I would recommend to put all water and food in the run, rather than in the coop. You can cover that part of the run to avoid rain in the food. The reason for this is to avoid mice and other critters wanting to enter your coop. It also encourages the chickens to go outside in colder weather (important to choose breeds that are cold hardy if you live in colder climates). You can make it so that you refill water and feed from outside the fence.
Thank you for your input but we are very happy with our current setup. We made this setup for very specific reasons that work for our property and lifestyle, based on research and experience and it is working great for us. Covering part of the run isn’t in the budget or timing right now. Keeping the water inside keeps it warmer and decreases the instances of freezing through these cold winter months in Ohio which keeps our chicken drinking more which is better for their health. In the summer, keeping water inside makes it so we don’t deal with algae and it stays cleaner since we have sandy soil and there is usually a lot of sand blowing around and collecting in outdoor water. We own all cold hardy birds for our climate (we did plenty of research and are pretty seasoned chicken owners at this point) so they are perfectly content to go outside daily, even when it’s cold. Keeping the food outside would also make it enticing for nocturnal critters which we have a lot of on our property. We close up the coop at night which keeps the food out of the realm of possibility for critters as the coop is critter proof. I’m sure keeping water/food in a run works well for some chicken owners and that is great-but for us, this particular setup works really great so no need to fix what’s not broken.
@@brownacrefarm I might suggest that you make the shed 'two story', by adding a floor about 2ft off the ground, and put the water and food on the first floor. It makes it a lot easier to clean the floor when its above ground, you can just rake it into a container (or get even fancier). I just converted a shed into a coop and run, and moved the floor and walls up so the area under the floor is part of the run, like most commercial coops. In your case, leave the walls to keep the first floor closed from others critters to get in.
@@murraymadness4674 Thanks but we are very pleased with our setup! It works great for our hens and cleaning is very easy given how smooth the floor is. We just scoop it up. Our old smaller coop was elevated and I actually did not like it as much as I like this setup.
Thank you so much for this video. This is exactly what I want to do. I’ve been wanting to use the craftsman resin shed for a chicken coop too! ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Did I miss where you showed how you made the base? I am wanting to do this but am hung up on having to make a complicated base or something out of concrete.
We didn’t film that part. It is just a basic base made out of 4x4 treated wood posts to form a platform and then covered that platform with a few sheets of treated plywood (I think 1/2 inch). We laid that on level ground and then built the shed on top of that.
We bought our shed from Sam's it looks just like your's. What type of flooring do you have? We noticed ours is sweating extremely bad in the winter 🤷 to the point of it dripping off the ceiling. We've even cleaned the vents.
We have not felt the need to insulate further. Our winters don't get quite as cold as what you are describing. We just add the heat lamp when it gets really chilly.
Thanks for the coop tour! Planning to convert our shed into a coop this spring. Did you need to reinforce with hardware cloth anywhere to protect against predators? Thanks
We did hardware cloth around the exterior of the run. The shed itself has an attached rubber bottom and additionally a plywood base so no way for predators to make their way in from underneath the shed coop itself.
You just fill the bucket, put on the lid and then flip it over lid down in the rubber tub. There is a few holes just under the lid that let water flow and pressure keeps it from overflowing
I'm just getting started with BYC. Do all the chickens know to go inside the shed/coop at night, so you can use the draw-string and close them inside? What if they are hanging out in the chicken run, do you have to chase them inside? Probably a silly question :)
Not a silly question! I didn’t know either when I first got chickens. Chickens naturally want to roost in a safe place at night. As long as your coop has roosting bars, they will likely go inside and get on them around dusk without training. When I get new chicks, I leave them in the coop for a few days without access to the outdoor run to establish the habit that they roost there at night and then I never really have an issue after. I just come out around dusk and close the small draw string door!
I've never checked the temperature specifically at night but it maintains a pretty moderate and fair temperature year-round. It has never felt like a heat box on a summer night when I am locking them up.
