12' X 16' box stall to make into a coop. Help!

piccolini

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I have decided to dedicate a stall in our barn to the hens. I need help making our 12 x 16 ft stall into a chicken coop. My hardest thing at the moment is that there is so much space! I could really use some help deciding what to put and where to put it. One thing that I have been trying to figure out how to do is make a nesting box system that can be easily cleaned as well as something they will not roost on. Does anyone has any suggestions on what I should be doing? This stall will also have a large outdoor run and will need to accomidate about 2 dozen hens
Thanks for any help!
 
what kind of stall do you have?
I converted one of mine into a grow out pen, but the nesting boxes need to be lower than the roosts.
I had to cover the top part of the stall with wire mesh to keep the predators out.
need to know more about th kind of stall you have
wink.png
 
It is just a large rectangle stall with plywood siding. We have sealed off the bottom with more plywood and added chicken wire all the way to the ceiling. It has a packed dirt floor which will hopefully eventually become concrete. There will be an opening in the back for the hens to come in and out of the run. It is mostly just alot of open space. Is there anything else you would like to know?
Thank for answering so quickly
 
You need about 20' of roost space so two 2x4's across the narrow part will do nicely. No reason with that much space not to put the next boxes on the floor. If you want them really easy to clean, just buy plastic bins at WalMart and set them on the floor -- usually you can find a style with a cutout on the front for ease of entrance. You would only need 3 of these if they are like mine, as there is room for at least two hens in one. They won't roost on them if there is no top. Or you could build an open front box with maybe 6 holes in front, each nest about a foot cubed, with a 45 degree slant to the top. This could be at floor level or raised, or you could build something like this and make it two story. Or some combination of these. 24 chickens don't need more than 6 nest boxes. Mine have individual preferences and I have both available; some use one, some the other, and some wallow out a nest in the hay on the floor and use that. It varies from one day to the next. I would not make anything very heavy and I would make it as easy to modify as I could, as you are likely to see their needs and preferences change. If you think you might let a broody hen raise chicks (if you get broody breeds or have one go broody) I would probably go ahead and section off one corner to separate her and her chicks; make it around 5'x5', with some inexpensive chicken wire as you're only keeping chickens out/in. You can make a simple door and arrange it so it can be left latched open when not in use, so they don't lose the floor space. This is also very handy if you should decide to add new chicks or birds. I have something like this and it has come in handy (except I put the hinges on the wrong side -- the chickens don't care but it gets in my way.) You can put a galvanized garbage can or two inside the stall for feed.

If it snows where you are, they will likely stay in the coop all day sometimes, and 8 sq ft per bird when they are "cooped up" is actually not a lot of space, though it should be enough. If you are in a hot climate, they will appreciate being able to spread out. There just about isn't any such thing as too much space.
 
Thank you for the help! This is exactly what I am looking for. We do get a small amount of snow in the winter and in the summer it will get to be about 90 degrees. The barn itself is in the shade for most of the day as well as the run. Should I be looking at installing a heater and/or fan? I have been reading posts on here and many have this. Would you say I would need it? Also would should I be laying bedding down?
Thanks
 
On adding heat, this is a hotly (pardon the pun) debated topic on here. Chickens grow their own down coat. I'd make your roosts wide, like the wide side of a 2X4, which allows them to rest their body on their whole foot and keep their feet warm. Heating chicken coops tends to prevent them from getting acclimated to the cold, so if there is a cold snap or the power goes out, they can be in trouble. There are people in Alaska who don't provide heat, or only add some if temps get well below zero -- yes, not below freezing, below zero, like 20 below. A pen in a barn should be very well ventilated which should keep frostbite off the combs. Frostbite is mainly caused by trapped humidity, which they release in their breath and poop, which is why the ventilation -- the humid air is also warm so it rises up and out, if there is a place to go. If you get worried about frostbite on some cold night, smear their combs with Vaseline. Plus heat in chicken coops tends to burn them down -- chickens are dusty and dust lights fires easily. If you get a bad cold snap and get worried, you have the space to add a few square bales of hay to make the coop smaller and thus better warmed by their bodies (25 chickens will give off a lot of body heat.) You can also put a temporary cover over, or partly over, the pen to help trap heat. If you have a typical high ceiling barn, and put hardware cloth on the top of their pen to keep predators out, this would hold a tarp easily. Or you could build something temporary. Just don't close off the ventilation.

