Small compact coop vs. tall coop?

[MissMonty]

I am very new to chickens, I am doing research now as my husband and I are getting land this winter and we plan on getting chickens in the spring



I went through the whole Coop Design thread (yes all 47 pages....) and I noticed a huge variety of coops and runs! One thing I've always thought even before I did any real research is that I wanted a coop I could comfortably stand in to make it easier on my back to clean and if I need to go in for any reason.

Well I noticed a lot of coops are smaller and more compact, often with part of the run under. Is there a real benefit to the compact and off the ground style? One other thing I am slightly worried about is how cold it gets in the winter and I don't plan on doing heat lamps or anything but I feel the raised coop would make the inside of the coop even colder than if it were on the ground?

 

[Blooie]

I am very new to chickens, I am doing research now as my husband and I are getting land this winter and we plan on getting chickens in the spring



I went through the whole Coop Design thread (yes all 47 pages....) and I noticed a huge variety of coops and runs! One thing I've always thought even before I did any real research is that I wanted a coop I could comfortably stand in to make it easier on my back to clean and if I need to go in for any reason.

Well I noticed a lot of coops are smaller and more compact, often with part of the run under. Is there a real benefit to the compact and off the ground style? One other thing I am slightly worried about is how cold it gets in the winter and I don't plan on doing heat lamps or anything but I feel the raised coop would make the inside of the coop even colder than if it were on the ground?

Hi there. I was offline, on my way home from an event in Cheyenne, and found 21hen's PM when I fired up my computer.

We have a shed style coop and a hoop run which we absolutely love! In winter we cover the hoop with plastic (think greenhouse) and it stayed warmer in there than in the coop. It withstood winds in excess of 60 mph, sideways snow, and the snowload, so we are very content. It's tall enough to walk into easily - a real plus with my physical limitations - and easily expandable. We did that this summer by simply removing the end piece, adding two more fence posts and another cattle panel, then putting the end piece back on. Cattle panels are cheap and easy to build with and done the way we did them they are quite stable.

Our complete build can be found if you click on "My Coop" under my avatar, and you can peruse to your heart's content. I would also be happy to answer any questions you have, as will most folks on BYC. Here are a couple of pictures our our setup so you can decide if paying our build a visit is something you'd be interested in.


In the photos above, we are adding another cattle panel to the existing run. The cattle panels are covered in chicken wire to deter overhead predators and wild birds, and the bottom 2 feet is covered with hardware cloth, folded outward at the bottom to protect against digging.


Snow load on the run. All we had to do was go inside and hit the underside with a pushbroom, and most of the snow slid off.


The inside of the run, covered with plastic. It was nice enough in there that I brooded a few batches of chicks, using a heating pad and a straw cave, even though temps were in the teens and twenties and we had a blizzard (or two!). You can see the brooder pen with chicks in it there to the left.



Putting the finishing touches on the plastic covering.



The run in summer. The white vinyl lattice serves no real purpose except to make the setup look nicer from the street, since we live in town.





We love this setup. It's nice to look at and super easy to work with - and in. I hope this helps. Good luck! Oh, and just wanted to add that I always admire folks who want to get the building and preparation done BEFORE they get chicks. Um, I wasn't that smart!

 

[21hens-incharge]

I have had several kinds of coops. I will list what I found as benefits and drawbacks of each.

Walk in converted shed.
Benefit

1. easier to clean
2. more room for the chickens

drawback
1. mine had inside sheeting so the mice liked to live in the walls.
2. Had to modify it and getting ventilation in was harder than expected

Raised compact coop.
Benefit

1. easy to clean so long as the weather was nice out.
2. always some shade and dry ground for the chickens
3. able to add ventilation during construction
4. no sheeting so no place for mice to hide.
drawback

1. if it was raining or there was snow or it had rained it was a pain to clean
2. not much space for the chickens inside.
3. where oh where to put the food and water
4. not much space to add nest boxes.

Large walk in coop made just for the chickens.
Benefit

1. able to add many windows and a lot of ventilation during construction
2. easy to clean
3. plenty of space for nest boxes
4. lots of room for the chickens to be inside
5. no sheeting on the walls inside so no mice hiding places.

drawback

only one I have found is that it takes up a lot of yard space.

A lot of the coop design is affected by how many chickens you plan to have and if they will be free ranged. Some breeds do well in close quarters and others fight like mad.

My current coop

 

[21hens-incharge]

I will add that a hoop style run if done properly can be tarped in the winter and shed most if not all of the snow off of itself.

Just a thought I had since you will be starting fresh.

