Catawba Coop - Comments? Suggestions?

I strongly considered buying one of these from a BYC member who builds and sells them just north of me but decided to go with a dog house turned banty coop/run/tractor for several reasons and so happy that I did.

I'm in the Pacific NW with the rain - with the V shape, rain would hit the birds in the run.

The chicks would get out when opening the sides, unless you put them down below and close the trap door.

Too hard to clean with all those angles.

Lack of roost and coop space.  (my chickens like to go in their coops during the day when it's too hot or just to take a nap).

Lack of proper ventilation and/or light.

I have the Catawba Coop and my ladies LOVE it,lol.
We use wood shavings up top in the roost. I clean it out weekly by removing the poo and adding new shavings. Occasionally, there is poo on the trap door, I just scrape it off with a putty scraper.

Our coop has the original mesh called for. We have never had a problem with predators. We close the girls up in the roost at night. We have an opossum and a raccoon that visit occasionally.


I've used our coop since march and my only complaint is the weight of the building. Even our goats like it, lol.

1. The loft and roost seem badly planned.  The roost runs most of the length of the loft and sits right over the edge of the trap door.  First, there is no easy way to clean it, and second, it begs for poop to fall all over the edge of the door frame and then onto the door.  It would be nice to figure out some kind of removable tray system and maybe move the roost, though I can't see any options.  One idea I had was to notch the side handle to be flush with the floor and use the cutout piece as the front of a slide out drawer that pulls out a box I'll make out of sheet metal or thin wood that also holds the roost.  I could dump and clean all in one go.  The only problem is now I have cracks around that drawer for rain to get in.

Cleaning it is pretty easy, I just take off the side panels and use a small shovel or trowel.  I dont put any thing down in the roost area. 

2. I wanted an entrance in the middle of the screened area so was thrilled when I saw Mike and Em's change.  That is what I wanted to do.  I'm afraid to use flat panels instead of the staggered removable side panels though because of rain leaking in at the hinge crack.

I'm not sure what is Mike and ems change??

3. What size mesh is everyone using?  The plans call for the open, wide stuff, but I'm hearing so many horror stories of paws reaching in or heads sticking out and going missing that I'm wondering about using hardware cloth instead.  I back up against the woods so I wondering if that is a valid concern or not.

Knowing what I know now i would use hardware cloth, it will also keep the wild birds from flying in and eating the chicken food.  however it will be harder to feed them by hand.  I also added chicken wire to the floor to discourage predators and keep the chicken from tearing up the lawn.  Check this video out, this guy has the same 4X8 foot footprint and his chickens tore his lawn up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB3m9UHRR3E

4. I'm also wondering about not enclosing one end.  Leave a crosspiece or two for support at the upper section where the egg door and run door go, but just use mesh again on the bottom part.

I would keep a door on both ends, that way you can get inside easier if you have to, I have my water and food by the one door and I hung a smaller feeder for ostyer shells on the other door.

Does anyone else have any comments after using one of these for a while?  Any comments, suggestions or improvements?  Thanks!

It is pretty heavy, I can lift each end up and move it through the yard.  Adding wheels of some sort would be nice.  I would try to reduce some weight.

Check out this thread on the chickens sleeping in the nest boxes, I would increase the roost size to 4X4 and raise it up a little.  They dont seem to poop on the ramp since I made the roost bigger.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=234668

Here is what I did.  I added a small piece of 2x2 under the 2x2 roost to elevate it a little and then added a 2X4 on top.



I'm still blocking the nest boxes at night, only 3 of the 4 hens are laying.  I plan to keep doing this until all 4 are laying + a few weeks to make sure they stay on the roost at night.

Here is a picture of inside before I cleaned it.  what you see is about a 1.5 weeks of poop and after a heavy rain.  They don't really poop at all on the roost any more and dont poop on the ramp  since I added the 2X4 to the roost.

A few other things that a have learned is make sure you leave a good size gap between the doors on the ends.  At least 5mm.  I have found that after it rains the wood swells and the wood bends under the weight of the tractor.  If your doors & nest boxes are a very tight fit you will have problems opening and closing the doors.  I have had to do some changes after it was finished. 

Use longer screws to hold the handles to the frame.  The coop is heavy and you can or will pull out the short screws when moving it.

Okay, I just have to admit it--I hate tractors! Every tractor that I have seen, the chickens are just crammed in there and look miserable. It is extremely hard to get the minimum 10 sq. ft. per bird in run area. And most do not look predator safe. My first coop was a "playhouse" style, 4 by 8 with upstairs coop. I figured out is was too small by the time they were 3 months old. With a "real" coop that I can walk into, and a decent sized run, I am soo much happier and so are they. JMHO!