so my husband built a coop for our 4 pullets few months ago and I've been thinking about few changes to make it better.
The issues:
no ventilation
no door that could be closed at night
only one roost (and its round) - top 2 girls won't let the other 2 to roost
would like to have food and water inside
too small, inside is 6x3 but nest boxes are in, outside is 6x6 - can't really fix it so they free range most of the day
the girls are: cuckoo marans, cream legbar, dominique and black jersey giant
There was a "ceiling" which created sort of a storage area on top, or so my husband thought. The legbar decided it was a great sleeping spot. So I removed it, I am thinking about leaving it open for ventilation and just cover the "hole" with hardware cloth. I was also thinking about adding another opening on the other side so there would be draft at the top. We will replace the chicken wire with hardware cloth as soon as we can.
The roost, I honestly don't know what to do with it. I saw pictures of roost that look kinda like a ladder and I really liked that but there isn't enough room I think.
The door, shouldnt be too hard to add it, my question is, do they need a door or can it stay open? Once we make sure its predator proof. I am always so afraid something will get in at night. We've been lucky so far.
For the food and water, I was thinking about buying smaller wall feeder and putting it on top of the nest boxes. Not sure what to do for water. Or should I just leave it outside since there isnt that much room inside?
pictures (sorry they are so blurry)
The issues:
no ventilation
no door that could be closed at night
only one roost (and its round) - top 2 girls won't let the other 2 to roost
would like to have food and water inside
too small, inside is 6x3 but nest boxes are in, outside is 6x6 - can't really fix it so they free range most of the day
the girls are: cuckoo marans, cream legbar, dominique and black jersey giant
There was a "ceiling" which created sort of a storage area on top, or so my husband thought. The legbar decided it was a great sleeping spot. So I removed it, I am thinking about leaving it open for ventilation and just cover the "hole" with hardware cloth. I was also thinking about adding another opening on the other side so there would be draft at the top. We will replace the chicken wire with hardware cloth as soon as we can.
The roost, I honestly don't know what to do with it. I saw pictures of roost that look kinda like a ladder and I really liked that but there isn't enough room I think.
The door, shouldnt be too hard to add it, my question is, do they need a door or can it stay open? Once we make sure its predator proof. I am always so afraid something will get in at night. We've been lucky so far.
For the food and water, I was thinking about buying smaller wall feeder and putting it on top of the nest boxes. Not sure what to do for water. Or should I just leave it outside since there isnt that much room inside?
pictures (sorry they are so blurry)