Coop update. Need some advice

Well, we are almost completely done with the coop! It always seems your trying to make everything absolutely perfect for chickens lol.



We have locking hinges on the nesting boxs, and doors. Also there is 1 inch venting under singles all the way around coop. That is also true for nesting boxs.



So one question that I am having. The inside is 8x4. How much roost in space do they need? I was going to put a 2x 3foot bars with a plastic tote under them against the back wall. I was not planning on putting food or water in the coop. ( not sure if that's ok, heard they don't have to have water/feed over night)

Will that be sufficient roosting room for 10 birds.?



With all the 1 inch ventilation plus these gable venting, is that going to be enough ventilation? The gable venting is on both sides


And my last question. How much room does each nesting box need for a chicken. I need to partition off the best box into smaller sections and want to get my dimension correct. Sorry for any typos or blocky paragraphs, types all of this on my iPhone. Thanks in advance

Nice coop! Ditto on the hardware cloth, though. Weasels and rats can squeeze into amazingly small spaces (to say nothing of mice). And raccoons are known to just reach in and grab a bird part.

As for the nest boxes, you shouldn't need more than three. All the biddies seem to fight over the favorite one anyhow!

Well each side has a 31inch nesting box that I need to partion into smaller sectional. How should i break that down? Is there a minimum amount of alloted room each bird needs?

If it were me, I'd just divide that space equally into three parts. 1x1x1 is an average size. Big enough for a hen, but not for multiple hens to crowd in.

My nest boxes are weird, as my large chicken coop was actually built for homing pigeons. So my "nest boxes" were individual cubbies for pigeons. So they are not quite tall enough, but roomy otherwise.

Three nest boxes should be plenty for 8-10 birds.

Again, nice looking coop. Have fun!

Alright I'll divide both of them so I'll have 6 total nesting boxes. I've got 5 isa so I figured I would need as much nesting room as possible lol

pauleberly said:

Alright I'll divide both of them so I'll have 6 total nesting boxes. I've got 5 isa so I figured I would need as much nesting room as possible lol

Click to expand...

I've seen two Buff Brahmas and an Easter Egger in the same nest - at the same time! I have 20 birds and they use exactly 3 of the 6 nesting boxes out there.....silly chickens! If cutting down on your nesting boxes gives you space for something else, or more space for your chickens, I agree with fewer nests actually working out better. Most of the time they see that another chicken laid in there so that's where they want to lay their eggs, too! I can go out there and find as many as 11 eggs in one box, with the rest scattered between the other 2 that they use. And the kicker is that every nest is on the same wall, in the same location, and is the same kind of nest! I repeat, silly chickens...

Yep. In the morning when I let the Australorp girls out there's often five of them in one of my oversized boxes!

Agree that if it gives you storage space for equipment, feed, etc. I'd just do three. That's really plenty.

Lol. Yeah they will do what they want. I would repurpose the other nesting box, but I'm not sure what to do with it.

So I was wanting to use sweet pdz and a sand mix inside this coop. I would like something low maintenance. Pine shaving seem to smell after awhile, but the pdz is dusty. I am not worried about the price of pdz.

What would you guys recommend for a coop bedding? The floor is painted, and a layer of limonium on top of that.

The smell of shavings goes up, then it goes way down. My coop only smells if I fall behind on scraping stray droppings from the roosts and stirring the bedding. I added sand to my bedding last year and never will again!