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Question to those of you with Wichita style coops

post #1 of 8
9/18/12 at 7:08pm
Thread Starter 
I'm in the process of building my coop and it's a lot like the Wichita coop. I was wondering about the chicken pop door and rain. My wife has been suggesting for me to build the pop door on the coops floor so that the hens enter from the bottom. I know I will lose good inside floor space by doing that, but I'm guessing that it'll keep the inside of the coop dry. My question is, how wet does the inside of your coop get when it rains...if it does get wet? Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Here's a link with pictures of my build. http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/pollo-tropical
Thanks.
Kevin
Edited by TROPIC HENS - 9/18/12 at 7:33pm
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post #2 of 8
9/19/12 at 12:54am

With the roof you have over your coop, no rain will get in through the pop door unless you are having a hurricane.  The pop door will be just fine on the wall between the coop and run.  If you are really worried about it, just put it towards the back side of that wall.

The build looks good so far!

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post #3 of 8
9/19/12 at 2:22am

I agree with the above. Your coop won't get wet. You'd REALLY regret having a hole in the floor. It'd have to be much, much bigger than you think.

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post #4 of 8
9/19/12 at 8:34am
Thread Starter 
Thank you for the responses. That's pretty much what I figured, but wanted to hear it from someone with experience. Think I'll just build it on the wall and surprise my wife. She's hell bent with it on the floor.
Edited by TROPIC HENS - 9/19/12 at 9:44am
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post #5 of 8
9/19/12 at 12:57pm

The problem is not so much the inside of the hen house, which should stay dry, but the floor of your run, which will definitely get wet during heavy rains.  My wife wanted to try the deep litter method for the our coop run and I noticed that even with light rain, run-off would hit the block at the base and splash in the coop.  If there was any wind, all of the base litter would get wet save for a small area under the hen house.  Since it was raining almost daily here for a while, the wet litter was getting messy and smelly, so I fitted some coop curtains using semi-clear 6x10' tarps.  You can get on them on ebay for about $15.  I rigged it so I can use a half skirt for normal rains and a full curtain for big rainstorms and snow.  Working good so far, it rained last night and today the litter is dry as a bone.

 

 

 


Edited by CovertChickOps - 9/19/12 at 1:02pm
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post #6 of 8
9/19/12 at 1:37pm

We built this style coop and have had no issues with rain getting into the coop. We leave the coop door open in all kinds of weather all year round (Vermont). Actually, we had a nasty storm here the other day and I went out to check on the girls and they were warm and dry and watching the storm from the comfort of their perch. When we were building the coop my wife picked up a window with thermal panes from a building supply recycle shop and built it into the east face. The girls love to sit on their perch and watch the bad weather.

 

So no, I really wouldn't put the door on the floor. I just don't see the benefit, especially when you'll loose so much floor space. And though I love this style of coop, floor space is at a premium.

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post #7 of 8
9/19/12 at 7:12pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by CovertChickOps View Post

The problem is not so much the inside of the hen house, which should stay dry, but the floor of your run, which will definitely get wet during heavy rains.  My wife wanted to try the deep litter method for the our coop run and I noticed that even with light rain, run-off would hit the block at the base and splash in the coop.  If there was any wind, all of the base litter would get wet save for a small area under the hen house.  Since it was raining almost daily here for a while, the wet litter was getting messy and smelly, so I fitted some coop curtains using semi-clear 6x10' tarps.  You can get on them on ebay for about $15.  I rigged it so I can use a half skirt for normal rains and a full curtain for big rainstorms and snow.  Working good so far, it rained last night and today the litter is dry as a bone.

 

 

 

That's pretty neat. It's almost like a curtain. I'm using gravel and then a layer of sand in my coop, plus its a little elevated. I'm not too concerned with the run. My main concern was the inside of the hen house. I didn't want to get everything in there soaked and stinking. What I'll do is place the door towards the back of the coop. Like that it's very protected by the house and the slant of the roof.

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post #8 of 8
9/19/12 at 7:15pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wissa38 View Post

We built this style coop and have had no issues with rain getting into the coop. We leave the coop door open in all kinds of weather all year round (Vermont). Actually, we had a nasty storm here the other day and I went out to check on the girls and they were warm and dry and watching the storm from the comfort of their perch. When we were building the coop my wife picked up a window with thermal panes from a building supply recycle shop and built it into the east face. The girls love to sit on their perch and watch the bad weather.

 

So no, I really wouldn't put the door on the floor. I just don't see the benefit, especially when you'll loose so much floor space. And though I love this style of coop, floor space is at a premium.


I totally agree...floor space is extremely important. I'm very appreciative of all the responses. It's confirmed what I believed.

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BackYard Chickens › BYC Forum › Raising BackYard Chickens › Coop & Run - Design, Construction, & Maintenance › Question to those of you with Wichita style coops