Im going to have issues. Im researching different powered ventilation at the moment. It was 40 last night and only 67 during the day. But the shed was 98 degrees by 11am. The sun just bakes these panels and im worried how hot it will get once we get into the 100 degree days.
@@RockstarAwesome1 I personally have never had that problem nor had it get that hot even on 90-degree days. Removing the front plexiglass panels helps to provide a good bit of airflow and releases the hot air.
I honestly have no idea. We do not have a bear population local to us (Northwest Ohio) of concern so it is not a problem we encounter or contemplated when choosing and building this coop.
Our old chicken coop is severely rotting and I want to try this - Did you cut the door prior to building the shed and did you need to stabilize it at all ? Or were you able to build them cut the hole ?
I am not sure what door you are referring to. The front large doors were included pre-built with the shed kit. The small door into the run my husband just cut out with his hand saw.
22 fit just fine. Plenty of space in the coop and outdoor run. We downsized our flock due to personal changes to our family and work schedules- nothing to do with the coop size.
The general rule of thumb is 1 nesting box for every 4 chickens. I only have 11 hens so 4 nesting boxes is plenty. In reality, I only ever find eggs in two of them lol they are very particular.
It is hard to see and know exactly how our coop feels from a video. We have ample ventilation and they do spend all daylight hours generally outside in the fresh air(unless they are laying). We live in a northern climate so we have to balance good ventilation with keeping the coop warm and weather tight during the colder months. This set up has worked very well for us and our birds are healthy and happy (and we have even had a livestock vet confirm that).
@@gerrypippin2263 thank for that enlightening observation 🙄 In case you were unaware, despite the title and feathered friends in the video, this is a chicken coop. Chickens poop. A lot. Wherever they want to. We strip out and replace the bedding often but that the poop leaves stains on the wood and walls and other parts of the coop. There’s also just dirt… because it’s a chicken coop and it’s full of animals. And this was filmed on cleaning day so that’s fresh bedding so if you think the floor is full of poop, you must be ignorant to what sawdust looks like in real life. As for cobwebs, yes there are some. But again, it’s a chicken coop, not a living room. The hens really don’t seem to mind a few cobwebs nor does a few cobwebs negatively impact their quality of life which is more important than the coop looking perfectly pretty to me.
It came with the shed. It's just a basic latch. This one is semi-similar: www.walmart.com/ip/Bulldog-Hardware-2-1-2-in-Barrel-Bolt-Zinc-Plated/48003214?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=4479&adid=2222222227748003214_117755028669_12420145346&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=501107745824&wl4=aud-1651068663786:pla-294505072980&wl5=9015126&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=48003214&wl13=4479&veh=sem_LIA&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyMKbBhD1ARIsANs7rEGuhCWHZpObFHwKifE7Z0oUL_mH3lpacakPe-TUeW2V7NUrg2mR1R4aAoPVEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
It’s a chicken coop. Chickens poop. It’s just part of the deal with any kind of farm animal. We clean them but they get stained from the poop and stay stained even when freshly cleaned.
Good grief this is filthy. I highly recommend cleaning at least weekly. That’s a lot of bacteria poop build up. I clean mine daily for my chicks but you definitely should be cleaning and hosing down at least weekly. This is nasty.
LOL. Thank you so much for your rude and unhelpful comment- it sure gave me a good laugh this morning about your utterly unrealistic rules for chicken keeping. Sorry, my coop doesn't look brand new and perfect... it gets used because this is a real farm. Chickens live there. Chickens are inherently messy. We do the best we can and do clean regularly along with using a deep litter method for bedding in the coop.
