Another coop design thread

[silarajc]

Hubby and I are building a coop from these plans, for a 10X12 building, which I've found on several state agriculture sites (did you know they have loads of free plans??). I am altering the interior, though, to add a chicken pop door on the front, and pop-out nest boxes to give a little bit more floor space for our 33 chickens (I really didn't understand chicken math until I bought the additional 8 from the farm store), who will also have an acre to free range. There are very few days in Missouri that I might think about not letting the chickens out due to cold, but I will lock them in at night.

I think I need to add another roost bar to have enough roosting space. I am planning to also add a poop board under the roost area, high enough that the floor space under the roosts can be used for a brooder/quarantine area. The building site is on a rocky hill, so there is 12"-30" clearance under the coop for shelter.

So the major design question I have is: 30sq ft are used for the storage closet. Couldn't I put in cabinets instead, maybe even not at floor level, but higher so the chickens had that floor space? Or would I find myself really regretting that? Right now I'm thinking I might want to store a bag of feed, a bag of pine shavings, grit & oyster shell, and maybe few first aid items in the coop...everything else could be stored in the barn or the house. That won't take 30 feet of space, especially if it is stacked in cabinets or shelves.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated, but the closet or not is the big question.

 

[aart]

Cabinets sound reasonable to maximize floor space.......except that feed mostly comes in 50# bags.
Tho you could repackage into smaller rodent proof containers and lift them into the cabinets.
I use a 30 gallon metal garbage can to store feed in coop shed.

You could set the nests into that separation wall so you don't have to go into coop to gather eggs.

That's a pretty nice plan......think about extending the eaves out on all sides and use top hinged windows for max summer ventilation that can stay open during rain.

 

[Howard E]

Good find on the plans. NDSU has a bunch of them and from the end an era when small farm flocks were common. These plans had all been researched and developed with practical poultry husbandry in mind. A lot of state ag departments and Universities had their own favorite designs.......most similar to this one from the US Government. One of my favorite small coops on the NDSU site was the smaller 6' x 8' Victory coop intended as an urban coop for small backyard flocks. Yet another similar to this one from Missouri was the Quisenberry Fool Proof poultry house.

Back to your questions..........X2 on what Aart suggests, PLUS make sure you place this on a high well drained site, and face the opening high side to the south to let in the light from the winter sun.

Where is the ventilation in that coop?

What are you using for your floors?

If you want more room, it would be easy enough to make this 10' x 16' and keep the storage on the side.

 

[aart]

This thread entered my early morning ponderings for some reason....
Raised off ground and connected to run can be great for a deeply shade, weather proof lounging area.
BUT.....make sure you can access all parts of it, how far do you want to crawl if a bird falls ill or starts laying way back under there?

I fenced off what I call the 'under-run' about 4-5 feet from edge of coop so I wouldn't have to crawl too far.
Also watch that slope, does run off come down it and 'flood' the ground under coop or in run?
I had to dig a swale to redirect heavy run off from flooding the under-run.

 

[silarajc]

Thanks for your suggestions! I like the idea of longer eaves - I'll have to discuss that with my husband and see how we can alter the design.

The coop is near the top of a rocky slope. It will be facing south, which points downslope. The lower part of the roof we are planning on either building a diverting wall under or have a water collector, so the roof does not drain under the coop and cut away the soil there. Right now, there is access under the coop on all sides, and ample clearance for me to send one of the kids under it.

The pop out nests (and maybe roll out too) I think will help daily chores as well. At the elevation of the coop, I can put them pretty much at floor level and still not have to bend over to collect eggs. Then I could add another roost above the nests.

At the moment, the plan is that the chickens will have about an acre to free range with a 4 strand electric fence to protect them from ground predators, multiple shelters to hide from arial predators. Intending to keep predators out more than keep chickens in, but hoping they don't have much reason to wander.

I am thinking that I could just use trash cans or bins for storage containers, and forgo the whole cabinet thing for now. Wondering the most efficient way to feed 33 chickens at once?? I would like to have an automatic feeder, so I don't have to worry about filling it every day, just check on it, so that would eliminate the need for feed storage if I just dump the whole bag in the feeder...I've seen many designs but not for a large number of chickens.

How wide would you suggest the door to be? We'll probably just make it from the exterior plywood we're using for the siding.

