Chickens roosting in the run at night rather than in the henhouse?
November 23, 2020
Clay’s Striped Garden Coop Backyard Chicken Coop from Plans, Austin, Texas
Clay from Austin, Texas sent us a note and pictures of the chicken coop he built using the The Garden Coop walk-in chicken coop and run plans. The striped stained-wood siding on the henhouse and extra external nesting boxes look fantastic. The rest of the post is from Clay. . . .
My Garden Coop chicken coop build
It’s been over 100 degrees here in Austin most days since I put the chicks out this summer at week three. I thought the henhouse would be too hot for them, but they all run up there at night. I even close the hen entry door, but the open ceiling design keeps it close to the outside temps.
My perches are natural logs from fallen trees in the area. If the pecking order from the height difference is a problem, I’ll change those out with level perches.
Instead of side hinges, I made the henhouse door hinge up and added a window. For the wood stain I used a redwood color for the frame and for the mid-tone siding color and added a natural and a dark color stain on alternating siding boards to complement the redwood color.
It all came together nicely. Thanks so much for your help.
More photos of Clay’s walk-in chicken coop with external nest boxes. . .
Many thanks to Clay for sharing his coop photos and notes on building with The Garden Coop chicken coop plans. If you like what he’s created, please let him know with a note below. And if you find our posts helpful and want to receive email notifications as posts are published, subscribe to Coop Thoughts.
Also, if you’re in the Austin area like Clay, help spread the word about the upcoming 2014 Funky Chicken Coop Tour. We were involved in our local coop tour for years as hosts, guests, and sponsors, and I can tell you, even if you’re a full-fledged chicken keeper (hey, consider being a host!), it’s a great way to spend a day and celebrate the backyard chicken movement in your area. Not in Austin? Check out our list of chicken coop tours.
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Pinterest
Topics
Other posts you might like...
Susan and Ryan’s Garden Coop Chicken Coop, Vermont
January 25, 2013
TheGardenCoop.com mentioned at The Well Daily
March 28, 2011
What’s the best kind of chicken wire and fencing?
September 29, 2009
Chicken Coop Tour No. 1
September 5, 2012
Steve’s Garden Coop and DIY Chicken Watering System, Seattle, Washington
February 24, 2011
10 Reasons to Start Keeping Chickens in Your Backyard This Year
January 8, 2021
7 thoughts on “Clay’s Striped Garden Coop Backyard Chicken Coop from Plans, Austin, Texas”
I realize this is really old, but do you know what type of wood Clay used, both for framing and siding? I’ve read a lot on the blog about wood choices, but I am feeling kind of overwhelmed.
Abby, I’m not sure the type of wood. He didn’t specify it in the notes he sent. It looks like the siding might be cedar fence boards. They look so good because he stained them. The framing lumber looks like a regular softwood — spruce, fir, or pine — whatever they sell at your local big box for framing lumber. Again, he stained it to give it that richer look. Hope this helps. Feel free to email me if you have any other questions.
I used predominately western red cedar. For the siding, I used cedar fencing cut to size. It wasn’t the cheapest option but withstands annual pressure washing and comes out looking like new every year. Still very happy with my Garden Coop design.
Thanks, Clay, for posting. I was worried about the design and being good for the hotter weather. We just bought a place south of Houston, new construction without trees in the back yard. I was worried about the see-through roofing material. Have you had any problems with it becoming like a greenhouse in there? I see you have those nice hill country trees. I think the only alteration I will make is to shorten my coop to fence level to give it more stability incase of a hurricane!
Wendy, thank you for posting. Clay may respond as well, but I thought I’d address your concerns about the design and the materials called for in the plans.
The Solar Gray polycarbonate roofing panels cut all but 30% of the sunlight and block about half of the solar heat. So they actually provide plenty of shade in full summer sun. And because of the openness of the design, there is no buildup of heat as in an enclosed greenhouse — unless you were to make modifications specifically to capture and hold heat. See this post for an example of that.
As for building The Garden Coop in an area with high winds, I’ve had a couple customers in hurricane country anchor 4×4 posts for the corners and attach the walls to those. A simpler way would be to anchor the coop with augur anchors, the kind used to anchor sheds. The kits you can get for this usually include four or so anchors of either 15″ or 30″ depth (one for each corner) plus a length of cable. You screw the anchors into the ground, loop the cable through, then secure it to either the bottom of the frame or drape it up over the rafters if you feel you need to anchor from the top. (This is all in addition to the anchoring that results from trenching the hardware cloth.)
Augur anchors will be very effective on The Garden Coop, since they’re designed to hold against the greater stresses endured by solid-walled sheds. It might seem counterintuitive that an airy looking structure like The Garden Coop would actually have less stress on it from wind than a solid-walled shed, but because the wind flows through it, there isn’t the force/pressure against walls that lead to tipping.
A couple other customers have sent me video and photos of their coops during or after Superstorm Sandy in 2012. Here’s one of them. Neither customer had any issues with their Garden Coop.
Hope this helps.
Probably too late to be useful Wendy, but I’ll answer for anyone else interested. Heat wasn’t really a problem as they look clear but were the lightly tinted ones, also, it’s under a live oak and gets only dappled sunlight. Branches dropping occasionally from the mature tree however started cracking the panels. So I replaced the vinyl roofing panels with galvanized steel roofing panels. I thought it would be too dark but it helped with heat and hasn’t been damaged by any branches etc. I (easily) added height to the Garden Coop since I’m tall and didn’t want to stoop. It’s easily modified to suit your needs.
I love the different stains on the exterior. Very striking. The window in the henhouse door is a nice touch.