[Emmett]

I was just wondering whether or not I could turn my old dog house into a chicken coop? It was made to house a St Bernard so its fair to say its quite big. I would build my own nesting boxes and attach them onto the side, is this viable?

[HesterF]

Would have thought so if you're handy enough. There was a similar post a while back. You need to put in perches which are a bit higher than the nest boxes too. And make sure the ventilation is OK because dog houses tend to have no door, don't they? So if you're putting on a door, you have to make sure the inside is still fresh - no overheating or stale air.

[Emmett]

Yeah, the dog house has a door at the front and a couple of air holes along the back wall, could make another few if needed. And for the perches all you need is a solid piece of wood right?

[HesterF]

Yep, depends on the size of the birds (and their feet) but about 2x2 or a bit less. Take off the corners a bit too so they're a little rounded - no sharp corners. Height is tricky. I've got big, heavy birds so they won't perch if the perches are too high (and can injure themselves getting down). But if you put it too low, they might end up in the nestboxes instead, making a mess of them. I believe it can be good to have hanging perches so you suspend them from the roof with chains. It makes the birds work a bit harder to perch which keeps them fitter and might be easier for you to put in.

H

[chrismahon]

We've converted one Emmett. Had to close down the door aperture and fit a pop-hole, add a perch and ventilation. We didn't bother with a nest box as it was a Winter home for bantams (in the greenhouse) and they were not laying anyway.


Forgot to mention that it was a real pain to clean out. As there was no door (it was too small anyway) the roof had to be lifted off and it was rather heavy and awkward.

[Tala Orchard]

We did it the other way round, converted one of the smaller coops for our collie pup, it had stood empty for sometime as we had converted a 8 x 6 shed we had been given as we had increased our layers to 30+ and it seemed bright idea to have them all together.

[Emmett]

Just been looking at plans for it, to be honest it does look like rather a lot of work and I would be looking to keep a good number of silkie bantams in it so it would be easier to start off with a pre built coop

[doganjo]

I did it for my ducks.  Made the apex roof a flat lift up one on a hydraulic system as it was heavy (No 1 son to the rescue here lol).  But it was a pest to clean so opening the end of it to make a door as well as the lift up roof would have been better.  Not using mine now, waiting for a friend to collect it for his ducks,. Mine are now in a 6 x 4 x 6 garden shed.
Hoping Bloomer will help take the big great dane dog cage to Ellie for her one legged chook. 

[shygirl]

we did this with success, but it did give me a sore back when i had to climb inside to clean it out