Another Question About "Things You've Learned" Thread....

[JudyH]

Make it so you can collect eggs, clean poop board, fill food and water without stepping in if possible--then you don't have to worry about some nice fresh poo on your shoe.

We're building the coop right now.... We've made sure we can collect eggs from the outside and clean the poop board under the roost from outside.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to design food/water with access from outside?​

 

[LlamaChick]

Maybe automatic feeders that you only have to fill on certian day's? I am not sure but this is my best guess! (I am one of those people who before she dives into something learns as much as possible(So no I don't have my chickies yet!)

 

[Zahboo]

I've always had them close to the human door, but I guess you could make a mini hinged door near feeder and waterer. I'm not real sure though. Be spontaneous!

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Any of those things can be done through access doors. It's just a smaller door in the wall that you can open up and reach through. On the other side of the door can be the food, water, nest box or poop board. Some people build an exterior nest box, others just have a door in the wall that they reach through, into the nest box.

I especially like access doors for servicing the smaller coops that are elevated. That's really handy.

For a big shed style coop, with a lot of chickens in it, I usually have the feed storage bin right inside the shed, along with my other supplies, so I don't use access doors then. Plus, I use a big waterer for them and it's easier to just carry it through the big door. For a big coop, I just use coop boots.

You can also sub-divide a big coop and have the storage area chicken free, so it's clean to work in. Then have a wall, it could be wire fencing or whatever you want to make it out of, to contain the chickens in the rest of the coop. You can put access doors in that dividing wall, instead of in an outside wall.

 

[PortageGirl]

Here are a few ideas, some pictures are on Post #18 on page 2 as well as the last page… https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=109158&p=5 also, if you do a search on PVC Pipe, you will get quite a few hits with PVC feeders but also other kinds that have chutes to fill from at least the feed room, if not the outside of the building.

 

[SewingDiva]

This is not my idea but I sure wish it was! A truly brilliant concept:

Phyllis