Also, hosing down weekly in a climate where temperatures drop below freezing for a good portion of the year is not feasible nor would it be a healthy environment for the chickens because the coop wouldn't dry and they would be living in a cold, damp, icy environment. That would potentially cause respiratory issues, hypothermia, or frost bite. If you are going to be rude and offer suggestions in a nasty way, at least be educated about it. 🙄
I gave thumbs down because it looks like you are just wanting to put a video out...fresh bedding ahead of the video was obvious. Loss of chickens is also obvious. Chickens are long-lived...my oldest is a 12-year old rooster, with hens close behind him. Chickens are unique in the avian world and have unique needs which your video doesn't really address. Honestly? There are sooo many great videos on TH-cam about raising chickens that you might want to watch.
For anyone else copying this model...easiest for you doesn't mean it's best for the chickens. It also doesn't mean that you will be as productive as possible.
Thank you so much for this rude comment. First, your comment about the bedding- are you saying it's a bad thing that there is evident clean bedding in the video? Because clean bedding is a good thing for chicken health so why would you point that out as a reason for a thumbs down? We clean the coop and add fresh bedding regularly... because that is good chicken keeping practice. Because we do it regularly, any day we film you will see clean bedding. As for "just getting a video out" this video was posted after a 3 or 4 month break from posting.... clearly we weren't in a hurry and weren't posting just to post. It was posted because of many requests to see how the coop held up and what additional modifications we made after an earlier coop tour video. Second, on your comment about "losing birds," we did not lose any to health issues. We had a hawk swoop down and take two chickens from the outdoor run, hence why the netting was added over the entire top of our run (as stated in the video). Unfortunately, we did not think it would be an issue on the front end as we had not seen hawks over our farm prior to building this coop but one found us and unfortunately got two of our girls. We addressed the problem as soon as it was evident and have not lost a bird since. Otherwise, we downsized our flock by giving away some of the chickens to a nearby friend who wanted some because we were getting more eggs than we could personally keep up with. Those chickens are living a great life with her now and we have a flock size that is better matched to our current needs. Third, my video isn't meant address "unique chicken needs" as you mention. It is simply a tour of the coop we use and have been very happy with which has also housed very healthy happy birds for a few years now as an example of how you can turn a shed into a chicken coop if that is what you have access to. No one is perfect- we all do the best we can with what we have and that is what we are doing. Just because it is not the absolute best of the best, top-of-the-line custom chicken coop does not mean it cannot house chickens safely and in a healthy condition.
@@FVWhimsy2010 Of course, because a coop and run that has shelter from rain/snow/sun, lots of fresh air, clean bedding, nesting boxes, access to ample clean water, ample food, large outdoor space with protection from ariel predators, and lots of roosting space at night isn't a good home for chickens 🙄
I'm getting ready to build something for chickens and eggs. The world has went bat shit crazy, and $4.99 for a dozen eggs is bs. I live in the sticks and would have to use rat wire for a runner, but this looks like it would hold plenty of chickens. Did you say you got the building from Lowes?
I would recommend to put all water and food in the run, rather than in the coop. You can cover that part of the run to avoid rain in the food. The reason for this is to avoid mice and other critters wanting to enter your coop. It also encourages the chickens to go outside in colder weather (important to choose breeds that are cold hardy if you live in colder climates). You can make it so that you refill water and feed from outside the fence.
Thank you for your input but we are very happy with our current setup. We made this setup for very specific reasons that work for our property and lifestyle, based on research and experience and it is working great for us. Covering part of the run isn’t in the budget or timing right now. Keeping the water inside keeps it warmer and decreases the instances of freezing through these cold winter months in Ohio which keeps our chicken drinking more which is better for their health. In the summer, keeping water inside makes it so we don’t deal with algae and it stays cleaner since we have sandy soil and there is usually a lot of sand blowing around and collecting in outdoor water. We own all cold hardy birds for our climate (we did plenty of research and are pretty seasoned chicken owners at this point) so they are perfectly content to go outside daily, even when it’s cold. Keeping the food outside would also make it enticing for nocturnal critters which we have a lot of on our property. We close up the coop at night which keeps the food out of the realm of possibility for critters as the coop is critter proof. I’m sure keeping water/food in a run works well for some chicken owners and that is great-but for us, this particular setup works really great so no need to fix what’s not broken.
