Thinking of converting part of my storage shed into a chicken coop.

[Kaleva]

Outside dimensions of the shed is 16' long by 12' wide. It sits south-westish of the vegetable garden in the back yard. I figured I would need about 10 chickens maximum to supply eggs for me and my wife and some other family members who have said they'd like some. Using the back 5 feet of the shed for the coop, that would supply enough area for that many hens. 55 square feet. For the outside run, I would use the north side and fence in a 10' wide by 16' long (the length of the shed) which would provide more than enough outside area for 10 chickens. If I just had 4 hens, I could downsize the dimensions of the coop and the outside run.

Last year I had priced the cost of a very small coop, big enough for 4 birds and it was over $300. Using part of the storage building instead would be a big cost saver. The north, east and south side of the possible coop already have walls and I have the 2x4s which I could use to put up a frame to hold the hardware cloth (fence) that would form the west wall. I'd probably put down new OSB board, which I have, on the floor and seal it. To protect the wall studs on the 3 sides of the coop, I may put up cement board. I'd need about 4 sheets. This would be for 10-12 hens. A lot less materials would be needed if I built a coop in the storage building to house 4 hens.

If I kept the height to 4', I could put down OSB board on top so I'd have a place to store light stuff and wouldn't lose so much storage space.

There are some other things I have to work out but overall, it looks to be quite doable, is easily scalable and would save money.