I bought a used coop that is on stilts and is about 3ft wide by 2 1/2 ft deep by 4 ft high. The woman I bought it from has over 100 chickens, and this used to be her dove roost -- she says she's getting to old to have all those animals so she sold it. The chickens were VERY healthy looking and were allowed to forage in the evenings, and the runs were decent looking. (I add that so you can get and idea of the coop's origin, and former occupants' condition)I am going to put in a loft with some roosts, and a nesting box as well. I also plan to make sides that I can attach and take off since where I live it does get into the 30's at night in the winter. I will have a run built onto it as well, but plan to make it with latches and hinges so I can move it as needed--I plan to build it to fit my garden boxes.How diligent do I need to be to clean this thing before I paint it to use for my own birds? It has feathers and manure dried into the cracks and I do plan to do my best to scrub it out, but I also plan to use Kilz and a coat of paint on it as well.
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FINALLY I AM DONE!! Well, sort of, I still have more work to do inside building them a roost and insulating when the weather gets colder. None too soon, either, they started fighting and pecking each other yesterday in their little cage. Pictures are posted in my photos section.
The coop is a converted rabbit hutch that the woman I bought it from was using as a pigeon roost; I let it sit in the sun for a week then scrubbed with bleach and soapy water twice. Then, two coats of Kilz and two coats of red paint (the paints were oops & $1 each). Coop is 39" deep by 43" wide, and tall enough for two sets of roosts if I do them at right angles. Only one nesting box, because at this point I only have 4 hens and I will probably need to work on DH if I find I want/need more. The floor is wire, and I left it that way, and I cut off the legs of the hutch because it was too tall with them - it's resting on 2 x 4's right now, which gives clearance from the ground and lets the people door on the inside of the run open as well. It started being all wire, but I cut recycled plywood to fit, painted it, and shimmed it into the sides with nails. I did leave ventilation space on all sides, the roof has an overhang that allows it and will still give them protection.
The run gave me fits, I wanted originally to make this portable...which just wasn't going to work no matter how I rigged it...so, I am still going to build a chicken tractor for the days DH and/or I am home, so they can get some better forage, but this will be their 'permanent' home. The base is 2 x 4's, the corner posts, top bars, and the bar where the feeder is hung are all 2 x 2's. Some of them are recycled. It's 52" tall, so that I can get in without crawling.
I would scrape off what you can and then use a bleach solution or peroxide or something in addition to just soap and really soak it down and scrub it well. Wash, rinse, repeat. :)
*sigh* I was afraid you were going to say that, but it's what I did before I noticed this anyway...I'm a little obsessive when it comes to that kind of stuff so I just wanted to be sure my new babies wouldn't get some strange disease from the doves or something. I found out that with the removal of 4 screws, I could get to all the droppings and feathers that were giving me such trouble yesterday.
I'll post pictures of the coop hopefully tomorrow, it took all of today to clean and paint it. I'm partway through building the enclosure but got stumped and had to give up for the day.
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The coop is a converted rabbit hutch that the woman I bought it from was using as a pigeon roost; I let it sit in the sun for a week then scrubbed with bleach and soapy water twice. Then, two coats of Kilz and two coats of red paint (the paints were oops & $1 each). Coop is 39" deep by 43" wide, and tall enough for two sets of roosts if I do them at right angles. Only one nesting box, because at this point I only have 4 hens and I will probably need to work on DH if I find I want/need more. The floor is wire, and I left it that way, and I cut off the legs of the hutch because it was too tall with them - it's resting on 2 x 4's right now, which gives clearance from the ground and lets the people door on the inside of the run open as well. It started being all wire, but I cut recycled plywood to fit, painted it, and shimmed it into the sides with nails. I did leave ventilation space on all sides, the roof has an overhang that allows it and will still give them protection.
The run gave me fits, I wanted originally to make this portable...which just wasn't going to work no matter how I rigged it...so, I am still going to build a chicken tractor for the days DH and/or I am home, so they can get some better forage, but this will be their 'permanent' home. The base is 2 x 4's, the corner posts, top bars, and the bar where the feeder is hung are all 2 x 2's. Some of them are recycled. It's 52" tall, so that I can get in without crawling.
I'll post pictures of the coop hopefully tomorrow, it took all of today to clean and paint it. I'm partway through building the enclosure but got stumped and had to give up for the day.