Best features for a coop

[Orange_coop]

Hi, all,

I've been thinking about designing a modular chicken coop. Something that I could put together as panels in the shop, panels which would be easy for a person to transport in a car and then easily put together when they get home.

Problem is, I don't have much experience with chickens myself, and my local friends who have chickens have just started this year so they don't really have long experience either.

What are the design features that experienced chicken people would want in a coop? Easy to open and clean, of course, but what else?

My idea is to not only have a coop that a person can transport in a car but also one where additional wall, roof, and floor panels can be added to increase the size while maintaining the same style and not having wasted a purchase on the smaller coop.

Thanks in advance for your ideas!

 

[3KillerBs]

Ventilation at the top. LOTS of ventilation.

And a generous roof overhang all around for shade and protection from rain.

 

[Orange_coop]

Ventilation at the top. LOTS of ventilation.

And a generous roof overhang all around for shade and protection from rain.

So chickens like to get against the side of the coop for shelter when outside?

Is having the coop raised up better than having it on the ground?

I'm guessing it is best to be able to block off the ventilation in the winter in colder locales? Easily done with some removeable insulation.

 

[Big Doggie]

So chickens like to get against the side of the coop for shelter when outside?

Is having the coop raised up better than having it on the ground?

I'm guessing it is best to be able to block off the ventilation in the winter in colder locales? Easily done with some removeable insulation.

If you’re in a cold winter area like I am in Mass you need to maintain 1sf of ventilation for each bird. Frostbite on their combs and ammonia fumes are dangerous. Keeping vents up high over their heads is the solution.

 

[aart]

Problem is, I don't have much experience with chickens myself

That is a problem.
If you knew chickens, you would know that a decent coop is too big to break down into panels that would fit in a car....an 8x10 trailer maybe, but not a car.

I'm guessing it is best to be able to block off the ventilation in the winter in colder locales?

No. Chickens need ventilation all year around.

 

[3KillerBs]

So chickens like to get against the side of the coop for shelter when outside?

Is having the coop raised up better than having it on the ground?

I'm guessing it is best to be able to block off the ventilation in the winter in colder locales? Easily done with some removeable insulation.

The roof overhang is to shelter the vents from rain, snow, and sun.

Walk-in or raised is a personal preference issue, though below a certain size walk-in is impractical and above a certain size raised is impractical.

Winter needs ventilation too because you have to get the moisture out in order to prevent frostbite and because ammonia is a year-round issue.

 

[3KillerBs]

If you knew chickens, you would know that a decent coop is too big to break down into panels that would fit in a car....an 8x10 trailer maybe, but not a car.

I am laughing at myself because I read the word "car" but my mind pictured an SUV's cargo area or a pickup bed -- because I live in an area where most families have at least one of the above and many only have a car as a second vehicle to save gas.

My DH points out that he probably couldn't get a 4'x8' panel into the Caliber even with the hatch left open. Lack of access to SUV, pickup, or trailer never crossed my mind at all.

 

[Orange_coop]

.

That is a problem.
If you knew chickens, you would know that a decent coop is too big to break down into panels that would fit in a car....an 8x10 trailer maybe, but not a car.

I am currently driving a Nissan Sentra as my personal vehicle and you would not believe what I have been able to fit in that thing.

My thinking is to have panels perhaps 3x6 maximum. Make the panels easy to join so you could put together any length of them and yet still fit the panels for a small coop in something like a station wagon, or even a sedan if you hang it out the back with the trunk open and the back seats down. If I keep the panels for the roof, walls, and floor small enough, you can just add more and screw them together.

So the neophyte who gets a coop for 6 birds and then later decides they want 36 birds could add more length, or potentially even more width if the smaller designs are a shed style roof and the bigger ones can be a peaked roof.

If you’re in a cold winter area like I am in Mass you need to maintain 1sf of ventilation for each bird. Frostbite on their combs and ammonia fumes are dangerous. Keeping vents up high over their heads is the solution.

So 6 birds in maybe a 6 foot long coop would need a vent 1 foot high along the length of it? Wow, that's much more than I expected. Does that change if you have "inlet" vents under the soffit overhang and then "outlet" vents under the peak of the roof, as is typical for many houses? This allows convection to circulate air.

Another question about that 1 square foot number. If you had, on the horizontal, 12 inches of overhang, all of it vented, but this soffit vented into the rafters which are only 2x4, meaning they meet a restriction of 3.5 inches, does that still count as 12 inches for ventilation purposes?

 

[aart]

does that still count as 12 inches for ventilation purposes?

No, it's the size of the opening, the overhang just protects the vents.

 

[aart]

Curious @Orange_coop ..do you have any construction, design, drafting background/skills?