4x8 Coop: What do you think?

[3KillerBs]

My flock is is currently composed of 9 silkies (who do not roost) and 2 orpingtons. 6 of the silkies are unsexed youngsters, so a few will likely be roosters and therefore rehomed.

I live in a place where -30°C weather and 30°C weather are both common, as well as pretty extreme winds

The Usual Guidelines

For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:

• 4 square feet in the coop (.37 square meters)
• 10 square feet in the run (.93 square meters),
• 1 linear foot of roost (.3 meters),
• 1/4 of a nest box,
• And 1 square foot (.09 square meters) of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

Granted that silkies are smaller, you are pushing your numbers right up to the edge here but have a climate where you really are going to NEED generous space for the winter months when the chickens will not have access to their run (unless they will ALWAYS have access a covered and winterized run, which changes the situation a bit).

You should read these articles on keeping chickens in both heat and cold:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/hot-climate-chicken-housing-and-care.77263/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/cold-weather-poultry-housing-and-care.72010/

Since you asked for photos, here are 3 Blue Australorp cockerels in a 4x8 space. At this age they were just slightly smaller than an adult hen of that breed, so larger than your Silkies but smaller than your Orpingtons.

I noted where I think you should have a top hinged window. (or whatever kind you get) Top hinged has advantage of being open in the rain, and no water gets inside. The interior of window frame should have hardware cloth, for predator protection.
The ventilation at the eves is good. The ventilation at the complete gable should also be open. Hardware cloth on all open areas.

I wasn't planning to add a window, since the only good options seem to be really expensive. I'm not allowed to build this coop unless it matches the house & garage, so having large openings with hardware cloth or using old repurposed windows aren't options.

If half your silkies are males and get rehomed you'll have 8 chickens and thus will need at least 8 square feet of ventilation -- best located at the top of coop above their heads when they're sitting on the roost.

A windowless shed is not a chicken coop, it is a rotisserie -- an unhealthy environment filled with foul, stale, overheated, ammonia-laden air that isn't fit for human lungs much less a bird's delicate respiratory system.

You can't do without airFLOW.

The vented ridge creates a lot of ventilation,

No, it doesn't.

Ridge vent offers square INCHES of ventilation. You need square FEET. Likewise for the little, louvered vents common on shed.

Mandated style considerations make things difficult, but if you want to enjoy your chickens instead of tending to constant health problems you have to figure out how to work within those constraints.

Soffit vents are probably the least conspicuous as well as the best protected from rain and snow. You leave the blocking out from between the rafters and replace the trim boards with hardware cloth.

Alternately, you just don't bring the siding all the way to the top of the wall under the roof overhang.

Additionally, there should be no reason not replace the gable siding with hardware cloth in the triangle where the run roof connects to the coop. It won't be visible.

I can make the coop slightly larger, but even if I store my feed in stacking totes, I need most of that space for storage. And of course I lose some space by having to have an open walkway through to the coop.

Have you actually measured the space required?

It may be that I use a simpler system than most, but I have 21 adult birds plus varying numbers of chicks and I store my feed in a 2x4 space along one wall of the coop -- 2, 50# bags of all-flock feed and 2 metal trash cans. A 50# bag of oystershell takes up another square foot outside the coop and I normally have an open bag of shavings hanging around somewhere. The chick feed, when I have chicks, is in a metal trash can next to my outdoor brooder.

With a little more organization than I'm used to and maybe installing a shelf I could easily fit everything into less than 4x4 and that's for a flock over twice the size of yours.

You don't need a walkway if you organize your supplies in an L-shape in a corner and make use of shelves. You could probably add another 4x4 area to the coop section that way.

 

[house_hippo]

The Usual Guidelines

For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:

• 4 square feet in the coop (.37 square meters)
• 10 square feet in the run (.93 square meters),
• 1 linear foot of roost (.3 meters),
• 1/4 of a nest box,
• And 1 square foot (.09 square meters) of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

Granted that silkies are smaller, you are pushing your numbers right up to the edge here but have a climate where you really are going to NEED generous space for the winter months when the chickens will not have access to their run (unless they will ALWAYS have access a covered and winterized run, which changes the situation a bit).

