Coop Concept Critique?

[Skellington]

I'm planning building a coop this fall, and getting chicks next spring. I'm also an over-planner -- I'd rather figure out mistakes at the drawing stage than the building stage.

The chikkinz

• I want 3 chickens, but I know some chicks may die or be roos, so better to start with more
• The legal limit in my town is 5 chickens
• I have read about chicken math so I'm designing it for 6 chickens
• I'm looking at standard/full size chickens.

The knowns

• I'm planning on letting them free range only if I'm home and can keep an eye out.
• My plan is for a roughly 4x6 coop and a 12'x6' run -- ish. I have a big yard, so I'll probably tweak sizes based on materials to make for an efficient build
• Water and feed will be in the run

The unknowns

• I want to use DLM in the run, but I'm not sure what to do in the coop. DLM, DBM, or something else?
• I'm currently planning on having the coop clean-out doors on the *outside* of the run, but I've also seen designs where you clean the bedding out *into* the run, and make it part of the run DLM. Suppose it depends on coop bedding. Anyone done this or prefer one way or t'other?
• I don't know which way to mount roosts. It would be easiest to run one the long way, but I don't know how much room they need to get to-and-from a roost, just that I need to leave 'enough space'.
• I love the idea of fitting in a little water-proof, raccoon proof storage, but haven't figured that out. Below nesting boxes or underneath part of the coop, maybe.
• I don't know which roofline I'll go with, but that's mostly aesthetics. I'm certain I can fit more than enough ventilation into either.
• If your run is built in with the coop like this, has 1/4" hardware cloth, and a wire or hardware cloth apron, is it okay to leave the pop door between coop and run open at night? I've seen some places suggest it is, and some say it isn't. If it isn't, I need to figure out a solar panel, because there is no way I'm going to be there at the right time to open and close it.

There, that's a whole lot of info. Have at it! What disasters are waiting to happen, here?

 

[rosemarythyme]

- Use deep bedding in the coop, and put the clean out doors facing into the run. The bedding material then goes into the deep litter and requires no further work from you (just dump and leave it, the chickens will even distribute it for you). For my coop bedding, I use the same chunky, aged wood chips as I have in the run - free, and it's the primary component of my deep litter anyhow.

- For your side coop and # of chickens, do the roost lengthwise as most chickens prefer to be on the same level with their flockmates.

- Another possible storage idea would be inside the coop, by mounting small shelves or a cabinet in a corner? Not sure how big of storage you need. I have 2 small shelves:

- My coop is completely contained within the run (chain link with HWC, aproned, netting on top) but I personally would not leave the pop door open at night. Even if I haven't had many predator issues I know they're there, and why make it any easier on them? I have my pop door set on timer and update the timer every once in a while as days get longer or shorter.

 

[Skellington]

Thanks!

@rosemarythyme , I particularly appreciate your feedback, since we're in the same climate! I've looked at your coop page -- the combo of cute chicken name plates and silent hill art cracks me up.

he bedding material then goes into the deep litter and requires no further work from you

I certainly like the sound of that! I'll redraw it with a door or doors opening into the run instead of to the outside. I suppose I'll need to move the run door so there isn't awkward door conflict. I'm guessing your run door swings outward, so you don't have to worry about clearing the litter?

Are your "chunky aged woodchips" like the assortment you can get for free from arborists? If so, that's already what I use for sheet-mulching in my yard. I've also got a few maple trees, so fallen leaves will be a part of the deep litter.

I'm not sure what size of storage I need, either. Judging by your example, though, I obviously need to eat more gelato. It'd be hard, but I suppose I can force myself.

Even if I haven't had many predator issues I know they're there, and why make it any easier on them?

Good point. I suppose I can make the pop-door section fixed, so it's easier to wire, and then the whole rest of that side can open for clean out. The inside should still be quite accessible.

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

How much are you looking to invest in this coop of yours?

