Backyard Coop construction photos - advice appreciated.

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Tom Kennedy

Tom Kennedy

Hatching
Apr 16, 2016
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Greetings,

While I was raised on a small farm and had over 100 chickens, I have not had chickens for over 40 years. My wife wants 6 hens, so I have scoured this website (which is great by the way) for ideas and am making progress on the coop. The design has 24 square feet of floor space and the run will have about 150 square feet of ground access. I will have three external nesting boxes that will be 12x12x18 high with a lift up lid for egg collection.

I just built my roosting ladder and will be putting a slide out tray that will have Sweet PDZ in it. The tray is not pictured as it is still in the form of plywood and lumber, but it will be right below the roosting ladder.

Does this ladder seem to steep? Is there such a thing?

Any advice is appreciated.
 
I think the roost looks fine.
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Its not too steep. The pdz will make sifting the gumdrops easier. The 3 nesting boxes could actually be 2 for 6 hens.
Everything looks well constructed soo far. Read up on ventilation and place it high in the coop. You may need to lower the highest roosting so as to prevent drafts and wind blowing at your chickens. (especially cold wind, Not sure of your location)
Keep us posted with progress pix and ask anything you are not sure of. There are many here with helpful advice.
WISHING YOU BEST and
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Thanks - I live in northern inland San Diego County so the weather is pretty good. I am planning on 1 square foot of ventilation per bird and will have it high in the coop.

Do you think that the third nesting box is a bad idea? I know that hens can be persnickety sometimes about laying - I think I would rather have three and only two in use than build two and want three later.

Thanks again!

Tom
 
One other question - I had planned to make the ventilation openings with doors that I could close in cold weather. While we don't get what most people consider cold weather, we do get a handful of nights that go below freezing. Should I just put the vents in and leave them open or make it so they can be closed depending on the weather?
 
I can't exactly answer that because it's something I've wondered about myself, but I can give you something to consider. In the winter, the humidity can build up in the coop (from the droppings). This results in too much moisture in the air and makes the chickens' combs more prone to frostbite. However you sound like it is just for the night, so I can't really see any harm. My neighbor staples plastic sheets all over her coop windows (since they are just hardware cloth and can't be shut) for the whole winter and she doesn't have any problems. So I'm not quite sure what is best to do, but just a couple things you can consider.

Hopefully someone else can give you a yes or no answer or explain it much better than I can.
 
Tom Kennedy said:
Thanks - I live in northern inland San Diego County so the weather is pretty good. I am planning on 1 square foot of ventilation per bird and will have it high in the coop.

Do you think that the third nesting box is a bad idea? I know that hens can be persnickety sometimes about laying - I think I would rather have three and only two in use than build two and want three later.

Thanks again!

Tom
Click to expand...

I don't think you can have too many nesting boxes, some just go unused. I had 4 girls with 3 nesting boxes and at times there would be 2 lying an egg at the same time and they would leave one in between themselves. I thought that was nice for a little added privacy. You don't need a third, but if you want one, by all means build it!
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Tom Kennedy said:
One other question - I had planned to make the ventilation openings with doors that I could close in cold weather.   While we don't get what most people consider cold weather, we do get a handful of nights that go below freezing.   Should I just put the vents in and leave them open or make it so they can be closed depending on the weather?
Click to expand...


We have ventilation near the roof, it's has hardware cloth over the opening but nothing to close it off during the winter. During the winter we get a few nights in the single digits, but usually only in teens for lows. The window on the north side we close but the south window stays open just about year 'round. They are awning-type, opening out, so it doesn't rain/snow in.

To answer your question...I wouldn't bother with being able to close the vent unless blowing rain/snow was an issue. You don't want the coop too closed-up, especially in the winter when any condensation inside could freeze on your chickens causing frostbite.
 
For the roosting ladder, it should be one roost every 18 inches (for full-size birds, not bantams) if they are horizontal, or one roost every 12 inches if they also rise 12 inches (like your ladder). So it does look a little steep to me. Good to see the nice, wide roosts, just think they are a little close. The birds will poop on each other. :(
 
Thanks - That will save me a bunch of work! I finished the slide out poop tray and nesting boxes yesterday.
 

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