Coop design & ventilation check

[cityhomesteading]

Hi all!
Located south of Seattle.

We’re in the final stages of putting together our coop. We have the 4 posts set, the floor and part of the roof joints set. See photos.

We have 8 hens. It’s 6x6 with an attached run (probably 8x12 maybe bigger later on).

The North and South walls will be on hinges and open for easy cleaning. The nesting boxes on the East wall with an opening to get eggs. The roof will be slanted with an opening about 4 inches along all sides for ventilation with hardware cloth. Roughly 8 feet of ventilation. The East side of the roof will be higher and add more ventilation but I don’t know exactly how much higher yet. Suggestions?

Our weather comes from the SouthWest a lot so my hope is it’ll hit the coop and go up the west wall and out the East wall. The windows are for more ventilation during the few times in the summer when it gets super hot, but not for winter ventilation. Their big/old windows so I don’t want drafts coming in during the winter but as climate has changed we have spells of 90+ degree weather for short spurts in the summer and I want a cross breeze if that happens.

There will be 2 roosts about 12 inches up from the nesting boxes and about 24 inches up from the bedding. One runs along the North wall and another along the West wall. Both about 6 feet long. My hope is to use the North facing wall to open and pull the used bedding into the run. The roosts are about 2 feet down from the top - is this too close to the top? Can I add another roost up higher? Only a foot from the top?

I want to do deep bedding in the coop and deep litter in the run. The run will be covered. We may add more run later but it’ll be uncovered.

I wasn’t planning on having food in the coop, but water using a nipple system. Should I consider adding food?

We have a TON of feral cats. I’m in an industrial, old WW2 housing area and the cats are ruthless. We have raccoons too but they happily eat the cat food everyone leaves out. Our plan is to use 1x2 wire fencing around the run but use 1/2in hardware cloth for the bottom 4ish feet with it buried & staked 12inches out along the whole bottom. The 1x2 wire fencing is a lot cheaper and we don’t have bears, coyotes or other bigger creatures to worry about. Will that be enough predator protection? All latches will have “raccoon proof” locks.

We have fruit trees, garden, and composts and plan on building more to live more sustainably. Please let me know if I’m missing something or if I should change the layout inside the coop. We have a few days off with no rain. FINALLY! So our plan is to finish building it the next few days.

 

[rosemarythyme]

The roof will be slanted with an opening about 4 inches along all sides for ventilation with hardware cloth. Roughly 8 feet of ventilation.

8 sq ft of ventilation, or 8' long x 4" tall of ventilation? If 8 sq ft that sounds great, assuming it can stay open all year round.

There will be 2 roosts about 12 inches up from the nesting boxes and about 24 inches up from the bedding. One runs along the North wall and another along the West wall. Both about 6 feet long. My hope is to use the North facing wall to open and pull the used bedding into the run. The roosts are about 2 feet down from the top - is this too close to the top? Can I add another roost up higher? Only a foot from the top?

For 8 hens your total 12' of roost is plenty, I would not add another. 2' from top is plenty as long as the ventilation isn't placed so that winter winds blow down into the roosting area (which you'd have to test for yourself, as it's impossible to guess how air flows in any specific location).

I wasn’t planning on having food in the coop, but water using a nipple system. Should I consider adding food?

I would have water out to eliminate risk of spillage inside. Food can be in or out (or both) depending on type of food, and if you can reliably keep it dry outside.

Our plan is to use 1x2 wire fencing around the run but use 1/2in hardware cloth for the bottom 4ish feet with it buried & staked 12inches out along the whole bottom.

If possible, widen the apron to 16-24" rather than 12", which is pretty minimal. I've witnessed a rat digging 10" under an apron, so even though they could get in by climbing over the top of the HWC they can also burrow in, which you don't want.

 

[cityhomesteading]

8 sq ft of ventilation, or 8' long x 4" tall of ventilation? If 8 sq ft that sounds great, assuming it can stay open all year round.