@@brownacrefarm I might suggest that you make the shed 'two story', by adding a floor about 2ft off the ground, and put the water and food on the first floor. It makes it a lot easier to clean the floor when its above ground, you can just rake it into a container (or get even fancier).
I just converted a shed into a coop and run, and moved the floor and walls up so the area under the floor is part of the run, like most commercial coops. In your case, leave the walls to keep the first floor closed from others critters to get in.
@@murraymadness4674 Thanks but we are very pleased with our setup! It works great for our hens and cleaning is very easy given how smooth the floor is. We just scoop it up. Our old smaller coop was elevated and I actually did not like it as much as I like this setup.
@@murraymadness4674Do you have a video of the two story coop you made? I'd be interested in upgrading mine
@@austinc691 Hello, unfortunately not. I always plan to make one, and always there is something else to get done first.
Thank you so much for this video. This is exactly what I want to do. I’ve been wanting to use the craftsman resin shed for a chicken coop too! ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Oh my gosh- I love your coop. This is exactly what I have been looking for. ❤ thanks for sharing!!!
What kind of fencing did you use around the run? I really like it and want to expand my run. Thank you!
Part of it is a recycled dog run. The other part is just t-posts and chicken wire.
Did I miss where you showed how you made the base? I am wanting to do this but am hung up on having to make a complicated base or something out of concrete.
We didn’t film that part. It is just a basic base made out of 4x4 treated wood posts to form a platform and then covered that platform with a few sheets of treated plywood (I think 1/2 inch). We laid that on level ground and then built the shed on top of that.
We bought our shed from Sam's it looks just like your's. What type of flooring do you have? We noticed ours is sweating extremely bad in the winter 🤷 to the point of it dripping off the ceiling. We've even cleaned the vents.
Mine just has the floor that is a part of the shed kit. I have not dealt with sweating- maybe change your bedding or add more ventilation?
What is with bird mites? There are so many possibilities for them. My chickens got them after 3 years and its very hard to get them out again...
Never dealt with them in our coop or flock so I have no advice.
I found the update! Have you felt you need to add insulation for your winters? Negative 20’s are common in our winters
We have not felt the need to insulate further. Our winters don't get quite as cold as what you are describing. We just add the heat lamp when it gets really chilly.
Thanks for the coop tour! Planning to convert our shed into a coop this spring. Did you need to reinforce with hardware cloth anywhere to protect against predators? Thanks
We did hardware cloth around the exterior of the run. The shed itself has an attached rubber bottom and additionally a plywood base so no way for predators to make their way in from underneath the shed coop itself.
Could you show how you add to the water?
You just fill the bucket, put on the lid and then flip it over lid down in the rubber tub. There is a few holes just under the lid that let water flow and pressure keeps it from overflowing
I'm just getting started with BYC. Do all the chickens know to go inside the shed/coop at night, so you can use the draw-string and close them inside? What if they are hanging out in the chicken run, do you have to chase them inside? Probably a silly question :)
Not a silly question! I didn’t know either when I first got chickens. Chickens naturally want to roost in a safe place at night. As long as your coop has roosting bars, they will likely go inside and get on them around dusk without training. When I get new chicks, I leave them in the coop for a few days without access to the outdoor run to establish the habit that they roost there at night and then I never really have an issue after. I just come out around dusk and close the small draw string door!
You can also install an automatic dawn to dusk Door
Have you had any water leaks in the corners of the base? I have the same shed but notice some wet spots after some rain in some corners.
Nope no leaking issues.
At night in the summer does it get hot in there ? I'm putting one up and was worried about that
I've never checked the temperature specifically at night but it maintains a pretty moderate and fair temperature year-round. It has never felt like a heat box on a summer night when I am locking them up.
