Homer426
In the Brooder
Hello BYC!
Long time lurker, first time poster here. As the title suggests, I'm looking for some comments/guidance on the design of our coop/run before I start making some sawdust. My primary concern is ventilation and temperature control. In central NJ it gets hot and muggy in the summer and the winters are not too bad but there are definitely nights were the temps get into the 20s and below.
The coop itself will be 8'x8' which will easily house the 6 chicks we currently have and allows for expansion due to chicken math. The run is 20'x10' plus includes a 2'x8' slice next to the coop.
The part of the yard where the coop/run will be located is fully shaded by about 11:00 am so the run will only be covered by hardware cloth instead of a roof except for the 2' section next to the coop where the coop's roof will extend down to cover that part of the run. I also plan to have a predator apron around the entire perimeter of the coop run. We have plenty of baddies in the neighborhood (racoons, fox, skunks, hawks, turkey vultures)
Everything is in pencil so I can make edits as needed!
On the ventilation question, I am thinking of using hardware cloth in the triangle portion of the sides below the roof as shown below. There will also be ventilation in the soffits on the edges of the roof so is the hardware cloth here too much and would I be better served with a solid wall and just a square vent near the peak?
The coop itself will be 2' off the ground and have hardware cloth on the 2 sides that are outside of the run (SE and NE sides). The SE side will have the external nesting boxes and 2 external storage areas running the length of the coop. The windows on the SE and NW sides open out and will have hardware cloth on the inside to keep the bad guys out. The side that opens into the run (NW) will have 2 doors that open for cleaning and will also be open below the coop.
The NE and SW sides will have a sliding window in the middle that will also have hardware cloth to keep out the bad guys. This also shows where the soffit ventilation would be located as well as the height of the roosting bars.
Finally, here is a top down view of the coop showing the positioning of the roosting bars (about 18" from the walls and 3' off the ground) with ramps to get up there. I am going with 3' off the ground because I'm leaving 8-10 inches for bedding then another foot for the height of the nesting boxes.
So that's my plan. What do you think? What would you change? What can I do better?
Long time lurker, first time poster here. As the title suggests, I'm looking for some comments/guidance on the design of our coop/run before I start making some sawdust. My primary concern is ventilation and temperature control. In central NJ it gets hot and muggy in the summer and the winters are not too bad but there are definitely nights were the temps get into the 20s and below.
The coop itself will be 8'x8' which will easily house the 6 chicks we currently have and allows for expansion due to chicken math. The run is 20'x10' plus includes a 2'x8' slice next to the coop.
The part of the yard where the coop/run will be located is fully shaded by about 11:00 am so the run will only be covered by hardware cloth instead of a roof except for the 2' section next to the coop where the coop's roof will extend down to cover that part of the run. I also plan to have a predator apron around the entire perimeter of the coop run. We have plenty of baddies in the neighborhood (racoons, fox, skunks, hawks, turkey vultures)
Everything is in pencil so I can make edits as needed!
On the ventilation question, I am thinking of using hardware cloth in the triangle portion of the sides below the roof as shown below. There will also be ventilation in the soffits on the edges of the roof so is the hardware cloth here too much and would I be better served with a solid wall and just a square vent near the peak?
The coop itself will be 2' off the ground and have hardware cloth on the 2 sides that are outside of the run (SE and NE sides). The SE side will have the external nesting boxes and 2 external storage areas running the length of the coop. The windows on the SE and NW sides open out and will have hardware cloth on the inside to keep the bad guys out. The side that opens into the run (NW) will have 2 doors that open for cleaning and will also be open below the coop.
The NE and SW sides will have a sliding window in the middle that will also have hardware cloth to keep out the bad guys. This also shows where the soffit ventilation would be located as well as the height of the roosting bars.
Finally, here is a top down view of the coop showing the positioning of the roosting bars (about 18" from the walls and 3' off the ground) with ramps to get up there. I am going with 3' off the ground because I'm leaving 8-10 inches for bedding then another foot for the height of the nesting boxes.
So that's my plan. What do you think? What would you change? What can I do better?
.
