planning & coop modification help...

[dgivens]

I am looking for some help. I have wanted to build a coop where I currently live for some time now and I’m finally getting to it. After quite a bit of searching, I decided on the Wichita Cabin coop. I am fairly handy. I can follow a set of plans pretty well. The plans for the Wichita coop seem to be good for my experience level. Unfortunately, I live in a suburban area and there is a local chicken ordinance. I applied for a permit and was given preliminary approval, but the coop will have to be modified to be 6 ft tall at the tallest point. My plan is to stick with the Wichita Cabin coop plan and shorten it. It looks like I should be able to do that without loosing much of the functionality of the design. The biggest loss will be most of the roaming space under the coop (where some hang their food and water). I wasn’t planning to hang anything under there, so I can live with that. I don’t feel like I have the skill, knowledge or experience to modify the Wichita plans myself. I was wondering if anyone has already done this or might be willing to help. Or perhaps there is another suggestion or another coop design that I should be looking at. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you!

*I'll be raising 4 hens in this coop*

 

[Ridgerunner]

The limits on overall height hurt, there are benefits to having a taller coop, including in a colder climate like yours. I don't know how many chickens you plan on, that's probably limited too. That would be helpful to know for minimum size. You need a sloped roof so water drains from it, a flat roof either leaks, rusts, or rots. That means the back side of the coop is less than 6 feet.

You want the area under that coop section to be high enough that chickens can get in there so mice don't find it a safe place to raise a family. So that's a minimum height. You also need to be able to reach under there with a rake if nothing else. 12" would be enough for the chickens but I'd think 18" would be good for your convenience. You can probably handle those adjustments.

One suggestion would be to bring your coop section all the way to the ground. Make the ground your coop floor. That would be a redesign as you'd probably want a human sized door so you can access that coop section. And you might want to increase the footprint of the run area. I like walk-in coops myself so that personal preference is influencing this.

If you go to the coops section in the "Articles" tab above you might find one that suits you better, but reducing the height of the open space below the coop is probably your easiest approach.

 

[dgivens]

That's helpful, thank you. I plan to have 4 hens in this coop.