@@brownacrefarm That's what I was worried about .heat box
You should also add that you can pressure wash this which I think is great for cleaning
Im going to have issues. Im researching different powered ventilation at the moment. It was 40 last night and only 67 during the day. But the shed was 98 degrees by 11am. The sun just bakes these panels and im worried how hot it will get once we get into the 100 degree days.
@@RockstarAwesome1 I personally have never had that problem nor had it get that hot even on 90-degree days. Removing the front plexiglass panels helps to provide a good bit of airflow and releases the hot air.
Beautiful I like your chikan coop
Thanks for the video. Do you know if that shed would hold up to a bear trying to enter it?
I honestly have no idea. We do not have a bear population local to us (Northwest Ohio) of concern so it is not a problem we encounter or contemplated when choosing and building this coop.
Where did you get your shed from ?
Lowes
Our old chicken coop is severely rotting and I want to try this - Did you cut the door prior to building the shed and did you need to stabilize it at all ? Or were you able to build them cut the hole ?
I am not sure what door you are referring to. The front large doors were included pre-built with the shed kit. The small door into the run my husband just cut out with his hand saw.
did you find it was enough space when you had 22 in there? or was it too cramped for them? thanks!
22 fit just fine. Plenty of space in the coop and outdoor run. We downsized our flock due to personal changes to our family and work schedules- nothing to do with the coop size.
@@brownacrefarm thanks! Just bought a 7x7 shed today off marketplace...excited to convert it! Have 9 hens now and will get 5 chicks in March.
@@brownacrefarm maybe I missed it but how big is your run? Thanks!
Run is about twice the size of the shed/coop. It extends off to the side and behind the coop.
Did you use pressure treated lumber for your foundation (plywood)?
Yes
I see that there's only 4 nesting boxes. Don't you need more for all the females?
The general rule of thumb is 1 nesting box for every 4 chickens. I only have 11 hens so 4 nesting boxes is plenty. In reality, I only ever find eggs in two of them lol they are very particular.
chickens need more ventilation
It is hard to see and know exactly how our coop feels from a video. We have ample ventilation and they do spend all daylight hours generally outside in the fresh air(unless they are laying). We live in a northern climate so we have to balance good ventilation with keeping the coop warm and weather tight during the colder months. This set up has worked very well for us and our birds are healthy and happy (and we have even had a livestock vet confirm that).
Also full of sh1t and cobwebs
@@gerrypippin2263 thank for that enlightening observation 🙄 In case you were unaware, despite the title and feathered friends in the video, this is a chicken coop. Chickens poop. A lot. Wherever they want to. We strip out and replace the bedding often but that the poop leaves stains on the wood and walls and other parts of the coop. There’s also just dirt… because it’s a chicken coop and it’s full of animals. And this was filmed on cleaning day so that’s fresh bedding so if you think the floor is full of poop, you must be ignorant to what sawdust looks like in real life. As for cobwebs, yes there are some. But again, it’s a chicken coop, not a living room. The hens really don’t seem to mind a few cobwebs nor does a few cobwebs negatively impact their quality of life which is more important than the coop looking perfectly pretty to me.
What lock is that on front?
It came with the shed. It's just a basic latch. This one is semi-similar: www.walmart.com/ip/Bulldog-Hardware-2-1-2-in-Barrel-Bolt-Zinc-Plated/48003214?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=4479&adid=2222222227748003214_117755028669_12420145346&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=501107745824&wl4=aud-1651068663786:pla-294505072980&wl5=9015126&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=48003214&wl13=4479&veh=sem_LIA&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyMKbBhD1ARIsANs7rEGuhCWHZpObFHwKifE7Z0oUL_mH3lpacakPe-TUeW2V7NUrg2mR1R4aAoPVEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
How big is your shed?
7’x7’
Awesome !!
👏🏾
Those 2x4s are nasty. Full of poop bacteria.
