens. In the last ten years or so the coop hasn't been used. The run mostly overgrew with stinging nettle, which is a nitrogen pointer – that would be consistent with years and years of chicken poop ;-)


----------



## robin416 (Sep 8, 2013)

It's just that's its odd. Almost like it would have been an ideal greenhouse at some point. 

It certainly works as a coop for the girls though. 

Do you have treats that they like? Maybe put some at their outside door so they'll at least go have a look. And maybe put some on the threshold and just outside of the door. 

Remember, when they do finally go out you just might have to convince them to go back in at night for a while.


----------

