A Simple and Effective Coop Plan for 50 standard-sized chickens

[Preservation Acres]

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Another great picture. So under what circumstances would you close the vent? I know that humidity needs to be controlled, and a guy who raises chickens in Alaska has lessened my fears of my chickens freezing.

Thanks also for inviting me to the yahoo group!

 

[speckledhen]

Well, I never close the vents all the way. On the 12' addition, the vent door is in sections, which can close or open independently of each other. I have a block of wood I can prop in there if I want it to close more than the hook in the pic would allow. The more birds in the space, the more they are opened.
We never have any nights here cold enough to close one down all the way. Now, if I was raising chicks in there, as I've done before, I might close them down more than at any other time, but not all the way even then. We've been down to 5 degrees here at night already, twice. I didn't close them all the way, but they were barely cracked...BIG mistake, LOL. The moisture in there was worse than I've ever seen it, all those birds breathing and pooping at the same time. The ammonia was bad for the first time ever. There's enough body heat in there so there's no need to worry about them getting too cold!

 

[gckiddhouse]

2 things.
Remember that you can increase square footage in a small space with platforms, nesting boxes, perches, coop, etc... You'll be surprised how much room they have when they don't all have to be on the ground. They will want to roost at night, so lots of perching space.

As far as predators, where I live, I have met many a chicken owner (or former chicken owner as the case usually is) who told me that coyotes dug under the pen and killed their whole flock in one night. We have rocks piled around ours. I wish we had done something to prevent this. If you don't use concrete, then maybe put the fencing material on the bottom, too. Make a 6 sided pen so that critters can't dig under.

50 chickens sounds like a lot of fun!! And a lot of chicken poo!

 

[Mrs MIA]

I have about 25 adult birds in an 8x8' coop... it's fine when it's not terribly cold (for me, that's anything above 0F), because some choose to perch outside. However, we've been in the -25 to -30F range for the last 3 days, and I've only seen one bird outside that whole time. They have two 2x4x8' roosts, and could use one more. Some of the younger birds huddle on the floor under the dropping board, which is about 3' off the floor. I use deep litter, but the poopies freeze even with a heat lamp and make it hard to turn. I've noticed a lot more bickering since they've been "cooped up", and some of the males have had their tails pecked by the hens because they can't get away from them. If you have extreme cold temps, a 10x10' with plenty of roosts will help keep the birds close together to share body heat. Otherwise, I would suggest at least 3sf (roughly 12x12') or 4sf (roughly 15x15') for that many LF chickens.

 

[speckledhen]

Yep, it's alot of work having this many. I have other coops in addition to the main one, but in the main one, this is the big roost. Each rung is 4' across. And in the original section, there are three more roost bars as well, plus a long bar in the addition that is along a back wall. That is a good point about the spaces they can use make the floor space actually more than it is.

Here is the roost area in the original 8x8 part:

 

[Preservation Acres]

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My chickens will only be allowed to poop outside when they're free ranging, and they'll also be required to distribute their poop evenly over several acres. Pooping inside the coop will be strictly prohibited. I plan to have them trained like the Von Trapp children on The Sound of Music...I'm such a dreamer.

I think I will do the concrete floor thing. I'll probably cover it with cheep vinyl floor covering to protect their feet or maybe several layers of high gloss paint.

 

[speckledhen]

The cheap vinyl flooring is what I have in my main coop. The only issue is when I use a shovel to do a clean out, the floor gouges easily.

 

[Preservation Acres]

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Yeah, I saw your pics. Nice work.

 

[andehens]

My coop is an old dog run with a concrete floor, I keep about 6 inches of wood chips (mulch) on the floor. I love it, easy to clean, preditor proof, and they love scratching around in the mulch.

 

[Preservation Acres]

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Thanks for the pics. Do they bicker much over who gets to perch on the highest roost?