 

[mixedbreeds]

I do leave my chicken door open between the coop and the run it works out great. The run needs to be absolutely predator proof though. I have 1/2” hardware cloth top to bottom and overhead and a two foot 1/2” hardware cloth apron buried outside the run as well.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thanks!

@rosemarythyme , I particularly appreciate your feedback, since we're in the same climate! I've looked at your coop page -- the combo of cute chicken name plates and silent hill art cracks me up.

I certainly like the sound of that! I'll redraw it with a door or doors opening into the run instead of to the outside. I suppose I'll need to move the run door so there isn't awkward door conflict. I'm guessing your run door swings outward, so you don't have to worry about clearing the litter?

Are your "chunky aged woodchips" like the assortment you can get for free from arborists? If so, that's already what I use for sheet-mulching in my yard. I've also got a few maple trees, so fallen leaves will be a part of the deep litter.

I'm not sure what size of storage I need, either. Judging by your example, though, I obviously need to eat more gelato. It'd be hard, but I suppose I can force myself. .

Thank you re: my coop!

My run doors technically can swing both in and out... the run is chain link so the doors are hinged to swing over 180 degrees. In practice they only open about 45 degrees, because I have netting over the whole thing and it restricts how far I can swing the door inwards, and I put hardware cloth around the door openings for predator protection so they can no longer swing outwards.

Yes, the wood chips I'm referring to are the ones you'd get from tree trimming services, usually made from branches put through a shredder. Ideally the chips will be all different sizes, some a little finer, some very chunky, as that allows for good drainage which is important especially if your run is not roofed. You want to leave the chips out to age (6 months to a year if possible) to reduce the chance of getting certain types of mold which is harmful to chickens.

I save the plastic gelato containers because they're handy (I put freezer jam in them, use them to carry around snack foods, and of course keeping chicken stuff like grit and treats in easy reach). So for me a small shelf is just fine.

Metal trash cans of feed and the large bags of grit, oyster shell, etc. are inside my garage. Out by the chicken run, I have a small covered overhang so I keep a smaller metal trash can there to store the feeder overnight, along with buckets for poop collection for compost.

 

[Skellington]

I missed the alerts from last week -- sorry about that! In the meantime I found some neat old windows at a building salvage store, and re-drew my plans to incorporate the windows and clean-out door advice from @rosemarythyme.

The revised plan has a slightly more run space and a tiny bit less coop space, because that's how it worked out when I figured for using the hardware cloth in the stock 3' width. The current drawings give:

• 22.5 square feet in the coop, not counting nest boxes
• 78 square feet in the run
• 10 square feet of ventilation, not counting clean-out doors (I'm thinking about constructing the clean-out doors so they can be hardware cloth in summer, plastic in winter, but haven't figured out how to work it yet).

The windows drawn are non-opening. I moved the run door so that it wouldn't conflict with the clean-out door.

The coop is on the west side of the run, which means it will block a lot of our weather, which mostly comes from the west. There'll be sofit vents on the west side of the coop, then the upper part of the east side is entirely open, so there should be good cross-ventilation.

How much are you looking to invest in this coop of yours?

Between $500 and $1000, I expect. So far, a grand total of $60 on cool old salvaged windows. I'll likely use more salvaged materials to try to push the cost towards the lower end -- friends of mine recently gutted their house, so I'm going to go scrounging -- but I am building for a back yard, so I want it to look nice as well as be nice for chickens.

Metal trash cans of feed and the large bags of grit, oyster shell, etc. are inside my garage.

I have no garage because I turned it into an art studio (NO REGRETS!), which is why I'm concerned about storage. I should really just make myself fix the leaky roof on the back porch. (I really want to redo it entirely, so I keep putting off the stop-gap fix). I suspect I could have, say, a lidded metal garbage can for feed on the north or east side of the coop and not worry too much, given prevailing winds.

