Kee11
Songster
Hi y'all,
I'm new here, and new to chicken-keeping. I'm hoping to benefit from your collective knowledge and experience in planning for the arrival of my new flock. So far, I've purchased a shed building that will be shortly delivered and installed. It'sView attachment 1713211
an 8' x 12' (outside dimensions) Old Hickory utility-style shed, with 6'-3" high side walls and two shed doors (with non-venting window) located on each end of the coop, shotgun style. The 3' wide doors are lined up with each other, but off-center, with interior space of 17" on one side of the end doors and 35" on the other side. The rest of the coop is a blank slate, ready to be modified as needed.
Once it's delivered, I plan to add additional daylight/windows/ventilation, as suitable for the 12-to-20 chickens I plan to have (I haven't decided yet how many... it depends on the coop design/layout). I have a lot of work to do on the coop and building an attached run before I feel comfortable getting my baby chicks...I hope to be ready by May!
Here's the run down on the location of the coop...
We live on a ridge top in Mendocino County, CA, at an elevation of 2,674 ft. Temperatures range from winter averages in the 30s and 40s, with occasional 20s and snow, to summer averages in the 80s and 90s, with a couple of weeks in the 100+ range. Humidity is typically low. It is very windy here now, with the loss of most of the large, beautiful, irreplaceable 100+ year-old trees around the home site in the October 2017 wildfires (house and outbuildings included). :-(
Back to my new coop and run... the gable ends of the coop will face mostly east/west. The west end and north side will bear the brunt of our weather, which mostly comes from the NW. The run will encompass the coop and encircle a large, dead tree that we are hoping to use as support for the overhead enclosure. Any advice on the best way to do that would be welcome! The coop will be elevated for shade and dust bathing. I was planning on 24" of clearance underneath the west end, which would leave only 12" clearance on the east end (due to sloping ground). This will hopefully be low enough to keep out most of the rain and sun, but still high enough to access all around. Large predators are an issue for us, as we have black bears, coyotes, foxes and bobcats, plus smaller ground and aerial predators, and the rare mountain lion. For this reason, I will not be free-ranging the chickens, and will be burying hardware cloth in the ground around, and covering over the top of the run.
I'm hoping y'all can help me with the interior coop layout... The biggest decision I'm struggling with is if I should have an "entry" area on the east end of the coop, separated with chicken wire from the rest of the coop, for safer entry/exit and for a storage/supply area. This would mean greater convenience for me, but less space for the chickens, which would mean less chickens. I'm not sure if the benefits would outweigh the losses... what would you do, given a choice?
Perches/ventilation:
1-Ventilation ("windows")... where placed, and and how much? Should we use actual "shed" windows ($24/each, 14" x 27", screened lower half), or just wire-covered, trimmed around bare openings? If bare openings... do they need to be covered in winter?
2-Perches... along north wall only or both walls? In front of the vented window openings or opposite them? I can turn the coop 180 degrees to give larger perch space either in front of windows or opposite the windows. Based on weather patterns, I think the south wall will get less direct wind/rain and is more protected. I don't know if I should have vented window openings and perches on both walls, or just one. Also, should the windows be up higher near the top, more even with the perches, or down lower, so they are below the perches? The walls are 6'-3", so I was thinking of having 18" tall screened openings all along the south wall, starting at 4' above floor. Does that sound about right? Advice?
Poop boards:
To have or not to have... that is the question! Any advice would be welcome.
Chicken door:
1-Location of the door?
2-Should I keep it simple and old school, with a manual door that slides up and down via a wire? Or should I go high-tech with an automated, solar door? I know how to do solar... but is it worth it, or just overkill? One additional note... I don't want to get up at 5:30 AM when the sun comes up in the summer! :-0
Water:
I haven't decided what type of water setup to use. We have a gravity-fed, well-pumped-water supply from 3 large storage tanks... and a healthy fear of wildfires! Having one of our tanks drain out due to a faulty fitting is a fear, so watering will likely be done somewhat manually. Any suggestions on that would be welcome. Should the water be both inside and outside, or outside only?
Feeders:
I bought parts from Home Depot to make some of those cool looking 3" PVC pipe feeders with the "Y" fittings that I can cap closed at night if needed. Should I put the feeders inside or outside or both? I was originally thinking of having 3 feeders outside, attached to the south side wall of the coop, and building a little awning with side walls over them for wind/rain protection. But then I read there should be access to food inside the coop as well, so I had the idea of having them start inside the coop and extend down through the shed floor, so the feeder end would come out under the raised coop (on the high end), and pointing south into the side run. This new plan has 2 benefits...
1-the feeder awning would just have to cover the lower part extending out from under the coop, and
2-I could add an extra "Y" fitting onto the upper (inside) section of the feeder, and have it provide both inside and outside access. What do y'all think... pros or cons?