You should read these articles on keeping chickens in both heat and cold:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/hot-climate-chicken-housing-and-care.77263/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/cold-weather-poultry-housing-and-care.72010/

Since you asked for photos, here are 3 Blue Australorp cockerels in a 4x8 space. At this age they were just slightly smaller than an adult hen of that breed, so larger than your Silkies but smaller than your Orpingtons.

If half your silkies are males and get rehomed you'll have 8 chickens and thus will need at least 8 square feet of ventilation -- best located at the top of coop above their heads when they're sitting on the roost.

A windowless shed is not a chicken coop, it is a rotisserie -- an unhealthy environment filled with foul, stale, overheated, ammonia-laden air that isn't fit for human lungs much less a bird's delicate respiratory system.

You can't do without airFLOW.

View attachment 3085820




No, it doesn't.

Ridge vent offers square INCHES of ventilation. You need square FEET. Likewise for the little, louvered vents common on shed.

Mandated style considerations make things difficult, but if you want to enjoy your chickens instead of tending to constant health problems you have to figure out how to work within those constraints.

Soffit vents are probably the least conspicuous as well as the best protected from rain and snow. You leave the blocking out from between the rafters and replace the trim boards with hardware cloth.

Alternately, you just don't bring the siding all the way to the top of the wall under the roof overhang.

Additionally, there should be no reason not replace the gable siding with hardware cloth in the triangle where the run roof connects to the coop. It won't be visible.



Have you actually measured the space required?

It may be that I use a simpler system than most, but I have 21 adult birds plus varying numbers of chicks and I store my feed in a 2x4 space along one wall of the coop -- 2, 50# bags of all-flock feed and 2 metal trash cans. A 50# bag of oystershell takes up another square foot outside the coop and I normally have an open bag of shavings hanging around somewhere. The chick feed, when I have chicks, is in a metal trash can next to my outdoor brooder.

With a little more organization than I'm used to and maybe installing a shelf I could easily fit everything into less than 4x4 and that's for a flock over twice the size of yours.

You don't need a walkway if you organize your supplies in an L-shape in a corner and make use of shelves. You could probably add another 4x4 area to the coop section that way.

There is a lot of advice here, thank you! I'll do my best to reply to all of your points.

The ridge cap is being combined with soffit (?) vents, sorry I didn't know those had a name. The roofing will be installed just like a normal roof. The gap at the roof edge works out to ~8 inches wide all the way along the peak, plus an overhang on the lower edges.

I can absolutely make the gable facing the run an open vent!

I know I'm pushing the space limits a bit in the coop, but yes my chickens will have access to their run all winter except on the very coldest days. Last winter I wrapped their run in plastic (leaving space up high for venting), and I will likely do that again. I'll have to attach it to the inside to avoid aesthetic complaints (eye roll).

Storage wise, I have a similar amount of feed bags, as well as a brooder, cat/dog carriers, and another large cage that will be stored in the shed when not in use as an indoor brooder. So if one side of the "alleyway" was feed/bedding and the other was the brooder/cages, I don't know if I could squeeze that in a much smaller space. Maybe 3x8 and make the coop 5x8? Shelving would help a little bit with the smallest carriers.

Edit: I meant to say thank you again for your help!

 

[MACCanadianCoop]

You’ve received lots of great advice already. I just have one question. Is the shed metal? Wood? Fiberglass? If you are retrofitting a metal shed, remember that it will be an ice box in the winter and a sauna in the summer, so insulation of some form will be a must.

 

[house_hippo]

You’ve received lots of great advice already. I just have one question. Is the shed metal? Wood? Fiberglass? If you are retrofitting a metal shed, remember that it will be an ice box in the winter and a sauna in the summer, so insulation of some form will be a must.

All wood construction other than the roofing, which is on top of 1/2" plywood. Not sure if it will be insulated or not, though. My current coop is not insulated, and I never had any problems this past winter.

