Starting a coop build, it is my first build and first chickens so feedback is very welcome

[saysfaa]

Katanahamon, very nice paint choices!

I think they wander and change spots partly due to changing temps or wind direction and partly as those higher in the pecking order make the point that they can.

 

[My Very First 6 Chickens]

The plan is 10x14. It will be board and batten pine siding and doors, plywood floor, 4:12 shingled roof on plywood with almost 12" eaves, 2 single pane "barn windows" that open inward from the bottom (hinges at the top of each window) and hook open more than 90 degrees up. It has double doors 3'x7' each on the west end and a single 4'x7' door on the south side near the east end. The 4 or 5 hens will get the east 6 or 7 feet of the building; garden tools and chicken supplies get the west end. Woven wire with a 2" x 4" mesh to divide the chickens from the rest of the building. That makes 10 to a little over 15 square feet per hen. They will go out some but not reliably enough to count that for space per bird. I will be able to bring some entertainment in to them regularly, although that will be a lot easier vary in the summer. Is that enough space for most breeds or should I make sure to pick breeds that are more likely to tolerate confinement?

I'm upper midwest so it gets cold and can get very snowy. Zone 5b (or so). Lowest it normally gets is ten below or so (F.), it doesn't stay there longer than a few days. Weeks straight of teens and mid twenties is common, though. Highs in the summer hit 90's and stayed there for several weeks last summer but it does cool off nicely at night. It is humid. Very little wind as we are sheltered by a steep hill and woods to the windward side and it isn't often windy here anyway.

My winter ventilation plan is to leave the south side door fully open and everything else air tight. If that doesn't work - I can build a wood's open-air style coop inside the main coop. or part of one. I'm not just building the woods' coop as a compromise with my better half. In the summer, open the ridge vent and soffit vents and whatever doors and windows seem to make it most comfortable. It will get morning and evening shade from trees - full sun from about 8 to 3:30.

Predator protection: I expect raccoons will be the most likely threat but everything from least weasels to bald eagles and black bears is possible. Metal lath (like for stucco, it is 27" x 8' with 1/4x1/2 diamond-shaped mesh) on the ground for the apron around the outside. And to screen the bottom 50" of the south door. And the west door if I can figure out how to make it movable enough. Maybe put a frame around it and slide it open inside the framing. The rest of the openings (eaves, windows, upper part of doors) : 19 gauge hardware cloth with 1/2 x 1/2 mesh.

I'm still working on roosts and nests.
Nipple waterer on a bucket or on a pvc pipe from a bucket.
This for a feeder: https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/diy-rodent-free-chook-feeder/12322946 for dry feed. I'm working on feeding fermented rations. And how to give them oyster shell and grit. Is there any reason a "sandbox" of sand and stones wouldn't provide grit as well as dusting and entertainment?
Bedding: Sweet PDZ under pine shavings and fall leaves from the trees. Maybe some chopped straw (from my own rye field - is there any reason not to use that?)

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The words “air-tight” describing a chicken coop are concerning! A bit of sarcasm, but from I’ve learned, you can never have enough ventilation in a coop. (Quoting like 800 BYC pros, lol). You sure are considering everything! I wish you the very best for you and your flock

 

[aart]

My winter ventilation plan is to leave the south side door fully open and everything else air tight. If that doesn't work - I can build a wood's open-air style coop inside the main coop. or part of one. I'm not just building the woods' coop as a compromise with my better half. In the summer, open the ridge vent and soffit vents and whatever doors and windows seem to make it most comfortable. It will get morning and evening shade from trees - full sun from about 8 to 3:30.

You close off the ridge and soffit vents in winter?

 

[saysfaa]

Yes, close uo all but the open side. I think it will work like our bank barns did with one side completely open and all the other sides closed. Pasture shelters work like this also.

Ample air diffuses in/out because the open area is so large. And because the warmth of the chickens' body and breath encourages an airflow path in the bottom of the open side and out along the top BUT only at the speed the chickens' breath moves it - too slow to be a draft.

Wind isn't a factor because it can't blow in without somewhere to blow out.

This is how Prince T Woods' plan works. https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/woods-style-house-in-the-winter.445004/#post-5566206

Mine is not what most here consider a Woods' plan because it isn't a half monitor. But the half monitor is only one example in Woods' book - all his examples used the same air flow concept.

 

[aart]

Wind isn't a factor because it can't blow in without somewhere to blow out.

This is how Prince T Woods' plan works.

Yes, am familiar with the Woods concept.
Large open front allows lots of air, but no other openings stop flow through/drafts.
It does depend on certain width and depth proportions tho,
as well as the size of the open front.

 

[saysfaa]

It does depend on certain width and depth proportions tho,
as well as the size of the open front.

Yes. I agree width/depth proportions are important. I used proportions he gave in his books.

 

[aart]

Yes. I agree width/depth proportions are important. I used proportions he gave in his books.

Might want to do a coop page?

 

[3KillerBs]

Might want to do a coop page?

Yes, please. With plans.

We need more coop pages of carefully-thought-through designs.

 

[saysfaa]

Thank you. I thought I would make a coop page...after I get it mostly done. I doubt it will ever be all the way done but I have a long way to go with just the basics. Predator apron, windows, feed and water systems that are better than make do, and so on. And they are 15 weeks old. Cipher and Sonar still have very small, very pale pink combs but Spice, Nutmeg, and Coco will need nests before long. I hope to get the nests in at least a week or so before they start laying.

 

[saysfaa]

And just because it is such a beautiful morning today ... I took this picture