What's the one thing you wish you had included in your coop?

[Folly's place]

It's a chicken palace!
Mary

 

[Parront]

I can give more than one. I live in the suburbs, have new hens, and when we got them as chicks we totally tore down and rebuilt our chicken setup. Because we'd had problems with rats and mice getting in the old run, we dug out the floor of the 8'x8' run and added 1/2" wire mesh to the entire bottom and then replaced with 4" of new dirt. The run is now completely enclosed with this mesh and no more pests! We also made it 4' tall, as the old one was 3' which made getting in there to clean really difficult. Added light colored corrugated plastic roofing which provides shade, and rain and snow just pour off the end. Replaced the old standard feeder with a rodent-proof metal one that has a pedal to open the top. It holds more food with no waste. Replaced the old standard waterer with a 3 gallon Premier heated waterer with side nipples. Bought a new Snap Lock coop, which is bigger than the old wooden one and it's absolutely amazing! We placed it on the opposite site of the run (the old coop would get buried with snow dropoff from our house's solar panels). The new coop is so easy to clean! We finally added a stationary "tractor" on the lawn and made a wire mesh tunnel from the run to the tractor. So with this new setup, we fixed multiple things that we didn't like about the old one. View attachment 1866762

That plastic coop looks easy to keep clean. You sure get a good view of your birds!

 

[Parront]

View attachment 1866764 I absolutely love my coop. Bigger is always better and mine is already big. It would have been nice to have a separate area for babies and also hens who want to sit r to break them from sitting.

What I love about mine is electricity, running water including sink, auto poop door opener, brand new huge windows all around, porch where my girls can go when it rains or snows, under porch is great for dust baths, linoleum down on the floors makes it easy to clean, poop boards keeps the coop cleaner.

Good luck with your new coop!!

What a designer coop! Too cute for chickens to poop in~but they will

 

[Sundaychx]

We had access to thick mats, similar to mats used in horse stalls. We use a deep litter situation, but clean out is pretty straightforward. I have had mice chew through the walls but never through the mats. Lots of great suggestions, door to lock them in during weather, and we now lock them in at night. Something has been getting through the wire mesh to get some hens. Now they are locked in.

 

[edeveraux]

Has anyone tried paving an apron around the coop perimeter? Would this keep foxes and dogs out?

We created an apron of chicken wire. layed it just under the soil, 12 inches out. Nothing has dug in.

 

[youngstevie]

Making sure everything was in easy reach ~ including the roosts! The one thing I can't reach easily is the top roost.

One thing I did was make sure that I can enter the house, this ensures me to be ab

Hi Peeps!
I'm planning a coop build and I'm hoping to take a few lessons from the BYC community before I start. So, please share one thing you wish you had included in your coop.
Thanking you!

One thing I did was make sure that I can enter the house, this ensures me to be able to clean out properly so with my coop I have a side door so I can enter. Slide the small door to keep chickens in their run then I have a concrete floor with quarry tiles on, this enables me to clean thoroughly

 

[Prolate]

I built a tractor coop from an old pop-up camper frame. The coop is about 8 x 10 ft with high enough ceiling to walk around in, a 2 x 6 ft human door and an automatic guillotine bird door. Roosts are around the perimeter, (just willow sticks with stand-off supports for roosting). The floor is 5/4 treated decking with 1/4 in. spacing between the boards. My laying boxes are kitty litter containers and I have hanging food and water.

My only regret is that I did not engineer an external egg retrieval system so I would not have to go inside to collect eggs. I have a LED shop light on a timer to give the birds at least 12 hr of light every day. As an aside I clean the coop by shoveling the poopy straw into a bucket and hosing down the inside with a hose or HP sprayer. Enough food leaks out between the floor boards so that I think that I am feeding most of the rabbits in the county where I live, (additional food for the table).

 

[Leecie]

Hi Peeps!
I'm planning a coop build and I'm hoping to take a few lessons from the BYC community before I start. So, please share one thing you wish you had included in your coop.
Thanking you!

The one thing that was very important I wish I would of done is make a cement slab floor!!! I’ve invested hundreds of dollars on three different floor systems and all have failed at keeping out the pesty rats!

 

[Leecie]

Has anyone tried paving an apron around the coop perimeter? Would this keep foxes and dogs out?

Not the rats

 

[Thomas70]

I agree about the smell but due to rat and predator problems I have found the concrete helps keep my birds safer in the long run. The foxes and raccoon used to just dig holes into my coop to steal my birds.

I have a sand floor which breathes better than dirt and certainly concrete. To keep out the varmints I put a concrete apron around the coup.