 

[Blooie]

This is really awesome! Do they have any access to the shed near it or is this the whole thing? Then it looked like it was wrapped, do you wrap the whole thing except a vent area in the winters? I really like this idea

As far as cost did you find this route more expensive than others when you were researching into your build? I'm looking for something functional and at least semi economical. I am going to go stalk your coop now

Everything is directly on the ground. There is no floor in the coop aside from the dirt, and no floor in the run either. We use deep litter in both. Because we had an apricot tree Ken didn't want to take out, the run is offset slightly from the coop and there is a "tunnel" that they go through to get from coop to run and back again. Their pop door is open 24/7, 365 days of the year. In the 5th and 6th pictures from the top you can see the tunnel. It's actually a 3 sided box. It's enclosed on the top, on the side nearest the people door, and on the front. The fourth side is open and up against the coop where the pop door is, the bottom is open and the end into the run is open. It's right there by Ken in the 5th photo and if you click on the last photo to make it bigger you can see a few chickens in it.

We found the hoop run to be far less expensive than our other options. We used 4 steel fence posts pounded in the ground on each side, and 3 cattle panels arched between them. When we expanded the run this summer we just added two more fence posts and one more cattle panel. The cattle panels are covered in chicken wire with a hardware cloth skirt and apron.

The shade you see on top of the hoop is landscape fabric. Love that stuff. Tough, air permeable, most water runs off when it rains, and it's cheap and easy to install. If it rips, toss a new piece over. This summer Ken wanted to try a tarp over part of the run for shade, so he got one that was supposed to reflect heat. It didn't. It held it in and the run was much hotter this summer than last. Went back to landscape fabric and won't change again!

Hope this helps you along.....

 

[pdirt]

Great thread, got some good ideas here! Love the hoop run, Blooie.

We've had both styles...both a more compact coop and a walk-in style. Walk-in style is the way to go, IMO, but some folks don't have that much space to dedicate to their chicken hobby.

As far as costs go, we just built a small walk-in coop (I have to stoop a bit inside) with a covered run for about $45. We got the lumber, window, metal roofing and chicken wire for free (all used/recycled) and all we bought were some paint, deck screws, metal roofing screws, hinges and latches. I realize chicken wire is not all that secure, but it's what we have for now. This is a temporary coop until we move to our own permanent home down the road.

Mind you, it's not finished...I have more securing to do as well as put the metal roofing on the run. Our birds also free range for most of the day. There are two nest boxes on the opposite side (not pictured).

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! I've always had a walk-in coop, and wouldn't have anything else. I'd love to have a Woods type coop, but mine is a shed with additions, on an old concrete foundation. Nobody can dig into it, which is wonderful, and some of my birds roost on the rafters eight feet up! You won't see complaints about the coop being too big, but many are too small, and either the birds are overcrowded, or another building project happens. Ventilation and shade from summer heat is more of an issue than cold, and breed selection matters related to your climate. Mary

 

[MissMonty]

Welcome! I've always had a walk-in coop, and wouldn't have anything else. I'd love to have a Woods type coop, but mine is a shed with additions, on an old concrete foundation. Nobody can dig into it, which is wonderful, and some of my birds roost on the rafters eight feet up! You won't see complaints about the coop being too big, but many are too small, and either the birds are overcrowded, or another building project happens. Ventilation and shade from summer heat is more of an issue than cold, and breed selection matters related to your climate. Mary

I didn't know if there was a benefit to the smaller off the ground ones that I wasn't seeing. I plan on building a large enough coop that I don't have to build on in the future. I don't plan on starting out with too many birds, so I may have end up with a palace sized coop.

I was just trying to make sure there wasn't a big reason people were doing that as far as health or something that I wasn't seeing.

My other question is the runs I've seen many ways. I've seen some with roofs and others with just cage on top. Is there a benefit to just the wire mesh on top? I figure I'll have to have a roof with a decent structure due to how heavy the snow can get here.

 

[21hens-incharge]

To answer the run question. Many have roofs on the runs to help keep them dry. I find with a roof the sun never shines in a large run and smell can be a bit on the rank side of things.
Mine is wire topped for 2 reasons. Budget and I like the sun to shine in there to help with the poo decomposition.

I too would have had to invest heavily in the structure due to snow.

 

[MissMonty]

To answer the run question. Many have roofs on the runs to help keep them dry. I find with a roof the sun never shines in a large run and smell can be a bit on the rank side of things.
Mine is wire topped for 2 reasons. Budget and I like the sun to shine in there to help with the poo decomposition.

I too would have had to invest heavily in the structure due to snow.

So in the winter do you cover the top to keep some of the snow out? I love the idea of it having more free flow air for the spring-fall but winter I'm still lost haha!