 

[3KillerBs]

Storage wise, I have a similar amount of feed bags, as well as a brooder, cat/dog carriers, and another large cage that will be stored in the shed when not in use as an indoor brooder. So if one side of the "alleyway" was feed/bedding and the other was the brooder/cages, I don't know if I could squeeze that in a much smaller space. Maybe 3x8 and make the coop 5x8? Shelving would help a little bit with the smallest carriers.

Ah. I didn't realize you had a lot of other equipment. Metal utility shelving will be a very useful addition.

The stuff you use only infrequently can be put against the back wall behind other items that you can shift to access the little used things.

Does anything disassemble or fold flat?

You’ve received lots of great advice already. I just have one question. Is the shed metal? Wood? Fiberglass? If you are retrofitting a metal shed, remember that it will be an ice box in the winter and a sauna in the summer, so insulation of some form will be a must.

This is not true.

With adequate ventilation a metal building is neither better nor worse in re: heat or cold than any other building.

Insulation in a chicken coop is needed in only the most extreme, bitter-cold climates. With proper ventilation the temperature and humidity inside the coop is the same as the outside. The primary function of insulation in a chicken coop is to provide rodents with a cozy nesting place.

*Sometimes* it's necessary to put a thermal break under a metal roof if the climate is such that severe condensation is a problem, but excellent ventilation directly under the roof is usually adequate to prevent this.

 

[saysfaa]

...
I'd love to hear all of your opinions. Good, bad, and ugly. And if you have a similarly sized coop, I'd really appreciate photos of your setup....

I have a similar style and for similar reasons so it may help even though mine is somewhat bigger (andI have no run. The pictures are just now during spring cleaning. I'll get some better pictures later because it is going to rain very soon.

Top priorities were/are resale value of the property in the eyes of my city slicker husband who thinks anything that looks like a chicken coop would lower resale value. And function as a chicken coop and as a garden shed. All that stuff plus quite a bit more fit into the shed all winter, with comfortable room to work. Most of it is garden stuff.

I adore the storage/work area. It allows a divider to keep the bedding in. I never have to worry about escapees as I open the door. Everything I need is right there.

I would like to raise the storage enough that the chickens can use the floor space occasionally.

Your plan shows no eaves, added as much as I would like would make it look like a coop in my husband's eyes but even the 9" I have makes the ventilation work better. We agreed after it was built that the eaves make it look better as just a shed, also.

I have a ridge vent in a snowy climate. I can come back to that later, I need to get things back in before it rains.

 

[MACCanadianCoop]

Insulation in a chicken coop is needed in only the most extreme, bitter-cold climates. With proper ventilation the temperature and humidity inside the coop is the same as the outside. The primary function of insulation in a chicken coop is to provide rodents with a cozy nesting place.

*Sometimes* it's necessary to put a thermal break under a metal roof if the climate is such that severe condensation is a problem, but excellent ventilation directly under the roof is usually adequate to prevent this.

He said it gets down to -30C. That is very, very cold.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

Twenty-two below is crazy cold. I have never insulated my coops until this last one because it is off the ground over concrete so I insulated the bottom beneath the floor. Since this coop is on the ground I don't think a little insulation on the roof would hurt but that's usually what I use snow for. If its really cold I will just leave the snow on the coop roof and I've never had a problem BUT we don't usually go much below zero. My mom's coops are insulated as far as I know because she lives in a colder climate. Its something to consider for sure. You could easily start a thread on here for people in your same climate and see what they have done with their coops and go from there.

 

[saysfaa]

It is now raining. So here are pictures of the outside so you can see the eaves with overhang. The shed is 10x14 for perspective.

Edit to add. Lol, Oh. I hadn't read all the comments, you already have an overhang (soffits).

 

[saysfaa]

I agree with you about exterior nests. The only three reasons I know of for having them are:

• so one doesn't need to go into the coop to gather eggs. Irrelevant with a storage area.
• So one doesn't use floor space for nest. Irrelevant with either a big enough coop (floor area or vertical space) or a storage area
• One likes the look.

Not worth all the disadvantages.