My food vice is potato chips, so I suspect I have as nice a collection of Lay's french onion dip jars as you have gelato jars. Somehow the gelato jars seem less embarrassing -- it's much more classy! And they look like they have really wide mouths, which is always nice.

You want to leave the chips out to age (6 months to a year if possible) to reduce the chance of getting certain types of mold which is harmful to chickens.

Oh my, that's good to know! Should be easy to do, since I regularly get five-yard loads of arborist's chips. I can always age them as part of my garden sheet-mulching first, then give them to the chickens.

I do leave my chicken door open between the coop and the run it works out great.

Hmm. I AM planning on entirely encasing the thing in hardware cloth and putting down an apron. On t'other hand, RosemaryThyme's 'why risk it?' point is good too, especially since there are regularly raccoons traipsing through the yard...

 

[rosemarythyme]

(I'm thinking about constructing the clean-out doors so they can be hardware cloth in summer, plastic in winter, but haven't figured out how to work it yet).

So the way you can do something like this would be: start with wood framed doors with the wire mesh set inside or sandwiched. Cut hard plastic panels (the stuff used in greenhouse kits works well) to the width of the wire mesh opening and about 1"- 1/4" short. Add a wood lip to the outside edge of the wood frame, upper and lower, with the upper being slightly larger, leaving a gap between the lip and the wire just big enough for the plastic panel to slide in.

I'm terrible at explaining this so I made a not-to-scale diagram showing a cross section of a door, with a wood frame. The orange would be the small lip pieces. You take the plastic and slide it behind upper lip, then let it drop down below lower lip. If you get the size just right it should stay in place even through windstorms, as it needs to be slid upward again to remove it. Hope that makes sense?

Hmm. I AM planning on entirely encasing the thing in hardware cloth and putting down an apron. On t'other hand, RosemaryThyme's 'why risk it?' point is good too, especially since there are regularly raccoons traipsing through the yard...

Just as reference, I have never seen a live raccoon in my yard. But just because I don't see them doesn't mean they're not there. This morning I found a couple of inches of HWC in the corner of the run partially pulled and bent out of place, with tufts of brownish gray hair caught in it. Sure looks like the work of a raccoon to me. But at least I have a little more peace of mind knowing that even if it had breeched the wire, the chicken coop was closed up.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! I'm just going to make some general comments, rather than specifically mentioning each feature in your drawings.
Make it a walk-in structure! You can make a dig-proof perimeter, and have a dirt floor, with deep litter. Build big! Five or six birds will want closer to thirty sq. ft. inside, and then you will have space for some storage in the coop too.
A covered run is wonderful, even if you aren't in snow country.
No openings anywhere larger than 1/2" diameter, and very well secured hardware cloth, at least. Mine is stapled into the framing with fence staples, then the lower 4' has 2"x4" woven wire fencing over it, all with 1"x4" boards screwed into the framing on top.
I found some exterior doors at the Habitat Restore, with lockable doorknobs and keyed entry. No raccoon will figure it out! In bear country, adding electric fencing is also necessary.
Build Ft. Knox, and be happy with many fewer disasters out there!
Mary

 

[Skellington]

@rosemarythyme that makes perfect sense, thank you! The gap at the top was the design bit that hadn't clicked for me. Kind of a 'duh' moment once you pointed it out!

@Folly's place I was going by the guideline of 4 sq ft for bird in the coop -- you think they need 5 or 6 sq ft per bird inside? The run will definitely be covered, and winters here aren't harsh -- they'll always have access to the run in daylight.

I'm definitely going to sandwich the hardware cloth to keep it more secure. Getting a door with keyed entry is a nifty idea -- I'll have to see if the local Habitat Restore actually has any decent doors right now (in the last few years they shifted to carrying very little building materials and a lot of boring used furniture, it's sad. I have to travel for good salvage).

No worry about bears here in town, though black bears show up in the county a few miles away. Raccoons are absolutely a big issue, though, so I'll be building it as tight as I can. Definitely going to have to spring for the automatic door opener.