Approve My Final Coop/Run Design

[pennyJo1960]

If you can do a small area in the main coop so they are safe but she is still there in sight

 

[pennyJo1960]

Thanks, Penny. lol. I appreciate it. I am thoroughly confused, but that's alright. It's all part of the learning process. It's crazy, because on the one hand, chickens are supposed to be so easy to keep, but there's just so much that goes into getting ready for them.

What do you talk about on that thread, just anything chicken related, or is it supposed to be stuff specific to raising chickens in WA?

We talk anything and everything there chicken or life

 

[AmyJane725]

You've gotten some great advice. All I will add is that it looks like your nest boxes are 12x12x12. While that's considered quite adequate I feel that's too small for LF. I'd make them 16x16x16. I'd also make the clean out door a double door so that it can be opened the full width of the coop and like others have said, I wouldn't put the coop in the run.

Ok, that's good/important to know. The chickens I'm planning on getting are a Partridge Cochin Rooster, an Australorp, a Rhode Island Red, a White Cochin, a White Leghorn, a Barred Rock and a Silver Spangled Hamburg. If there's any special advice you can give me with that in mind it would be great. I know hamburgs are supposed to need a lot of room. Will she be happy in this run?

 

[pennyJo1960]

Should be most often birds will be content with where they are as long as they are not over crowded

 

[rosemarythyme]

I did like it, but I'm not married to it. I'm almost considering downsizing a bit just because it seems I technically only need 28 sqft if I follow the 4sqft/bird rule. I just wanted them to have a chicken mansion, but it's kind of too big for the enclosure I feel like. It's better to have a big run than a big coop, right? As far as their comfort is concerned?

And as far as the nest boxes go, I'm loathe to admit it, but I'm pretty OCD (weird for someone who wants to keep poopy dusty animals, I know) and I really like things to be symmetrical. I had considered having just three nest boxes and putting them on the back of the coop, but I thought they were kinda cute hanging off the sides, but I couldn't bear to have just one side have them

Yes overall run space is more valuable than coop space, but do make sure that the coop is big enough that IF you decide you want to add more birds in the future that there will be space for them. For me, because I don't plan on culling retired layers, I know I always need to add a few chicks every couple of years to continue egg production, so I sized the coop with a multi-generation flock in mind.

You could have the nest box banks built on both sides, and then make one side functioning nest boxes and the other purely decorative, as open floor space for the chickens to use. It's your coop, if it makes you feel happier to see it symmetrical and don't mind paying for it, why not?

 

[aart]

I'm almost considering downsizing a bit just because it seems I technically only need 28 sqft if I follow the 4sqft/bird rule.

Don't do it...go as big a you can.
4/10 is a minimum, tho your climate may be more forgiving than mine.

Yes overall run space is more valuable than coop space, but do make sure that the coop is big enough that IF you decide you want to add more birds in the future that there will be space for them.

Ehhh....I dunno...maybe, if run is weather proofed.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I agree go as big as possible you will not regret it in the end

 

[AmyJane725]

Yes overall run space is more valuable than coop space, but do make sure that the coop is big enough that IF you decide you want to add more birds in the future that there will be space for them. For me, because I don't plan on culling retired layers, I know I always need to add a few chicks every couple of years to continue egg production, so I sized the coop with a multi-generation flock in mind.

Yeah, I do want to make it bigger just in case. I don't care about eggs (they're nice, but that's not why I'm doing this), so I have no need to add birds to make up for ones that have gone on social security. I just worry in general that something will come up that I need more room and have no way of adding it later. That is smart of you to build your coop with that in mind though (and nice to let your old ladies live out their days in peace. <3)

I'm gonna work on some new coop designs. See what I can come up with. I'm honestly really having issue with the height. My coop is currently 8ft tall (counting 1.5ft stilts. And that's after cutting it back a foot and sacrificing vent space and making the venting closer to the chickens heads while they sleep. I don't understand how there can be room for everything in there without it being a skyscraper (that is going to be expensive to have a roof put over that is tall enough to enclose it). Much respect to everyone here who has said that I'd be better off having my coup outside the run, but I'm pretty set on having it inside. I like the dual security, and I have chicken boots. I don't care if my shoes get poopy going in there to collect the eggs. We have lots of critters here, and my neighbors have a dog that runs all over my property, and I've heard horror stories of dogs busting into coops and killing everything inside. I'd prefer it if there was a double layer of protection for my chickens.

How tall are ya'lls coops that are on stilts? My "ideal" design was 9 ft tall. That seems crazy. Idk, maybe I just don't realize how tall buildings are.

 

[aart]

Mine is 12+' tall ...but it's a big shed with a coop inside part of it.

 

[pennyJo1960]

Nope sits on the ground no stilts less danger hardware cloth buried down use lumber dimensions so less waste