Chicken coop/run 2024: The Planning

[MightyChickenJF]

Yay! I will FINALLY be able to have a chicken run starting spring 2024! Now for the planning:

Coop: Will consist of two 4' x 8' sheets of plywood side by side for floor. Floor will be covered in peel-and-stick linoleum tile. Walls will also be 4x8 plywood, on 8' foot high pine studs. Roof will be flat, same plywood as floor, with standard composite shingles. Coop will be in one corner of the run, with a 2' x 6' self-made man door for me to access coop safely from outside. Chickens will access coop via a large dog door with flap removed and a small ramp. My big questions regard how it should be fitted inside. My grandfather's coop had shelving inside for chickens to roost. I will have a "chicken condo" that is handmade by a Sacramento feed store in another part of the coop for broody hens to lay/hatch chicks.

Run: I have 150 feet of wire to work with that will go 6 feet high. Run will be roofed with that black fabric meant to protect gardens from birds. With the 8x8 coop in one corner, how much wire will I need for each side? I will have 3 metal posts for each corner with the coop being the fourth corner. I stink at math, so somebody who has a PhD in mathematics will have to help me out.

 

[Penpal]

I would use marine board for the floor, even if it will be covered. Also for the roof.

The roof should be on a slant so that water will run off where you want it to run off. It should also have good overhangs, like 2 feet to keep rain from coming into the coop should there be strong winds.

I would not use a shelf for roosting. I would use a board, how wide depends on the size of the chickens. Under the roost you put straw, loose or in a bale. This way, all of the night's manure is under them and you rake the floor, not clean off the shelf. Make sure the chickens can turn around while on the roost. 14" from the wall is recommended.

Chickens nest under a bush, in the dirt. You might save money by using crates for the nest boxes. The chickens don't care.

Also, I would get portable electric netting (premier1supplies.com) and use that so you can figure out how you will eventually want your fencing put up. You can later use the electric netting to let them into other parts of the yard.

 

[fuzzi]

Yay! I will FINALLY be able to have a chicken run starting spring 2024! Now for the planning:

Coop: Will consist of two 4' x 8' sheets of plywood side by side for floor. Floor will be covered in peel-and-stick linoleum tile. Walls will also be 4x8 plywood, on 8' foot high pine studs. Roof will be flat, same plywood as floor, with standard composite shingles. Coop will be in one corner of the run, with a 2' x 6' self-made man door for me to access coop safely from outside. Chickens will access coop via a large dog door with flap removed and a small ramp. My big questions regard how it should be fitted inside. My grandfather's coop had shelving inside for chickens to roost. I will have a "chicken condo" that is handmade by a Sacramento feed store in another part of the coop for broody hens to lay/hatch chicks.

Run: I have 150 feet of wire to work with that will go 6 feet high. Run will be roofed with that black fabric meant to protect gardens from birds. With the 8x8 coop in one corner, how much wire will I need for each side? I will have 3 metal posts for each corner with the coop being the fourth corner. I stink at math, so somebody who has a PhD in mathematics will have to help me out.

Congratulations!

What type of climate do you have?

How will your coop be set up for ventilation?

What type of wire are you using for the run?

What type of litter/bedding are you planning to use in the coop? Run?

What type of predators might visit with the intent of a meal?

Where will you be placing the coop/run? Is it a shaded area or full sun?

Roost: I have a 2x4 with the wide side on top. The chickens roost but their droppings basically miss and land in the litter, below.

 

[Sally PB]

Run: I have 150 feet of wire to work with that will go 6 feet high.

A circle will will give the greatest square foot area for a given circumference.

Pi x dia = 150
Divide bothside by pi (3.14 will work)
Dia = 47.77; Radius = 23.885

Pi (radius squared) = area
3.14 x 23.885 x 23.885 =1791.35 square feet.

If you need to make it a rectangle, a square will yield the most area.

150/4 = 37.5
37.5 x 37.5 = 1406.25 square feet.

 

[MightyChickenJF]

A circle will will give the greatest square foot area for a given circumference.

Pi x dia = 150
Divide bothside by pi (3.14 will work)
Dia = 47.77; Radius = 23.885

Pi (radius squared) = area
3.14 x 23.885 x 23.885 =1791.35 square feet.

If you need to make it a rectangle, a square will yield the most area.

150/4 = 37.5
37.5 x 37.5 = 1406.25 square feet.

Yes, but then I realized that the coop will add an extra 8 feet in length to two of the sides. I was also thinking a 35' x 35' run originally, but adding the coop dimensions messed up my math.

 

[perkolator]

Sounds like you just need to make yourself a drawing with basic dimensions to go off of for this type of planning - graph paper would maybe help.

As for the interior, all you really need is some roost bars and a way to manage their night-time pooping activity, whether that be a poop board/litter system you clean regularly, or a litter system that can be left alone for periods of time (deep dry bedding and deep moist litter)

 

[MightyChickenJF]

Congratulations!

What type of climate do you have?

How will your coop be set up for ventilation?

What type of wire are you using for the run?

What type of litter/bedding are you planning to use in the coop? Run?

What type of predators might visit with the intent of a meal?

Where will you be placing the coop/run? Is it a shaded area or full sun?

Roost: I have a 2x4 with the wide side on top. The chickens roost but their droppings basically miss and land in the litter, below.

Simple answers first.

Climate: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yreka,_California#Climate

Run location in foreground. Coop will be on pic's lower left. Obviously a prairie-style environment, although pic was taken on an overcast day:

View attachment 3703684

Wire, three rolls of 150' long wire

 

[MightyChickenJF]

Grrr, something ate my post.

Wire: three rolls of 150' long x 48" high wire = 6' high fencing. There will be a garden cloth "ceiling" to deter avian predators, mainly hawks and vultures. Not much in the way of land based chicken eaters here.

 

[MightyChickenJF]

Ventilation: standard house eaves ventilation at top of walls.

Bedding: probably fine pine shavings for coop. Run will be natural.

 

[MightyChickenJF]

@perkolator: I was born in Roseville and grew up in Granite Bay. I watched it go from rural to a suburb of McMansions. When I was a baby (1975) my parents bought in Granite Bay before the name Granite Bay was coined because it was so cheap.