Coop Builders - What would you have changed or done differently?

[Sandara]

This was my first coop about 3 years ago. It had already been changed by making the
nest boxes external. This made more room inside for more chickens! About 4'x4'


This was the next addition, a covered feed area.


Next we made this tractor for sick chickens, brodies and raising chicks.


Then I got some free brick so put down under feeding area and added a 5 gal. bucket
and 5 water nipples.


This year I wanted more chickens & some ducks; ) Added the open air coop and this will
be wrapped in heavy gage plastic for the winter. Changed the narrow ramp to stairs and
the ducks don't have any problem with them! In this picture you can also see we extended
the top of the feeding area when we added the bricks and nipple waterer.


This is the whole set up with the 7 new EE chicks in the tractor.


This is the duck nest box I made out of a recycled toy box and 3 new nest boxes for the
chickens.


The ducks didn't like the stairs inside, maybe to narrow, so I built this ramp out of a recycled
pallet lid. They love it now!

Ok, this was my last project! lol I call it the Ducky Deck! 4 recycled pallets and I used the
lid wood to fill in the gaps. I did add an umbrella so the water will stay cooler on hot days!

 

[NCnarrator]

This is our coop, made from pallets. The first picture is the completed coop (although we took away the ramp and the chickens actually use a 4 foot aluminum ladder that's bungee corded to the coop). The center picture is from just before we finished. The laying boxes you see in the third picture go across the left wall of the coop and fit in so snugly we didn't have to screw them in.

I loved the free materials - the only thing we bought was hardware: hinges and latches. I've loved the ventilation we get with the open bottom and opening around the top (all covered with hardware cloth), and I've been pleasantly surprised at how dry and cozy the coop stays even in nasty, wet, and windy weather. I've also loved being able to open the entire front of the coop to clean and get at the eggs (which the ladies have been very generous with). The aluminum ladder has worked wonderfully for a ramp, and for some reason the ladies don't poop on it.

BUT - we found out that no two pallets are the same size. This made things interesting since we were using the whole pallet, not breaking them down for the wood. Also we found that the poop doesn't go through the hardware cloth that makes up the floor of the coop as well as we'd like. It's not a huge problem, since a stiff-bristled brush is enough to clean everything...it's just not quite what we expected.

WHAT I WOULD CHANGE:

1. We need a poop board to slide under the roost. I don't want to block the floor off entirely, because I really do think it does a great job of ventilating the coop--which has turned out to be incredibly important in North Carolina.
2. I would like to install a larger watering system with nipples - we have a hanging waterer now, but the water gets nasty almost immediately and on hot days I have to refill halfway through the day.
3. I'd like to add a storage unit on the end of the coop to keep food and other supplies in. We have a large metal trash can that sits in the chicken run (bungeed to the fencing and with bungee cords making sure the lid doesn't get knocked off), but I'd rather all of the supplies go in one place that I can close up.
4. I saw a trough-style feeder that sort of looked like an elongated bird feeder but at chicken level. We have a metal feeder, with a domed squirrel guard over it to keep the water out (which it does quite well), but when it rains the feed down in the tray gets wet and clumps up. I like the idea of a more covered feeder that might keep the food dry in wet weather (which we have a lot of here in NC).
5. I'd also like to change out the roost for something a little thicker. We used a reclaimed hand rail that we cut down to length, but I think the girls would be happier with something more like a 2x4.

Other than those things (which I guess are kind of nitpicky), I have been pleasantly surprised at how well our first venture into building a coop turned out!

 

[imzadi]

7. Because this coop is small, I built a better feeder and really like it much better for the space.



WOW!!! What a great idea for feeing. I've got a coop that I'm fixing up (small 3 x 6 old calf pen...planning on having 4 layers and 3 silkies). As I've got the walls set up...and the roost in...I'm finding it is smaller than I thought. I have a largish metal hanging feeder I was given and was going to use...not sure I'll have room, though...where to put those nesting boxes? Anyway, WHAT did you use to make this feeder? and WHAT are these "nipple waterers" I keep hearing about?

Thanks.

 

[roodle2]

I would build bigger, much bigger. We started out with one coop then added another, then built on to both and now need more room. Never planned to have so many and never thought they would not all get along. Bigger is better - more nests, more roosts, more space.

 

[Lathira]

imzadi -

It is just lengths, elbows, and end caps of 4" PVC that has 3" holes drilled out. I put a hook on the side to keep it from tipping over. Be sure to glue everything together because the first time i went to shake the food to the end it fell apart and I had HUGE mess!

I did a search in the forums to find a better way to water. This may be helpful: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/695404/chicken-nipples. My local feed store had them for sale.

 

[litl red hen]

We had a very nice coop we quickly outgrew as a result of chicken math. First coop was two 4x8 sheets of plywood rectangular. Peak roof with roosts high, some a bit over nesting boxes but then we covered boxes. Original design was 2.5 ft off the ground--on stilts, so to speak. Then we added an addition which accommodated higher head space for the people convenience (always consider enough people head space), a bigger people door, and room for storage. It was a square addition of approx 6 x 6 feet. The addition became the hanging feeder area. Girls still prefer the older section.

However, the addition was built low to the ground, had a covered crawl space which has provided a haven for critters. Having a tough time with rats now. Had to cut sides off and may need to remove and rebuild addition so coop is higher to eliminate the rat problem. This problem has been very surprising.

Comment to offer new construction: if not already in a barn and deciding to build a stationary unit--build high off the ground. Height keeps critters from burrowing and does provide shelter for chickens when outside in the elements during the day.

 

[michelsal]

oops, I'm not clear, did you mean you WOULD put the next boxes at or above the roost height? or that that is a mistake?
(I haven't built yet, so NEED to know!)

 

[LeTrask]

Such great info ( from all posts). We are in the process of refurbishing a coop that has gone unused for a few years. Thank you for the tips to help us make good choices ( as newbies) and realized the ones we have made are right!

 

[Thelma-Anne]

Our first chick experience this year - built a plan from Chicken Coop for Dummies - we've made some changes as we went. Our best idea - under the perches we put a shelf lined with linoleum a few inches below it and on top of that put cookie sheets (I'll never feel the same about baking cookies again) - we drilled a hole through the cookie sheet and the shelf big enough for a bolt to go through (to prevent the cookie sheets from being knocked off). This makes cleaning easy - just lift off the cookie sheets, dump into a bucket, rinse and put back. There's very little poop anywhere else. We have a big mandoor to make cleaning easy.

I'd probably build a little bigger for same number of chickens, if only to have more room for waterer, feeder etc and a little higher for headroom for us in the enclosed outdoor run.

 

[Bandit37804]

Bigger....definitely make it BIGGER! I have 2 coops (The Egg Drop Inn and The Eggshell Motel)...wish I had 1 very large one...with compartments....for chicks that hatched, for a broody hen and her peace and quiet, more room to walk around for me AND my girls. I would love a watering system INSIDE for the winter months. I would like to be able to close off the teenagers from the adults. More storage would be great too.