Coop/covered run so far. Any suggestions?

marie24248

In the Brooder
Apr 23, 2016
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Photo from my back deck

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Closer view. Left side is front facing North. Right side back entrance facing South.
(This is a repurposed building so it is what it is as far as orientation)

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Front view

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Back view (mower will be removed lol)

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Coop inside of covered run 4x6. We are going to cover the left side like the back to cover drafts from outside walls leaving ventilation on top.

For the other two walls we are going to make them hardware cloth walls with a wall that has hinges at the top so it can be closed for winter leaving ventilation at the top. It will have 2 cleaning doors one on short end inside and the other on inside long side near the left side. Nest boxes will be on the inside long side on right. All open areas will be covered with hardware cloth.

It is raised 2' so the chickens can walk under it for run space (barn is a little over 12x12). The roosts will be the short way on the left side 12" from wall the 12" from that one and 14" high so it will be 16" from ventilation. I would like a poop board or cloth how much does a chicken need to be able to walk under? Any other suggestions? Thanks

We live in southwest Virginia (not west virginia, the most western part of virginia closest to kentucky) our summers are hot and our winters average 20f although the last couple of winters we have had some colder spells will more snow than normal.

We have 3 isa brown pullets and 3 white leghorn pullets. They are about 4 weeks old.
 
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This cracked me up! Way back when...when I was out in California, I'd tell people that I was from WVa., and they'd say "Oh...western Virginia???" "No - WEST VIRGINIA - it's a state by itself!" Maybe you have the opposite problem...

Anyhow...too bad you threw in there that you can't do anything about orientation, because my first concern was that you can't see into your run from your home, which would bug the crap out of me. If you hear a ruckus going on, it's sure nice to be able to see whether it's an issue for concern or not without having to run all the way out there...

My lowest roosts are appx. 6-8 inches off the dropping boards in all of my coops. You just want to leave enough space for you to easily scrape them (I use a 6" drywall knife/small bucket). The clearance above the roosts for vent. sounds fine.

I did notice that I can see right through the boards where their housing will be, so I would either put a layer of cardboard up in the winter time, or a thin piece of plywood - you don't want cold winds on them during that time of year.

That's great that you're using hardware cloth - make sure any gaps bigger than an inch or so are covered - including along the floors. With your coop being right next to that tree line, and away from the house, raccoons will most likely be frequent coop visitors, as well as foxes and such.

It's so nice to have a structure available to remodel rather than building from scratch...
 
This cracked me up!  Way back when...when I was out in California, I'd tell people that I was from WVa., and they'd say "Oh...western Virginia???"  "No - WEST VIRGINIA - it's a state by itself!"  Maybe you have the opposite problem...

Anyhow...too bad you threw in there that you can't do anything about orientation, because my first concern was that you can't see into your run from your home, which would bug the crap out of me.  If you hear a ruckus going on, it's sure nice to be able to see whether it's an issue for concern or not without having to run all the way out there...

My lowest roosts are appx. 6-8 inches off the dropping boards in all of my coops.  You just want to leave enough space for you to easily scrape them (I use a 6" drywall knife/small bucket).  The clearance above the roosts for vent. sounds fine. 

I did notice that I can see right through the boards where their housing will be, so I would either put a layer of cardboard up in the winter time, or a thin piece of plywood - you don't want cold winds on them during that time of year.

That's great that you're using hardware cloth - make sure any gaps bigger than an inch or so are covered - including along the floors.  With your coop being right next to that tree line, and away from the house, raccoons will most likely be frequent coop visitors, as well as foxes and such. 

It's so nice to have a structure available to remodel rather than building from scratch...


Yes anytime I say southwest virginia someone online assumes West Virginia lol.

We are putting up a plywood wall to cover the outside walls leaving ooen space at the top fotr ventilation. The to walls that will make the itger two walls of the coop will be haedware cloth with a hinged wall that will close for winter (I hope it works) we can get some very hot summers so I want the extra open area but we can get some very cold winters too being in the mountains.
 
Is your flock going to have access to an area outside of this building? If this building is all they will ever have access to, you're going to need to pull down all the siding to get more natural light in there. Light is essential for egg production.
 
We will have an area outside that is fenced in that they can run in when we are out with them. Juat have to get this finished first before we can rework the fences
 
In that case, get rid of all the siding and use the structure as a frame for the run, to maximize the amount of light they get. No need for all those solid walls. A simple box structure inside will be more than adequate for a coop. You won't even need to put in a roof over the coop box, just cover it with hardware cloth. You will need to shut them in the coop at night though, since the flooring is bare dirt.
 

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