Good Day Permies!
It's been awhile since I've posted here...but I guess that's life. I got duped into getting ducks this spring...and since they don't like the
chicken coop I guess I'm building a duck coop. Now because I'm a moron and like to overcomplicate things (and because I'm not in love with our
chicken coop in the first place, as it just gave me a 9" gash down my back and ripped one of my favorite t-shirts...) I've decided to just rebuild the chicken coop too. One of our future projects was to build a greenhouse...and since our
yard is large, but not country livin' large it's now getting integrated into this building as well. The
greenhouse was going to be about 5' from the foul yard anyways...so why not connect them (start ominous music). So, I've posted my plans below to get some feedback as to how dumb of an idea this all is before I get started.
Few key details:
We will have 7
chickens & 4 ducks (however I've sized it to hold around 18 total birds...) (the ducks are runners & khaki's)
I already have a bunch of 2"x4" and 2"x6" and sliding glass doors (for windows)
I already have a bunch or metal roofing material
I already have the 55 gallon drums
The
greenhouse will step down a couple feet into the ground (hoping for a net of 2' down)
I have access to a small backhoe for the groundwork
General plan:
Overall the building will be 8'W x 23-24'L x 10'T. The greenhouse will have 2 permanent in ground planters for something like a fig or pomegranate...that can freeze, but maybe doesn't like -30F. I do not plan on heating the greenhouse, nor do I expect the birds to keep it warm
enough in the winter...I'm just hoping it's warmer than outside...and that some plants that I can't grow outside will be ok in there. The greenhouse will primarily be used for seed starting, and frost protection of planters in the early spring / late fall. All walls except the south wall will be insulated, with no glass. The roof will overhang quite a bit to help with summer overheating. In the winter the air vents will connect to the foul side of the building, but be closed to the outside. In the summer all the vents will open, there are low vents and high vents to encourage airflow, and I will probably put an exhaust fan on one of the high side vents. The door to the outside may end up being an insulated storm door that can open for airflow as well.
I'm planning on catching the rain
water of the single pitched roof and running it through 1" PVC pipe into a rain barrel/heat retention system inside the greenhouse. Since the door height is about the same as the gutter height, and I want the rain barrels on the back wall, I've designed a little PVC collection system and routed it under the floor (schematic attached as well).
The bird side of this catastrophe will have pretty standard coop stuff, combined with some duck stuff. The floor will be slightly elevated, and simple to allow for deep
straw bedding. There is a cleanout door under the nesting boxes that can be lifted from the outside to provide a 2'T x 4'W opening to push out the spent bedding. 2 rows of elevated nesting boxes for the chickens, and a triple roosting bar will provide the ladies all the room they need for their general happiness. The ducks on the other hand will have a small attached sleeping area, their own nesting box, and what I've found called the "duck dipper" (see photo below, this was taken from Carolina Coops and is in no way mine, nor my idea...I just like it). Also sorry the plans have an error in them...the duck nesting box was left off...it's inbetween the duck dipper and the duck sleeping area. I've read ducks are unreliable at nesting boxes anyways...
If you have any thought please let me know!