What wood is ideal for building a coop?

[chris]

I'm already thinking of perhaps just using this shed i have for a year (the wood isn't in that great condition - and I'm sure a fox/rat would be able to rip the slates off!), and then building a proper coop over winter..

I was looking at some on ebay, to get an idea for designs, and have seen that most use tongue and groove similar to:

http://s143989423.websitehome.co.uk/P1010949.jpg

Is this suitable? Wouldn't it be easy for mites to take up home in the grooves?

[RichmondHens]

Yes, definitely attractive for mites. Most houses on the market are poorly designed and have millions of hidey holes for mite, hence the fact that most people get horrendous mite problems!

We build our own houses and use exterior grade ply sheets, and just make a large box, with a hinged "lid" for a roof, and silicone the corners of the houses inside to make them mite proof. Then there is really nowhere for the mite to hide. We have had no mite in any of the new houses this year, apart from a few underneath the perches in one house, as they found a small crack to hide in where the poles are screwed onto the bracing bar. But as our perches are all lift out for easy cleaning, we just took them out, gave the perches a good creosoting, and the hens slept on the floor for a few days till the perches dried off.

[Glutton4...]

It would be very easy for Mites to take up residence, but if you coat the timber with Creocote, both before and after assembly, and annually after that, you should be fine.

Also, many people recommend the use of 'Onduline' for the roof, not felt, as that is one of their favorite hiding places.

[chris]

Yup, planning on using Onduline..

i'm wondering this, because my shed is shiplap (overlapping wood planks) which is really rough.. i'm thinking that this will be difficult to "mite proof" ?

[RichmondHens]

If you work a load of creosote into the crevices where the wood overlaps then this should provide adequate mite protection for most of the year. Repeating the application in Spring before the weather warms up again should then protect it for another season.

[chris]

Ok, so I gather smooth/planed timber is better than roughsawn?

[RichmondHens]

Depends what you're doing with it. Roughsawn will soak up treatment (eg creosote) much better than smooth. But we like using smooth sheets of ply for creating the walls, floors and lids.

[Pies]

Use cedar it wont rot anywhere near as quick as anything else

Cedar Wood outdoor furniture for your garden, lawn, patio, deck or porch and why you should use it. Wooden Comfort an online furniture store.

[chris]

Ok, thanks - so all the ones that look "nice" are basically bad in terms of pest harbouring?

[Glutton4...]

They are also about as robust as a cardboard box!

[Madasafish]

The best wood is free.

Anything you pay for is expensive.

Cedar? They are only chickens ... not humans.. Cedar will outlast the owner. A total waste of good wood and very very very very unfriendly to the environment.

[chris]

Wondering if I should line the inside on this shed I'm converting with chicken wire- may help to deter a fox/rodent that may rip one of the slats off?

...or at least give me chance to shoo them off ?

[Hilary B]

For building, either exterior plywood or Sterling Board, treated with creosote-substitute.
Any fox that gets through even dodgy planks will have no problem with 'chicken wire'. If you want a fox-proof layer, weld-mesh or chain-link would be more reliable.

[surferal]

not far away from finishing mine so wil be posting about it but what i did was make it twin skinned... so the inside walls of the coop are down with CDX ply (cos they had no OSB at the time) and the outside has shiplap on it... inside is painted and all the corners siliconed etc so shouldn't have any mite probs (fingers crossed)

eg a pic of the build in process.... so the shiplap is pinned to the uprights (and then painted)



i thought it might make it better for winter etc to be twin skinned...

should have it finished in a couple of days...

[chris]

Looks good... I'm using a bike shed at the moment - it'll do for a year, if we get on with keeping chickens then I'll build them a proper one.. I normally go head first into something, and buy everything then find out later on perhaps it's not for me