Bi fold doors?

[Wise Woman]

I am still working on my new coop plans. It will be 6 ft wide and 8 ft long. It will be raised off the ground 24". I want to put clean out doors on both of the 8 ft. sides. I want them to be as large as possible so I have easy access to clean the coop out. I also want to be able to leave these doors open all summer long as we are building the coop as part of an enclosed, secure, covered run. So I figured I would have to frame out two sections that would allow me to install two sets of doors, each about 4 ft wide. Similar to this.


I would install two doors in each opening. Or I could install one large door in each opening.

But then I though what if I used shutter hinges on the doors so that instead of them opening out, they could fold back on themselves like a pair of shutters. Do you think this would work or should I just stick with the two sets of doors? This is my first raised coop, so I am trying to make sure it is easy for me to clean out. I also have about 8 vintage windows and I wold like to put one in each door panel so that in the winter when the coop doors are closed, the coop will still get lots of light. Any advice is most gratefully appreciated as this is my last coop and I want it to be right. Thanks.

 

[TalkALittle]

I don't see why bi-fold doors wouldn't work. The only thing to consider is whether or not they would be more susceptible to predator break ins. The hinged middle might allow the door to flex enough that a raccoon could get a hand in.

 

[Wise Woman]

Hopefully, the run will be secure enough that predators won't be able to get into it and get to the coop, but for extra precautions I could put those sliding bolt type latches on each door so that they would not be able to flex it open at the hinges. I could put one on the top and one on the bottom. I think that would keep it fairly secure. But hopefully nothing will get into the run in the first place. That is my goal anyway.

 

[PapaChaz]

no reason you couldn't use bi fold doors there. Obviously you're going to want exterior grade, but secure them well so they can't be opened as mentioned and you're good to go.

I put double doors on one end of my coop to make it easier to clean out



I have a dump box I can put on the back of my tractor, I can open the doors, back it up there, rake it all out and haul it away. I went from this:




to this, in about 5 or 6 minutes with a rake:


you'll love your big doors when it comes time to clean it!

 

[Wise Woman]

Thanks for the pictures PapaChaz. Since the coop is going to be 8 ft long, I thought 2 4ft doors might be kind of cumbersome so I am thinking 4 2ft doors that fold back would take up much less space, be easier for me to handle and allow me to fully open the coop to clean it out. We will be making the doors ourselves and would secure them on the top and bottom as well as the side where they meet to close.

I haven't seen a coop like this so I thought perhaps there was a reason I wasn't aware of. Glad to hear you think it would work. I am planning to do it on both 8 ft sides so I have a lot of control over ventilation in the summer time. I have 8 vintage windows and I am planning on putting them into the doors with hardware cloth so they can be opened when the bi fold doors are closed. I have to get my design down so I can tell my builder exactly how I want things. Otherwise, who knows what I will end up with!

 

[aart]

What is your location so we know your climate?

Do you plan on having large roof overhang like the picture you posted?

 

[Wise Woman]

I live in the mountains of southern CA at 6200 ft. I have had chickens up here for 15 years now with no problems. My new coop is going to be an all in one, raised coop/covered run with a solid wood roof. There will be some overhang and we will be installing rain gutters on the roof as well. Right now they have a coop in my husbands shed, which he would like to have back. Plus, I have developed some health issues and so we want to make a coop that is easy for me to care for.

The whole thing is going to be 28 ft wide and 8 ft deep. . The coop will be 6 ft wide by 8 ft deep and will be located in the middle section of the run instead of off to one side, because there will be a block wall behind it and a garden on either side, so the coop and the run will have access from the front only. There will be a door into the run on each side and I will have doors on the front of the coop to access the nest boxes without entering the run or the coop. The back wall of the coop will be solid with a vintage window for light.

We don't have a drainage problem where the coop will be located and it will be up on a row of cinder blocks. The coop will be fairly well protected from wind and blowing rain or snow by the block wall and the gardens. I can put up those clear corrugated panels for the winter if necessary and I will plant vines to cover it in order to keep it cool in the summer

I want both of the 8 ft sides of the coop to open up fully for easy cleaning and for their comfort in the summer. I can make 2 doors that would meet in the middle, two sets of 4 doors that open out or make them fold back on themselves like shutters. I haven't seen any coops with bi-fold doors, so I was just curious if there was a reason not to use them. I also have 8 vintage windows that are 18" wide by 30" high that I will be building into each door so that I can open the windows when the doors are closed.

The run will be fully lined with 1/4" hardware cloth and it will be under the foundation as well and there will be pavers around the exterior of the coop to prevent digging. All doors will have predator proof locks and our yard is enclosed on 3 sides by a block wall and there is cedar fencing with large river rocks across the bottom on the front of our property.

Our predators are owls, hawks, rattlesnakes, raccoons and coyotes. There are the occasional bob cats and mountain lions, but they are few and far between luckily. We will be putting lattice on top of the block walls as well, to make them 8 ft high all the way around. Hopefully the coyotes won't be able to get into the yard at all. The raccoons are what worry me the most. Right now my goats keep them at bay, but they are getting old and when they pass I won't be replacing them, hence the need for a new, very secure coop. I would like to have this coop built before winter so the chickens can be moved before something happens to the goats.

HTH.

 

[PapaChaz]

sounds like you have it planned out very well! Yes, I do think you can make the bifold doors work. Are you going to be able to close off each side to separate them? that would be a great way to be able to run chicks on one side, adults on the other side. make an inside divider out of chicken wire so they could see and get used to each other. I'm actually thinking about building something similar to use to separate my pairs of ameraucanas for breeding. So I can keep track of which pair gave me which eggs/chicks and then use one side for the breeding pen when I decide which rooster to keep, and the other side for a grow out pen. I'll keep the egg hens in the coop and run I have now

 

[Wise Woman]

I hadn't really thought about doing that. I was intending to have all their food and water on the left side of the run as well as my cans which store their food. I would like a set up similar to this. I will have a picnic bench with the hanging treat bowls and a rock filled water area. I also like the elevated feeder in this set up or I can just hang it from the ceiling. I also have a bench that is about 18" high that I will set all my feed storage cans on top of to eliminate bending.




Their " play" area will be on the right side and will have the wooden ladder they now use as a perch and a stump they current use and lots of pine needles, oak leaves, wood chips etc. to scratch around in. I was going to put my goats large tire they used to jump up on, in the middle under the coop for them to dust bathe in.

Since I will only be able to have about 12 chickens, I will only be having 3 or 4 chicks at a time every couple of years or so. I can't have roosters so I don't do any breeding, so my needs will be pretty simple. Your plans to separate your breeding pairs sounds like I good one. I imagine that could get confusing!

I will be using a hutch from a dining room buffet to make my nest boxes, so I was thinking I could maybe build a small grow out box to fit under the nest boxes in the hutch since that will essentially be wasted space. My hutch is similar to this but it doesn't have the bottom row of draws, just sides that go straight down, so that area will just be empty space.




Or I could tuck it under the roosts and just put a tarp on top Something like this. Not the coop part, but the box part. I could open the coop doors so the would have fresh air all day.

I currently have a large water melon box that works great for a grow out pen, but I will need something like below when I need to put the new girls in with the old gals.


Hopefully it will all come together.