Nests:
For nests, I bought one of those fancy metal 4' long x 21" deep "roll out" community nest boxes. It will take a good amount of interior space, but it's one less thing I have to build!
Here are pics of my coop floor plan and proposed size/location of the coop and run. Thank you for your advice and support!
I'm new here, and new to chicken-keeping. I'm hoping to benefit from your collective knowledge and experience in planning for the arrival of my new flock. So far, I've purchased a shed building that will be shortly delivered and installed. It'sView attachment 1713211
Once it's delivered, I plan to add additional daylight/windows/ventilation, as suitable for the 12-to-20 chickens I plan to have (I haven't decided yet how many... it depends on the coop design/layout). I have a lot of work to do on the coop and building an attached run before I feel comfortable getting my baby chicks...I hope to be ready by May!
Here's the run down on the location of the coop...
We live on a ridge top in Mendocino County, CA, at an elevation of 2,674 ft. Temperatures range from winter averages in the 30s and 40s, with occasional 20s and snow, to summer averages in the 80s and 90s, with a couple of weeks in the 100+ range. Humidity is typically low. It is very windy here now, with the loss of most of the large, beautiful, irreplaceable 100+ year-old trees around the home site in the October 2017 wildfires (house and outbuildings included). :-(
Back to my new coop and run... the gable ends of the coop will face mostly east/west. The west end and north side will bear the brunt of our weather, which mostly comes from the NW. The run will encompass the coop and encircle a large, dead tree that we are hoping to use as support for the overhead enclosure. Any advice on the best way to do that would be welcome! The coop will be elevated for shade and dust bathing. I was planning on 24" of clearance underneath the west end, which would leave only 12" clearance on the east end (due to sloping ground). This will hopefully be low enough to keep out most of the rain and sun, but still high enough to access all around. Large predators are an issue for us, as we have black bears, coyotes, foxes and bobcats, plus smaller ground and aerial predators, and the rare mountain lion. For this reason, I will not be free-ranging the chickens, and will be burying hardware cloth in the ground around, and covering over the top of the run.
I'm hoping y'all can help me with the interior coop layout... The biggest decision I'm struggling with is if I should have an "entry" area on the east end of the coop, separated with chicken wire from the rest of the coop, for safer entry/exit and for a storage/supply area. This would mean greater convenience for me, but less space for the chickens, which would mean less chickens. I'm not sure if the benefits would outweigh the losses... what would you do, given a choice?
Perches/ventilation:
1-Ventilation ("windows")... where placed, and and how much? Should we use actual "shed" windows ($24/each, 14" x 27", screened lower half), or just wire-covered, trimmed around bare openings? If bare openings... do they need to be covered in winter?
2-Perches... along north wall only or both walls? In front of the vented window openings or opposite them? I can turn the coop 180 degrees to give larger perch space either in front of windows or opposite the windows. Based on weather patterns, I think the south wall will get less direct wind/rain and is more protected. I don't know if I should have vented window openings and perches on both walls, or just one. Also, should the windows be up higher near the top, more even with the perches, or down lower, so they are below the perches? The walls are 6'-3", so I was thinking of having 18" tall screened openings all along the south wall, starting at 4' above floor. Does that sound about right? Advice?
Poop boards:
To have or not to have... that is the question! Any advice would be welcome.
Chicken door:
1-Location of the door?
2-Should I keep it simple and old school, with a manual door that slides up and down via a wire? Or should I go high-tech with an automated, solar door? I know how to do solar... but is it worth it, or just overkill? One additional note... I don't want to get up at 5:30 AM when the sun comes up in the summer! :-0
Water:
I haven't decided what type of water setup to use. We have a gravity-fed, well-pumped-water supply from 3 large storage tanks... and a healthy fear of wildfires! Having one of our tanks drain out due to a faulty fitting is a fear, so watering will likely be done somewhat manually. Any suggestions on that would be welcome. Should the water be both inside and outside, or outside only?
Feeders:
I bought parts from Home Depot to make some of those cool looking 3" PVC pipe feeders with the "Y" fittings that I can cap closed at night if needed. Should I put the feeders inside or outside or both? I was originally thinking of having 3 feeders outside, attached to the south side wall of the coop, and building a little awning with side walls over them for wind/rain protection. But then I read there should be access to food inside the coop as well, so I had the idea of having them start inside the coop and extend down through the shed floor, so the feeder end would come out under the raised coop (on the high end), and pointing south into the side run. This new plan has 2 benefits...
1-the feeder awning would just have to cover the lower part extending out from under the coop, and
2-I could add an extra "Y" fitting onto the upper (inside) section of the feeder, and have it provide both inside and outside access. What do y'all think... pros or cons?
Nests:
For nests, I bought one of those fancy metal 4' long x 21" deep "roll out" community nest boxes. It will take a good amount of interior space, but it's one less thing I have to build!
Here are pics of my coop floor plan and proposed size/location of the coop and run. Thank you for your advice and support!