For hot weather, 100 degrees is considered the danger point for chickens. It gets hotter than that here and I haven't lost any to heat. Mine always have shade and a fan, plus a pretty breezy coop. So for you, 90 degrees with the shade of the barn itself, especially since the barn is also shaded, should be quite comfortable for them. I doubt that even a fan would be needed unless it gets really still and steamy hot in there, and most barns are a lot more airish (breezy) than that! If they start doing a lot of panting and holding their wings away from their sides, they are probably a bit warm.

Is this a dirt floor? Mine is. Bedding is actually optional on dirt, but most people use some kind of bedding because it controls odors and moisture, keeps the floor closer to clean, and makes poop cleanout easier. Also a little warmer in winter. I throw pine shavings and hay on the poop, and stir it if the chickens don't do it for me, and once or twice a year the whole mess goes into the compost bin. I just did that, not because it smelled, because I wanted the compost. Dirt tends to normalize temps, warming the place a bit in winter and cooling it in summer. I have never had anything but dirt and don't want anything else. Thing about bedding is, even without cleaning it out, neither you or the chickens have to do much walking on poop. If you leave it dirt, you're going to be doing a lot of raking and scraping or else a lot of walking in poop.

In my 11X17 coop I probably use 2 square bales of hay and maybe 8 or 9 - $5 bales of pine shavings a year. For startup you'd want maybe 6 bales of the pine. Pine is wonderful for odors and light to handle. Unless you're really strapped financially, I think you'll be glad you invested in the bedding.

If you put down a floor, you will probably want to clean it every week or at least every few weeks, and you most likely will need bedding to keep them from sliding on the floor and injuring their legs or hips. Because, obviously, a floor needs to be linoleum or well painted or something similar, or it's too difficult to clean. The only floor I'd consider is concrete, because it's permanent, never rots, stands up to hose cleaning, and also keeps predators out. Up to you. Where I live, people always had plain dirt floors in their coops. The poop does dry and merge with the dirt, in time. But it does that as it filters through the bedding, too. I'm sure some will argue this isn't clean enough, that you need to be able to clean the floor. If I'd ever had a bout with lice and mites, I might say bad words about my dirt floor. Or I might rake it out, sprinkle Sevin, add clean bedding, and solve the problem. Will cross that bridge if I come to it.

Good luck!
 
You might consider sand instead of wood shavings and hay on the floor. I've used both, and like the sand way better. It's very easy to keep clean, and not particularly dusty. Many who use wood shavings and or hay like the added benefit of using it for gardening when they remove it from the hen house. I was very concerned about heating my hen house at first. Don't bother. When I open their door in the morning the hens run out of the 30 degree house to hang out in the snow covered yard that's 20 degrees or colder. You will need to keep unfrozen water available for them though.
 
My barn was built for my horses. I have one left and he is now out in the pasture so the chickens and ducks have taken over!
This is just one stall I converted but if you go on my website you can see the other one or two maybe, I can't remember if the other is pictured or not.
Right now I have a Cochin pair and 22 ducks that sleep in this one. The chickens stay in the pen attached during the day but the ducks are let out of the pen to free range.
You can see the other coop beside this one. There is only boards and poultry wire as a partition. The boards were from horse days and I added the poultry wire for the chickens. I put a tarp over the front in the winter to block some wind but summer it is just dog kennel wire. It is framed at the bottom on the front, though you may not can see it well because of the snow.

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