 

[silarajc]

This is the feeder I need, except holes on BOTH sides, and totally in the coop instead of mostly mounted outside. Maybe screw it into the floor for added stability??

 

[Howard E]

Thanks for your suggestions! I like the idea of longer eaves - I'll have to discuss that with my husband and see how we can alter the design.

The coop is near the top of a rocky slope. It will be facing south, which points downslope.

The lower part of the roof we are planning on either building a diverting wall under or have a water collector, so the roof does not drain under the coop and cut away the soil there.

At the moment, the plan is that the chickens will have about an acre to free range

with a 4 strand electric fence to protect them from ground predators

,

multiple shelters to hide from arial predators

.

On the feeder, you might consider something like this:

https://www.strombergschickens.com/...-50-pound-capacity/large-production-and-range

Regardless of where you put this or any other feeder, keeping rats and mice out of the feeder and any spilt feed is a big deal. With free access to feed, either from the feeders or from spilt feed on the ground, rats and mice will show up to help clean things up, and it won't take long for them to arrive. That by itself is bad enough, but it gets worse. There are a host of predators who go after rats and mice.......things like weasels, snakes, etc, plus skunks, foxes and others.........who may be attracted to the concentration of rats and mice, but are opportunistic killers and can easily transition to your birds. Weasels and snakes would be at the top of that list who can get into what you might think is a really secure coop.

I'm currently trying to transition my birds to a rat proof treadle feeder for this very reason. One that stays closed after hours when the birds are on the roost and the vermin come out to play, and which also limits the amount of feed lost on the ground. These feeders hold about 25 pounds of feed each and each will serve about a dozen birds.


How wide would you suggest the door to be? We'll probably just make it from the exterior plywood we're using for the siding.

A 2' 8" width (32 inches) is big enough to get stuff in and out. Litter, feed, etc.

Plywood will work, or a really sturdy door of any custom size is easy enough to make out of tongue and groove car siding.

 

[Howard E]

On the feeders, I once viewed this video from Cackle hatchery. What eventually caught my eye was the equipment being used by someone like those folks to keep a large flock of birds going.

Turn up the volume and lash yourself to the mast:

https://www.cacklehatchery.com/brown-leghorn.html#product_tabs_videos

 

[aart]

That Strombergs feeder looks great, wonder if it a new design, never seen a commercial feeder worth beans....
.... the anti beaking bars are good but the nice deep dish is what really makes it viable(if the leveler is low enough).

Not fond of bulk feeders...rodents, moisture, etc, can ruin a whole bag(or more) of feed.
Plus I like to monitor daily intake somewhat so don't mind topping off feed and water every day, takes only 10 minutes.

I made this feeder for absolutely no waste, smaller capacity is enough for 20 birds.
The water bottle version works better and more capacity than the trigger feed version.

Door size...how big is your wheel barrow?

 

[silarajc]

That Strombergs feeder looks great, wonder if it a new design, never seen a commercial feeder worth beans....
.... the anti beaking bars are good but the nice deep dish is what really makes it viable(if the leveler is low enough).

Not fond of bulk feeders...rodents, moisture, etc, can ruin a whole bag(or more) of feed.
Plus I like to monitor daily intake somewhat so don't mind topping off feed and water every day, takes only 10 minutes.

I made this feeder for absolutely no waste, smaller capacity is enough for 20 birds.
The water bottle version works better and more capacity than the trigger feed version.

Door size...how big is your wheel barrow?

I LIKE your feeder, but it looks complicated. Wondering if I could connect it to a larger container. I plan on checking on the birds at least once a day, probably in the evening, but sometimes we may be gone for a school activity, and I'd like to make sure they don't run out. Or maybe two containers would be better - allow more feeding room.

As for wheelbarrow...the door will be about three feet above the ground, so we'll have several steps to go up or down. Thinking might make some sort of "funnel" to rake stuff out the door and into a wheelbarrow when the time comes, although I've heard several say they just rake the bedding into the run and the birds spread it out.

@Howard E - I've seen the treadle feeders, but it would take probably 3 of them, which is a bit costly, and I really worry about someone's head getting crushed.

Right now, they are using the standard long trays that they sell at the farm store, and making a huge mess with it. I'm surprised I haven't seen rats in my garage, to be honest. They are knocking the things over.