It is important to provide your chickens with a dry coop to keep them protected during cold and wet weather. A leaky roof on your chicken coop can cause moisture to enter and collect inside the coop to cause health-related issues from mold and mildew and can lead to frostbite on the exposed skin of your chicken's combs, wattles, and feet. These instructions can help you install the right type of metal roof on your chicken coop.

Ensure a Sloped Roof

Your chicken coop roof should be sloped so it best allows water runoff. A single or double-sided sloped coop roof will provide the angle for water runoff to drain from the roof's surface and prevent pooling of water. When water pools on your roof, it will find the path of least resistance to flow downward, which can end up being through cracks and holes in your roofing materials and lead to leaks. A sloped roof forces water off your roof and doesn't give it time to seep through your roof's layers.

If you are replacing a water-damaged flat roof, replace the roof deck and trusses and install supports for a sloped coop roof. If your coop roof has a slope of 6/12 or steeper, which is six inches of rise for every 12 inches of length, keep in mind it is a good idea to install an ice guard on the finished roof. This will prevent any buildup of ice or snow on your roof from sliding off the roof and injuring you or your chickens.

Install Roofing Under-Layers

Before you can install the metal panels for your chicken coop roof, make sure the roofing deck has been installed properly and is in good condition and not rotted. Otherwise, replace any rotted plywood panels with new ones, using roofing nails or screws to attach the plywood to the underlying roof trusses.

Next, install roofing felt onto the plywood roof deck, laying it horizontally across the roof, not up and down the roof's slope. Unroll a length of roofing felt across the bottom of the roof, laying it even with the edges of the roofing deck. Cut the end of the roofing felt strip even with the opposite side of the roof. Use roofing staples or nails to attach it to the decking, placing fasteners every four to eight inches across the bottom of the roll only and the edge of the roof.

Lay the next strip overlapping the first length of roofing felt by two to three inches and install the fasteners through the overlay to secure both layers to the roofing deck. Continue this process to cover the roofing deck with felt. If your roof has a center peak, cover the opposite side of the roof in the same manner, finishing with a center strip of felt across the roof's peak. Install fasteners on both sides of the slope to secure the felt.

Install Metal Roofing Panels

Now you can install the metal panels onto your chicken coop roof. The ridges in the metal roofing panels will help hold the panels in place and keep them spaced appropriately. Place the first length of roofing tin along the edge of the roof so it runs from the top of the roof and down its slope. Allow approximately four inches of the metal to overhang the roofing deck for water runoff.

Insert roofing screws or nails with plastic washers, spaced every eight inches into the metal roofing panels along the edge and bottom of the roof. Insert the nails or screws so they sit flush with the metal but not too tightly that they cause the metal to pucker.

Set the next length of roofing adjacent to the first one and overlapping their V-shaped corrugated ridges. Insert fasteners through the overlay of the two panels and along the bottom edge of the roof. Using this attachment method helps you to use less fasteners, thus creating less fastener holes and less opportunity for leaks in the roof. 

Continue this process across the top of your roof. When you reach the edge of the roof, insert roofing fasteners along the edge of the roof to finish the process. If your roof has a center peak, install a metal peak cap and secure both sides with roofing nails or screws.

Use these instructions to install a durable and dry coop roof for your chickens.

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