Riverside_Flock
In the Brooder
This is my first dip into chicken raising. My wife brought up the idea years ago when we bought our house but we never put any serious thought into it until this year. I spent about a month researching what should go into a chicken coop, and coming up with a design for ours. I used these forums pretty heavily to find answers to questions I had, but obviously that was only good for the questions I thought to ask myself, and left a few essential things out (such as ventilation). I've had to redo a couple things already (access door, nesting box, pop door, ventilation...), and I'm looking to get input before I go any further because if I have to redo one more thing.... 
I'm going to break this into sections because it's definitely going to be way too long, but I've done far too much reading and I'm starting to over think everything. I'm at the point where I just need to get input from experienced people otherwise this thing is never going to get built.
4 sq ft of space within the coop
10 sq ft of space in the run
1 linear sq ft of roost space
1/4 nest boxes
1 sq ft of ventilation (I came across this number *far* too late)
I knew that we only wanted 3-4 birds to start with. This had the potential to double as the first batch stopped laying, since I doubt we'd be able to put them down. By then they'd have put in their time laying for us, they deserve a happy retirement, right?
Coop size: 4'x8'. Bare minimum size for 8 , and I could reduce how many seams I would have on the walls by using a single continuous sheet.
Short side: 3.5'
Tall side: 4.5'
Access door: 30"x42"
Pop door: 14"x14"
Nest boxes: 14" wide, 14" deep, 11" tall in the front, and 7" tall in the back (Those heights are measured from the top of the 2x4. Add 3.5" to the base the nesting material will be on)
This is the latest part I've had to redo. I initially placed them 14" off the floor of the coop. Stuff I had read on here advised having them off the floor to prevent the chickens from scratching and kicking up litter into the nest, which made sense.
I had also read to keep the nest below the roost, so they wouldn't sleep in them. This meant my roosting bars would be a minimum of 28" from the floor, and leave 14"-26" roughly of head space for them to the rafters, depending on how I placed the roosts, and where they slept on them.
However, I've come to realize I severely underestimated how much ventilation I need, and will likely need to cut more in at roof height. So the nest box has been moved to floor level. I still shouldn't have to worry about litter being kicked into it because of the 2x4 lip on the front of them.
Will the boxes work this low or will the chickens end up laying outside of them?
My initial plan (yellow line) was to run a 2x4, wide side up, along the entire length of the coop. Reading other threads here has lead me to believe I'd probably be better off running multiple roosts across the short side though (pink lines). The biggest reason I saw was that they wouldn't have enough room to hop up or down.
So the questions here are:
1) Would running the roost on the long side work if I kept it closer to the back wall, and if so, how far out from the wall should it be?
2) How far apart should the roosts be if I put them across the short side?
3) How high off the floor/how far below the ceiling should they be? (I've seen something about 18" below the bottom of the lowest vent?)
I thought leaving gaps in the roof ridges would work, but I now know it most definitely is not enough.
Ridge opening on ends: 16" wide, 1" tall, 6 "slots". 16*1*6= 96/144 = 0.66 sq ft
Ridge opening on front/back: 96" wide, 1" tall, 2 "slots". 96*1*2= 192/144 = 1.33 sq ft
Grand total of 2 sq ft. Add the 1 sq ft I get from the window and I'd barely have enough for 3 chickens in the summer. I wouldn't be able to leave that window open in the winter though.
My current plan to remedy this is to cut 2 strips out, front and back, at the top of the walls. 8' wide, 6" tall. This would give me 4 sq ft on either side. These vents would be facing north and south. I have a few concerns here however:
1) How far below this do the roosts need to be so the chickens don't sleep in a draft in the winter?
2) There's a big tree standing to the west, and hedges to the north and east, which should prevent rain/snow from blowing in, but I want to be absolutely sure water isn't making its way into the coop. Should I give these vents an awning of some sort? Perhaps cut the plywood and hinge it so it can be propped open or closed on one side in really back weather?
). I plan on giving them access to the run all day while we're not home, and only closing the coop up at night, just to be extra sure they're safe while sleeping.
Posts will be 8' apart, hardware cloth between them, 1x6 or 2x6 running between the posts as well to give the posts more stability and cover any seams in the wire.
I've read the recommendations about burying to cloth 12-18" or skirting for 24", but with the current price of the stuff I'm hoping I can do something else.
Would diggers be deterred by patio stones? They're 24"x24". I have a lot of them that I removed from an old patio and haven't found a use for. The idea would be to place them either on the outside of the fence, or below the fence like the pink squares in the above image (So that there is 12" inside and outside). I'm not sure if this kind of bordering would have the same effect as skirting would.
Do I need to bother with netting above the run with the trees around it? We do have red-tail hawks in the area (I think that's what species they are anyways), and I know of a few nests within 4km (2.5 miles). Would these trees provide adequate protection during the day? I know raccoons might drop into the run during the night from the hedges, but the coop will be locked up, and have hardware cloth on all possible entries (windows/vents/etc).