For 8 hens your total 12' of roost is plenty, I would not add another. 2' from top is plenty as long as the ventilation isn't placed so that winter winds blow down into the roosting area (which you'd have to test for yourself, as it's impossible to guess how air flows in any specific location).

I would have water out to eliminate risk of spillage inside. Food can be in or out (or both) depending on type of food, and if you can reliably keep it dry outside.

If possible, widen the apron to 16-24" rather than 12", which is pretty minimal. I've witnessed a rat digging 10" under an apron, so even though they could get in by climbing over the top of the HWC they can also burrow in, which you don't want.

Thank you so much!

The ventilation - the whole top will be an open roof with about 4 inches of opening all around. Would that be enough? I can make the roof taller to create more space.

I’ll make the apron the 2ft out. Thank you! I’m mostly worried about the occasional raccoon. The neighborhood cats keep the mice away.

 

[rosemarythyme]

The ventilation - the whole top will be an open roof with about 4 inches of opening all around. Would that be enough? I can make the roof taller to create more space.

Depends - does that 4" of height plus the length and width yield 8 sq ft of ventilation? Or is that 8' around all four walls x 4" tall? Because that would yield 2.64 sq ft of ventilation.

 

[cityhomesteading]

Depends - does that 4" of height plus the length and width yield 8 sq ft of ventilation? Or is that 8' around all four walls x 4" tall? Because that would yield 2.64 sq ft of ventilation.

Hmm my plan was 8 ft on all sides with 4 inch opening. What would you recommend?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Hmm my plan was 8 ft on all sides with 4 inch opening. What would you recommend?

Bump up the roof even more if possible. Or if the windows top hinge, plan on propping them open even in winter. My birds will sleep right up against the open windows even in winter. Only time they get closed is in the rare instance where winds drive snow or rain sideways in a different direction than usual. Unless you're located close to the foothills or mountains it shouldn't ever get cold enough for it to be an issue.

 

[cityhomesteading]

Bump up the roof even more if possible. Or if the windows top hinge, plan on propping them open even in winter. My birds will sleep right up against the open windows even in winter. Only time they get closed is in the rare instance where winds drive snow or rain sideways in a different direction than usual. Unless you're located close to the foothills or mountains it shouldn't ever get cold enough for it to be an issue.

Awesome thank you! No I’m not in the foothills. I’m not far but it doesn’t get cold like it does over there. I was worried about having the windows be propped open in the winter d/t drafts but I can do that and add more height to the roof.

 

[cityhomesteading]

Bump up the roof even more if possible. Or if the windows top hinge, plan on propping them open even in winter. My birds will sleep right up against the open windows even in winter. Only time they get closed is in the rare instance where winds drive snow or rain sideways in a different direction than usual. Unless you're located close to the foothills or mountains it shouldn't ever get cold enough for it to be an issue.

It ended up being more ventilation without making the roof taller. We had to build on a slope. Our whole property is on a slope. So the highest side has a 1x6ft opening plus some. Then the other sides have 6 feet and it gets smaller towards the back. The way our wind hits the coop it’ll push the air out through the bigger opening. Thank you for your help!

 

[cityhomesteading]

Finished (almost) coop. We’re working on the attached run now. We have fairly limited carpentry skills and I should’ve bought a plan, but I didn’t want a tiny coop and thought I’d give designing and building a go.
We live in an industrial city with lots of raccoons and cats so we decided to keep it up off the ground. This is the view from our kitchen window. I snagged the old windows off OfferUp last summer to build a greenhouse and life happened so here they are. We’ve added a chain to the outside of them so we can adjust the height. The whole top is open and covered in hardware cloth.

This is the other side and that door will be inside the run. I contemplated an automatic door but this already cost more than I anticipated so we’ll add a pulley system for the run door for now. My goal is to use the deep bedding method inside and then deep litter in the run. I already have several compost piles around the yard and we trench compost so it should work out well.