Have any of you gone the route for coop contrustion - straw bale building (coop). Having to build a coop for my soon to be delivery chickens and the need to have an insualted coop for where I live, I was wondering if anyone in the more northern States or in Canada have gone this route and if so any advice you could give me would be greatly appreciated.
Straw bale coop
It sounds like a great idea. Nice and insulated for warmth.
Idon't get it. Is it entirely made os straw? Isn't that a little to a la the three little pigs?
I am assuming that it is just insulated with straw, right? It soulds like a good idea, but I'd worry about varmints taking up residence inside ( mice, etc.) the straw.
Is this a one season idea or is it supposed to last a couple years? Sounds interesting. Maybe you could straw bale garden on the top of the coop too.
Try this. Make your general construction out of wire and 2x4's. Shape it like you want it to be, and then start stuffing the hound out of the straw into every single little hole, nook, and cranny. Keep stuffing until you feel like the wire is as full as it can be and by then you should have an approximate amount of 5" - 6". It makes for excellent insulation inside of any coop. Let us know how it works for you!
Belinda
It is made entirely of straw but it's nothing like you think it is. I will post a couple of links and you can see what I mean. The walls are strickly straw bales that are stacked like you would bricks. It keeps the coop warm in winter and cool in summer it has a R50 value to it. Homes are being built this way too at a GREATLY reduced price. The finishing of the walls is basically a type of stucco. If you do a search on the net of "straw bale coop" and or "straw bale homes" you will be AMAZED. They are nothing like you think they look like and many of these homes are two stories and quite beautiful. Some use the technique to build garden walls, etc, studios, cottages, absolutely amazing. They say that someone who has never built a structure can do this. We will have to see! My husband is wonderful at building things and he is an electrical contractors so I am pretty lucky in that respect but I want to build this myself.
Oops forgot to say these are "permanent" building, not something that falls apart in a couple of years. You do not put the straw bables directly on the dirt, you have to have some kind of foundation for it and some of the things I have seen on the net is quite bizzare, I saw one structure on old tires which they camouflaged after so you don't see them once the building is done or you put the bales on cement blocks. As I said it's truly fascinating once you research it. The other thing I found is "straw bale gardening".
I've done straw bale gardening but am not sold on it, and would love someday to construct a straw bale building. It does seem that it's better suited to some parts of the country rather than others. I think a coop's a fantastic idea.
i have guineas and have put straw in their coop for lay down stuff . they have a metal enclosure as i would be scared to let anyother animals in. you have to consider other animals will try to get into it and starw will make it easy for them to dig through.
i would do like texas garden mom said. make the outside wire then stuff it or stack the straw bales like you want them. safer. which my guineas think it looks better on the ground them stacked up for them to lay on.
I am building a Banya (hot sauna with wood stove for heat) made out of Cord wood logs and motar. And the roof is going to be straw bales over post and beam construcion with dirt on top and annuals planted in the dirt. Yes there will be a water barrier between the inside and out. I like your idea MBShafeena ! Though I like chicken tractors more once they are pullet size. (3 months)
I got you now, MBShafeena. Talk about easy to do. I would love to see some pics when you have time.
Soferdig, great banya. Will you post us a pic of your finished product????? :-)
I won't have it done until this fall but yes.
Thanks...........will watch for it. By the way, Happy SPRING to all of you!
IMZADI, I should have probably explained the concept better. As I said if you do a search on the web you will be able to see how this is accomplished. The walls are straw bales that are stacked like you would bricks and you do put these on some kind of foundation and then you put a type of wire mesh over the bales and then you apply the stucco type finish over all of it. There are many articles stating that it's basically rodent and bug proof as well and of course is great for northern climates in winter but also is wonderful in the summer as it doesn't heat up like other buildings. Now I just need to come up with a workable design as a coop :-)
Here is one site that explain a bit more
http://www.greenbuilder.com/sourcebook/strawbale.html
I am drawing up my plans for a straw bale coop, and hopefully I will be done with it in a few weeks, since my chicks are antsy to be outdoors. I think I'll just be putting down a raised wooden floor, and building the walls around that. I am going to use plastic to cover the straw, then wrap some wire fencing around the bottom and sink it (the fencing) a few feet to keep out the critters.