Building Dilemma

[BankFam]

My husband has been working long and hard to make a very large, very sturdy coop for our chickens and it's almost finished aside from the nesting boxes and roosting bars. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the design is good...
Our plan is to have roll out nesting boxes that extend outside the coop. I want to do the deep litter method but the opening he cut for the nesting boxes is only about 2in from the floor of the coop. I thought maybe I could combat this by putting a panel along the opening of the nesting boxes to keep litter from getting in, but I still wouldn't be able to make the litter very deep. And I've seen online that the nesting boxes should be AT LEAST 18in off the ground.
Can anyone please give me ideas on how to save this coop? I'd also appreciate tips on where to put the roosting bars. I was thinking we would mount them width-wise across the coop, but I don't want them hopping up in the rafters and want to avoid having them in a draft. The panels you see on the walls in the pictures are windows that can be opened and the big hole is for the nesting boxes. (And yes we will cover all the gaps with hardware cloth.)

 

[BankFam]

The little door for the chickens to get out is right on the floor too. I don't imagine that would work well with the deep litter method either.

 

[3KillerBs]

Yes, you have a legitimate concern there.

Using Deep Bedding in a Small Coop

I'm afraid that I don't have any ideas on how to fix the problem with the framing and floor completed.

 

[nuthatched]

You can get away with low nest boxes since yours are exterior but I'm not sure you you're going to fix the other issues.

 

[BankFam]

That's what I was afraid of.
Any input on roosting bars?

 

[aart]

Both nest and pop openings could be reframed, wouldn't be easy, but it's possible.
Roosts just need to be a bit higher than nests, so they don't sleep in nests.

 

[HollowOfWisps]

Why can’t he cut a little higher to make the opening taller and then adjust below it? It will involve a little bit of framing adjustment, but it’s not impossible with your setup.

 

[janiedoe]

My husband has been working long and hard to make a very large, very sturdy coop for our chickens and it's almost finished aside from the nesting boxes and roosting bars. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the design is good...
Our plan is to have roll out nesting boxes that extend outside the coop. I want to do the deep litter method but the opening he cut for the nesting boxes is only about 2in from the floor of the coop. I thought maybe I could combat this by putting a panel along the opening of the nesting boxes to keep litter from getting in, but I still wouldn't be able to make the litter very deep. And I've seen online that the nesting boxes should be AT LEAST 18in off the ground.
Can anyone please give me ideas on how to save this coop? I'd also appreciate tips on where to put the roosting bars. I was thinking we would mount them width-wise across the coop, but I don't want them hopping up in the rafters and want to avoid having them in a draft. The panels you see on the walls in the pictures are windows that can be opened and the big hole is for the nesting boxes. (And yes we will cover all the gaps with hardware cloth.)

My brother built my 2nd coop for me and disregarded some of my instructions. I had the chicken door on the floor. I solved this by building a covered, outdoor extension into the run, -sort of a chicken foyer. It has enough lip to keep the bedding in.

 

[MamaFox78]

Yeah I'm not sure how that will work, without dropping the floor to extend the depth. You'd have to pop out the floor boards, move the joists & flooring down about 6 inches, and patch in the walls. As it stands right now, I'm not sure what you could use for litter that wouldn't get kicked out. Dropping trays under the roosting bars would definitely be a good idea.

As for roosting in the rafters, they're gonna do it anyway. My coop has rafters high enough for my 6' tall husband to walk around in comfortably, and we've got plenty of roosting bars the are about 3-4' high, and one of my Easter Eggers still likes to roost in the rafters every night. I wouldn't worry about that so much. Judging by the look of your trees I'm assuming you're in a warmer climate than mine, so you should be OK.

 

[MamaFox78]

Why can’t he cut a little higher to make the opening taller and then adjust below it? It will involve a little bit of framing adjustment, but it’s not impossible with your setup.

Oh that's much easier than my idea