It’s a chicken coop. Chickens poop. It’s just part of the deal with any kind of farm animal. We clean them but they get stained from the poop and stay stained even when freshly cleaned.
Good grief this is filthy. I highly recommend cleaning at least weekly. That’s a lot of bacteria poop build up. I clean mine daily for my chicks but you definitely should be cleaning and hosing down at least weekly. This is nasty.
LOL. Thank you so much for your rude and unhelpful comment- it sure gave me a good laugh this morning about your utterly unrealistic rules for chicken keeping. Sorry, my coop doesn't look brand new and perfect... it gets used because this is a real farm. Chickens live there. Chickens are inherently messy. We do the best we can and do clean regularly along with using a deep litter method for bedding in the coop.
Also, hosing down weekly in a climate where temperatures drop below freezing for a good portion of the year is not feasible nor would it be a healthy environment for the chickens because the coop wouldn't dry and they would be living in a cold, damp, icy environment. That would potentially cause respiratory issues, hypothermia, or frost bite. If you are going to be rude and offer suggestions in a nasty way, at least be educated about it. 🙄
What a rude and judgmental person you are! Bet your chickens are your only friends!
I gave thumbs down because it looks like you are just wanting to put a video out...fresh bedding ahead of the video was obvious. Loss of chickens is also obvious. Chickens are long-lived...my oldest is a 12-year old rooster, with hens close behind him. Chickens are unique in the avian world and have unique needs which your video doesn't really address. Honestly? There are sooo many great videos on TH-cam about raising chickens that you might want to watch.
For anyone else copying this model...easiest for you doesn't mean it's best for the chickens. It also doesn't mean that you will be as productive as possible.
Thank you so much for this rude comment.
First, your comment about the bedding- are you saying it's a bad thing that there is evident clean bedding in the video? Because clean bedding is a good thing for chicken health so why would you point that out as a reason for a thumbs down? We clean the coop and add fresh bedding regularly... because that is good chicken keeping practice. Because we do it regularly, any day we film you will see clean bedding. As for "just getting a video out" this video was posted after a 3 or 4 month break from posting.... clearly we weren't in a hurry and weren't posting just to post. It was posted because of many requests to see how the coop held up and what additional modifications we made after an earlier coop tour video.
Second, on your comment about "losing birds," we did not lose any to health issues. We had a hawk swoop down and take two chickens from the outdoor run, hence why the netting was added over the entire top of our run (as stated in the video). Unfortunately, we did not think it would be an issue on the front end as we had not seen hawks over our farm prior to building this coop but one found us and unfortunately got two of our girls. We addressed the problem as soon as it was evident and have not lost a bird since. Otherwise, we downsized our flock by giving away some of the chickens to a nearby friend who wanted some because we were getting more eggs than we could personally keep up with. Those chickens are living a great life with her now and we have a flock size that is better matched to our current needs.
Third, my video isn't meant address "unique chicken needs" as you mention. It is simply a tour of the coop we use and have been very happy with which has also housed very healthy happy birds for a few years now as an example of how you can turn a shed into a chicken coop if that is what you have access to. No one is perfect- we all do the best we can with what we have and that is what we are doing. Just because it is not the absolute best of the best, top-of-the-line custom chicken coop does not mean it cannot house chickens safely and in a healthy condition.
@@FVWhimsy2010 Of course, because a coop and run that has shelter from rain/snow/sun, lots of fresh air, clean bedding, nesting boxes, access to ample clean water, ample food, large outdoor space with protection from ariel predators, and lots of roosting space at night isn't a good home for chickens 🙄
I'm getting ready to build something for chickens and eggs. The world has went bat shit crazy, and $4.99 for a dozen eggs is bs. I live in the sticks and would have to use rat wire for a runner, but this looks like it would hold plenty of chickens. Did you say you got the building from Lowes?
Yes. It is linked in the description.
I got mine from Sam's
@@gailhutchison464 is it any cheaper at sam's? It's $1100 bucks at Lowe's.