found a great design!

I looked at this too, & don't like the wire floor. Even hardware cloth will sag. We have hardware cloth in the bottom of a few brooder boxes we built & they sag a bit under the weight of little chicks. I imagine under the weight of my "fat" hens, it wouldn't be long until they were walking on the ground! LOL

I was wondering why they put so many nest boxes in. I guess they didn't know they didn't need a nest for each hen.

I liked the waterer, though only for grown hens.

I would take nests out of one side & put a clean out door there, put a solid bottom, add ventilation doors with hardware cloth for screens. I would like the auto feeder mounted to a door, so if the need to clean it out arises, it would be easier.

Boy...am I picky or what?????
I don't even have anything that nice, but i can get into every pen to clean it, or just move my portable pens if I don't want to be bent over to clean them.

I dream of nice new chicken coops all the time.

Jean

dont we all.

I've run hardware cloth floor bottoms for several years now, and wouldn't switch back to a solid floor for love nor money.

The wire sags, but only slightly, and the birds couldn't care less. The floors are self cleaning, which is wonderfull in my opinion. Now if you really enjoy scooping chicken poo, you'll be disapointed in it.

I've had zero incidences of sore feet from the wire flooring.

As for nesting boxes, if and when I redo my current coop, I'll be setting it up for one nesting box per bird. Mostly so I can hold the birds in there for a day or two and positively identify who is laying, and who is not. There are trap box designs out there for catching a layer, but they won't work in my coop, and they give false results if you've got birds that simply like to hang out in the nesting boxes.

Foxtrapper

Not to get off topic, but what size hardware cloth do you use?

My chickens poo pretty large piles. What kind of support do you use for it not to sag too bad.

I would like to have wire bottoms on a few of my pens, but haven't found it to work well for me. Even if I put a chicken in one of my rabbit cages, the wire sags.


Jean

1/2" by 1/2" hardware cloth type wire. About two foot spans between wooden beams that it's stapled to.

The poo is large from my birds as well, and does not simply fall through on its own. However, the birds walking pushes it right through.

i dont like the hinged roof on the nest boxes.....

With no flashing the water runns off the upper roof onto the nest box roofs, hits the seam and runs right through...

it would leak enough to keep the nest boxes damp.

Instead make the roofs one piece and hidge the back....

Quote:
Interesting point! Does anybody have examples of a box like this?

I see a lot of designs with the hinged top that is exposed... how do most people get around the leaking?

I would be afraid that a critter could come along and reach up through the hardware cloth floor and grab one that might not be roosting. Racoons don't like to let go.

The tighter the hinge gap, the less water leakage. And if the hinge is a piano type (continuous) you get virtually no leakage. You can also use a strip of rubber as the hinge, say from an old inner tube.

You could also simply move the hinge up more under the overhang. Though as designed, the lid flips back over center, staying open by itself. Moving the hinge back under the overhang means you have to hold the lid up.

I wouldn't move the hinge to the other side as the opening would still exist and be even more likely to leak. You'd also have difficulty seeing into the nesting boxes as you open the lid, making it much more likely to have a bird in a nest panic and fly out.

Predators are interesting with this type of unit. I've got a mobil one which is even lower to the ground. Coons and such are interested in the feed. If they can reach in through a gap and get to it, they will sit there and gorge themselves on it. I've watched them do this. They show no interest in the birds roosting right overhead. Now this is in coops that are solid sided overhead, not chickenwire sided. I would not do chickenwire sided anything, especially not where they roost. I would use welded wire on the sides down low, and solid panel up on top.

Just my idea 1/4" hardware cloth won't allow chickens toes through, thus no sore feet less sagging at 2'x2The more wires per in. the less sag to prevent predators from having dinner at your place. Use 1/2 " hardware cloth underneath with an air gap of at least 2" This morning I looked a the cages my friend has which are1/4" hardware cloth after 3yrs. of daily use .No sag! With this type of hardware cloth on the bottom, toes don't go through, thus no opportunity for a predator to grab for a toe or foot. Also no snakes, not even young snakes can get through this cloth, if they do, it's FOOD for the chickens which I saw this morning!