Any suggestions on my coop design?

[shelleyd2008]

This is my idea of a breeder/brooder coop.

The smaller pens will be doubled, one on top of another, with solid bottoms on the upper cages, so nobody gets poopy heads.

The bottom pens will have access to the runs. These will be for bantam sized chickens, either trios or maybe 3 hens and one roo.

The uppers will be for quail and young chicks, with no run access.

The two larger pens on the end will be for my game chickens. Between myself and my dad we have 1 roo and 4 hens.

I will also be getting BLRW in the spring, so one large pen will be for them as well. These pens will go all the way to the ceiling.

I would do no more than 4 chickens in the smaller ones like mine, and no more than 5 in the larger ones.

Whatdya think?

EDIT: The actual size of the building is 10'x12'

 

[KellyHM]

Very nice! I want one!

 

[shelleyd2008]

Unfortunately, this one is on the back burner, as I need a (seperated) duck house and a guinea house first!!

 

[DaKid]

looks good

I kind of did the same on one wall of my coop I made cages for baby chicks - quail- and a few larger breeding cages for japanese bamtans .
what I did is have wire bottoms on all cages for the birds to walk on -under that I made removeable draws (3 inch by what ever size length and depth of the cage )-this is where I place a thin layer of shaving to catch all the poop , when need to be clean out just slide the draw out , scrap it and clean it -replace more shaving - about ever 2 or so months I hose them out scrub them with a bleach -let sit a bit ther rewash with water - dry out and do as stated as above .

 

[shelleyd2008]

And the sizes of mine are ok?

 

[KellyHM]

If you don't need ALL the bottom cages, I would make one into storage.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Yeah I thought about doing that with one of the uppers actually. I have 5 different breeds right now, with 3 more (I think) coming in the spring, so I will need a lot of run space!! I only have 2 different types of quail (I plan on keeping only about 12 birds each, would all fit in one cage) so I doubt I will need 6 different cages for quail and chicks. I can't figure out a way to make the uppers have runs as well, maybe the two on the ends, with a ramp leading down. That would give me a total of 8 small breeder pens, 2 large breeder pens, and 4 extras for babies and quail. Idk, it's still in my head right now.

 

[DaKid]

VERY HARD TO SEE THE SIZES but I'm thinking it looks like 3' X 3.5 ' = 10.5 sq. ft total

yes a trio or 3 hens and roo would be fine for bantams to me cuz most of the time there be out side and be in only at night to sleep and lay

but if ur going with a 10ft X 12ft. I would just go the extra and do a 12 X12 coop

 

[shelleyd2008]

Yeah I thought about that. I also thought about making it a bit longer, cause I wasn't sure if the 5'x3' pens would be big enough for 5 standard sized birds. Like I said though, it's still in the works, that's why I posted it before I build it and decide I don't like it!

 

[DaKid]

one think I found out is that most of the time during day light time most chickens are out side and not in the coops only for laying and sleeping , but think about the really cold weather or really wet wheather then there goting to spend a lot more time in the coops , so more time in the coops more cleaning , more smells get the picture , plus you need enought space not just for them but for you as for collecting the eggs and clean the inside pens, yes it nice to have a lot in a small area but reamber you need to get in there too for ur cleaning and make it so you don't spend a lot of time trying to do ur daily chorse to the coop and chickens and wasting a lot of time doing it , I would rather sit and watch my chickens for 2 -4-6-hours plus then take that long to clean the coop and feed them -get the whole picture

as far as the out side runs well not much to do there but you will need some type of door so you can get in and feed /water them and from time to time clean the outside runs also

remember
less is more
but bigger is better


you can always build another coop