If you've stuck through this post, thank you! I know it's a long one. And if you're able to give some insight on any of these questions I will greatly appreciate it. Thanks everyone!
I'm going to break this into sections because it's definitely going to be way too long, but I've done far too much reading and I'm starting to over think everything. I'm at the point where I just need to get input from experienced people otherwise this thing is never going to get built.
Coop Layout
The basic "rule of thumb"s I've come across are (as bare minimums per bird):4 sq ft of space within the coop
10 sq ft of space in the run
1 linear sq ft of roost space
1/4 nest boxes
1 sq ft of ventilation (I came across this number *far* too late)
I knew that we only wanted 3-4 birds to start with. This had the potential to double as the first batch stopped laying, since I doubt we'd be able to put them down. By then they'd have put in their time laying for us, they deserve a happy retirement, right?
Measurements
Coop size: 4'x8'. Bare minimum size for 8 , and I could reduce how many seams I would have on the walls by using a single continuous sheet.
Short side: 3.5'
Tall side: 4.5'
Access door: 30"x42"
Pop door: 14"x14"
Nest boxes: 14" wide, 14" deep, 11" tall in the front, and 7" tall in the back (Those heights are measured from the top of the 2x4. Add 3.5" to the base the nesting material will be on)
Nesting boxes
This is the latest part I've had to redo. I initially placed them 14" off the floor of the coop. Stuff I had read on here advised having them off the floor to prevent the chickens from scratching and kicking up litter into the nest, which made sense.
I had also read to keep the nest below the roost, so they wouldn't sleep in them. This meant my roosting bars would be a minimum of 28" from the floor, and leave 14"-26" roughly of head space for them to the rafters, depending on how I placed the roosts, and where they slept on them.
However, I've come to realize I severely underestimated how much ventilation I need, and will likely need to cut more in at roof height. So the nest box has been moved to floor level. I still shouldn't have to worry about litter being kicked into it because of the 2x4 lip on the front of them.
Will the boxes work this low or will the chickens end up laying outside of them?
Roosts
So the questions here are:
1) Would running the roost on the long side work if I kept it closer to the back wall, and if so, how far out from the wall should it be?
2) How far apart should the roosts be if I put them across the short side?
3) How high off the floor/how far below the ceiling should they be? (I've seen something about 18" below the bottom of the lowest vent?)
Ventilation
And the big one everyone always asks about. I've read a lot of posts on this topic, but I'm still not sure of the best way to do it.I thought leaving gaps in the roof ridges would work, but I now know it most definitely is not enough.
Ridge opening on ends: 16" wide, 1" tall, 6 "slots". 16*1*6= 96/144 = 0.66 sq ft
Ridge opening on front/back: 96" wide, 1" tall, 2 "slots". 96*1*2= 192/144 = 1.33 sq ft
Grand total of 2 sq ft. Add the 1 sq ft I get from the window and I'd barely have enough for 3 chickens in the summer. I wouldn't be able to leave that window open in the winter though.
My current plan to remedy this is to cut 2 strips out, front and back, at the top of the walls. 8' wide, 6" tall. This would give me 4 sq ft on either side. These vents would be facing north and south. I have a few concerns here however:
1) How far below this do the roosts need to be so the chickens don't sleep in a draft in the winter?
2) There's a big tree standing to the west, and hedges to the north and east, which should prevent rain/snow from blowing in, but I want to be absolutely sure water isn't making its way into the coop. Should I give these vents an awning of some sort? Perhaps cut the plywood and hinge it so it can be propped open or closed on one side in really back weather?
Run design
The run is planned to be 32'x12' or 14'. I want to give them as much run space as I can because the coop feels confined (Although, that's from my perspective as a 6' tall human. Maybe chickens will find it spacious). I plan on giving them access to the run all day while we're not home, and only closing the coop up at night, just to be extra sure they're safe while sleeping.Posts will be 8' apart, hardware cloth between them, 1x6 or 2x6 running between the posts as well to give the posts more stability and cover any seams in the wire.
I've read the recommendations about burying to cloth 12-18" or skirting for 24", but with the current price of the stuff I'm hoping I can do something else.
Would diggers be deterred by patio stones? They're 24"x24". I have a lot of them that I removed from an old patio and haven't found a use for. The idea would be to place them either on the outside of the fence, or below the fence like the pink squares in the above image (So that there is 12" inside and outside). I'm not sure if this kind of bordering would have the same effect as skirting would.
Do I need to bother with netting above the run with the trees around it? We do have red-tail hawks in the area (I think that's what species they are anyways), and I know of a few nests within 4km (2.5 miles). Would these trees provide adequate protection during the day? I know raccoons might drop into the run during the night from the hedges, but the coop will be locked up, and have hardware cloth on all possible entries (windows/vents/etc).
If you've stuck through this post, thank you! I know it's a long one. And if you're able to give some insight on any of these questions I will greatly appreciate it. Thanks everyone!
Ducking while I say this......
That's what I get for trying to save a few buck and using the 2x4's I had left instead of going and buying a few more.
