Building Dilemma

[BankFam]

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.

Yeah, I think the door will be super easy to move higher because he just cut a hole in the OSB. No framing. The nesting box hole will be more challenging and cost more, but doable. I just need to convince him to do it.

 

[BankFam]

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.

Do you think we should be concerned at all about draft or just assume they will move if they're cold?

 

[BankFam]

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.

That's what I'm thinking too. I just need to be able to convince him to redo it.

 

[BankFam]

Oh that's much easier than my idea

Dropping the floor crossed my mind too

 

[3KillerBs]

I suppose you could present it as either drop the floor or raise the openings and let him decide what seems more workable?

Do you think we should be concerned at all about draft or just assume they will move if they're cold?

Here's some food for thought in re: chickens in the rafters up by the ventilation:

The Queens Have Conceded ...

10F in Central North Carolina in an Open Air Coop

I figure that as long as they have the option to get out of the weather and *could* choose a more protected roost that they'll be fine -- at least for adults who are old enough to know better.

Chickens know how to be chickens better than we know how to be chickens.

 

[RojoMarz]

Another option would be to not do deep litter. We have poop boards, and very little poop on the floor, so a small/thin layer of something on the floor works great. You then could put a small lip along the bottom of the nest boxes (and pop door if needed) to keep litter out of them.

 

[aart]

Another option would be to not do deep litter. We have poop boards, and very little poop on the floor, so a small/thin layer of something on the floor works great. You then could put a small lip along the bottom of the nest boxes (and pop door if needed) to keep litter out of them.

Would be hard to do poop boards on a coop you can't walk into.

 

[RojoMarz]

Would be hard to do poop boards on a coop you can't walk into.

Oh so true. I didn't even think about cleaning .

 

[rosemarythyme]

Nests can be floor level, that's not an issue at all.

As far as the litter falling in/out of places, my simple solution is a piece of wood held by bricks across wherever you're trying to contain the litter (I use 1x6s, you may need to use a 1x4, depending on how much it constricts the openings).

Also to be realistic, you will not be doing any form of deep litter in there. it's a moist composting system that favors being in direct contact with soil. Deep bedding would be the better option.

 

[MamaFox78]

Do you think we should be concerned at all about draft or just assume they will move if they're cold?

I'm not sure where you live and what kind of temperature extremes you get...? If you're in an area prone to cold, windy, wet weather, it's probably worth it to create a way to seal up the gaps. If you're in a more temperate climate, it should be fine... as long as you at least seal them up with hardware cloth to prevent predators getting inside.

Personally I am more concerned with the wind blowing rain/ snow into the coop and my chooks getting wet & chilled. But then, I'm in the Colorado Rockies at 8500ft - we get some wicked weather extremes! My coop is literally over 90 years old, and it's all masonry with a regular roof - that sucker is as solid as you can get, which is what we need up here, between 9 months of snow and every mountain predator you can think of.