Coop Health: Designing and Maintaining a Healthy Coop

Thanks so much! I'm more prepared for chicken keeping than before!

I agree with everything. There is one minor thing I am not positive about concerning roost bars (using a 2 x 4 inch with the 4 side up). My girls are using rounded 2 x 2 boards and natural 2 inch diameter limbs. They love to snuggle on them and never complain. Love your pictures. Well done!

Fantastic article. I learned so much. Thanks.

Best article I’ve read on coop design. Thank you!

Enjoyed this article. Reinforced many of the decisions I made when building my Florida sand floor open coop (with a lot of help from BYC) It's honestly so easy to maintain and never smells bad, no trouble with insects. I love BYC for it's common sense approach to raising chickens.

The best and most detailed, thorough coop guide I've ever read! This is SUPER helpful!

My only criticism is the part about wetting the bedding in the hot months. Unless you have sand in their coop, this will most definitely cause mold if done more than once. I recommend trying to keep moisture out of the coop as much as possible no matter what and just keep it very well ventilated!

(Take it from someone who has been forced to deal with a moldy coop for years, it causes so many problems and diseases. Yes, even if it's not black mold. Any mold is dangerous if breathed in all the time.)

Very informative article with a lot of excellent information. Thank you!

Wow, you covered a lot of ground here! I’m definitely bookmarking this article for future reference. I like that you explained pros and cons and covered different scenarios. Thank you!

Very informative - thank you a lot!

Great article, touches on all of the most important points of a healthy chicken coop. Thank you!

Fabulous information. Every chicken keeper should read it.

Very well written!

Title says it all. This one's a Must Read!

As usual TwoCrows has produced a well written and informative article.
The advice against using chicken wire I particularly liked. I see lots of coops and runs on the forums where chicken wire is used and it’s inviting a disaster.
The article is mainly built around large coops and while ventilation is very important for small coops off the ground such as I use, 1 sq foot of ventilation per bird would leave me with a wall missing.
The explanation of how air flows using roof vents is good; it’s how I build my small coops.
I would have liked to see recommendations for using sheet material for construction; this makes coops easier to clean and provides fewer hiding places for pests.
I’ve become a fan of bare floors in coops. I’ve found bare floors much easier for poop checks but once again, the type of coop you build will have a major bearing on whether this is or isn’t practicable.
It’s an almost impossible task to cover all coop types and this article covers the important ideas which with some thought could be applied to any coop build.
All in all an excellent article.

Amazing article!!

Having read the article and studied the photos, I can see many areas of my coop and run that'll need attention! My roosts are way too high, so I'll be rooting through my wood pile and making changes asap!
I also didn't realise how much cold weather a chicken could take!! Wow. My chooks are going to nice and hardy next winter!
I see changes I can make to the actual coop too, but that's ongoing anyway and we've already put a nice metal roof on it. It's a repurposed dog kennel, with plenty of room for five chooks at 100sq.ft

Great article and pictures...very helpful to those of us who are interested in building a coop

A well written article!

There is a variety of options and information. No matter what your environment or personal preference, you are sure to find a good tip to improve things for your birds.

Two thumbs up!

This is a thorough article with pretty much everything you need to know about housing chickens! Very helpful. I particularly appreciate the included links. Well done!

Well written, easy to understand and comprehensive...good article!