Oh sure, make 90% of it THEN ask us to tell you what all is wrong with it.
Sheepshank - how many people are not sailors and will be trying to figure out what sheep have to do with a piece of rope on your chicken coop??
Looks like you spent a lot of time thinking it through, good. Great re-purposing of the used cat litter bins. And having the ability to close them off until the girls are old enough to use them is great. You don't want the little ones thinking they are sleeping spots. Good "clean out" doors and the ability to both hold litter in when the door is open AND full open for cleaning. Some people don't think about such things.
Stairs, not ramp. Good choice. You might need a small ramp with cleats over the steps when they are too young to hop/flap/fly up but later it would just be a poop collector.
You asked, right?
OK, maybe it is just me, but WHERE ARE THE GLASS (or Plexiglass) WINDOWS??? Unless you are going to throw the chickens out at daybreak EVERY DAY, no weekends off, no going out for the day, they will want more natural light inside than the single "we can see inside" window will give. There is nothing interesting to look at inside, especially in the dark (they aren't cats and see VERY POORLY in the dark) let them have a view of the world. The windows don't have to be operable or you could replace the 2nd door with a window that swings up/out for cleaning. Even better if it is a 2 part - one a 1/2" hardware cloth screen in a frame you can secure in place (but removable for cleaning inside) and the other a window that swings out or up for ventilation. Then you could use it for: cleaning if necessary, a screen in decent weather and a window in bad weather.
I don't think you need to put anything on the lower opening part of the door. They won't be spraying poop all over the place.
Coop is ~4x6?? 8 standard chickens? Plus more? Take a look at the meat chickens in production environments. Cheek by jowl. Your chickens aren't little plastic things that stand still all day long, I see an ell in your coop's future even with 8.
Do NOT put a roost over another roost. You'll have poopie chickens. Chickens are not very discriminating with regard to their toilet habits. Roosts should be ~18" apart horizontally so the girls in the back can't pick on those in the front.
As visually interesting as your roost is, it is too small in diameter for adult birds. Plus, they CAN perch but they aren't songbirds. They spend most of their time on flat ground, not gripping tree branches. 2x4 on the flat or 3" round fence rail will be more comfortable for them.
Being angled into the corner as it is makes a good part of it unusable. The birds aren't going to squish their butts up into the corner. Figure you need 9" minimum both in front of and behind the roost.
For real, I think you only have room for two 4' roosts one on either side of the clean out doors. It is OK to have one secured over the chicken door. They won't be sitting on the roost during the times they are using the door. That makes it an 8 bird coop ABSOLUTE MAX.
I couldn't tell from the video but is there any possibility of a small weasel getting in under the corrugated roof and into the coop? They don't need much of a hole. They won't eat your chickens, they'll just bleed them. Dead just the same. If so, I'd put 1/2 hardware cloth under the rafters.
Oh, and not specified, but you DID use either poultry staples or screws through wood battens to secure the 1/2" hardware cloth, not "Arrow" type staples, right?
If you didn't catch it ... that is 1/2" wire
Bruce
Sheepshank - how many people are not sailors and will be trying to figure out what sheep have to do with a piece of rope on your chicken coop??
Looks like you spent a lot of time thinking it through, good. Great re-purposing of the used cat litter bins. And having the ability to close them off until the girls are old enough to use them is great. You don't want the little ones thinking they are sleeping spots. Good "clean out" doors and the ability to both hold litter in when the door is open AND full open for cleaning. Some people don't think about such things.
Stairs, not ramp. Good choice. You might need a small ramp with cleats over the steps when they are too young to hop/flap/fly up but later it would just be a poop collector.
You asked, right?
OK, maybe it is just me, but WHERE ARE THE GLASS (or Plexiglass) WINDOWS??? Unless you are going to throw the chickens out at daybreak EVERY DAY, no weekends off, no going out for the day, they will want more natural light inside than the single "we can see inside" window will give. There is nothing interesting to look at inside, especially in the dark (they aren't cats and see VERY POORLY in the dark) let them have a view of the world. The windows don't have to be operable or you could replace the 2nd door with a window that swings up/out for cleaning. Even better if it is a 2 part - one a 1/2" hardware cloth screen in a frame you can secure in place (but removable for cleaning inside) and the other a window that swings out or up for ventilation. Then you could use it for: cleaning if necessary, a screen in decent weather and a window in bad weather.
I don't think you need to put anything on the lower opening part of the door. They won't be spraying poop all over the place.
Coop is ~4x6?? 8 standard chickens? Plus more? Take a look at the meat chickens in production environments. Cheek by jowl. Your chickens aren't little plastic things that stand still all day long, I see an ell in your coop's future even with 8.
Do NOT put a roost over another roost. You'll have poopie chickens. Chickens are not very discriminating with regard to their toilet habits. Roosts should be ~18" apart horizontally so the girls in the back can't pick on those in the front.
As visually interesting as your roost is, it is too small in diameter for adult birds. Plus, they CAN perch but they aren't songbirds. They spend most of their time on flat ground, not gripping tree branches. 2x4 on the flat or 3" round fence rail will be more comfortable for them.
Being angled into the corner as it is makes a good part of it unusable. The birds aren't going to squish their butts up into the corner. Figure you need 9" minimum both in front of and behind the roost.
For real, I think you only have room for two 4' roosts one on either side of the clean out doors. It is OK to have one secured over the chicken door. They won't be sitting on the roost during the times they are using the door. That makes it an 8 bird coop ABSOLUTE MAX.
I couldn't tell from the video but is there any possibility of a small weasel getting in under the corrugated roof and into the coop? They don't need much of a hole. They won't eat your chickens, they'll just bleed them. Dead just the same. If so, I'd put 1/2 hardware cloth under the rafters.
Oh, and not specified, but you DID use either poultry staples or screws through wood battens to secure the 1/2" hardware cloth, not "Arrow" type staples, right?
If you didn't catch it ... that is 1/2" wire
Bruce
