Bought a coop now need to figure out best place to do water and feed

[atlchicks]

this the same coop from the look of it.. maybe 2-3 chickens max ? Thank you! So if I add on an extra run, do you think this coop can hold 4 chickens? And if I secure the run, would I have to lock the chickens up in the coop at night or could I leave the door open to let them go in and out? Thank you! if you are going to build a run.. might as well turn this coop/run combo into a coop instead ?

That is pretty tiny. Any permanent food or waterers are just going to take away space from the chickens, and that wont be good. Not sure how you could do the bucket thing in there. Be careful and make sure you've get the coop secured. From the screening, to the door and sliding cleanout tray, to the locks, this is not the most secure coop. If you have raccoons, you need to do some updating. At the very least you'll want some sort of runout of screening or pavers around the edges.

 

[junebuggena]

That coop is big enough for about 2 dual purpose breeds, 3 Leghorn types, or 4 bantams. The run is much to small for more than one or two birds, regardless of breed.

 

[ChickNanny13]

It's cute! Video states 6 full sized chickens, I really don't think so. Agree with BruceAZ, Gridguru & junebuggena, the size makes a BIG difference in keeping "happy hens" .... Coop = 4sqft per Run = 10sqft per Your idea of vinyl over secured plywood is good but what about cleaning? Another idea is securing hardware cloth to the bottom so predators can't dig in, a layer of shavings of the cloth? You can rake out the shaving when needed. Adding a Run to this set up a great idea. If you do that then put the waterer & feeder in this set up, making sure the weather can't get to it. I'm sure others will come up with ideas.

I live in Hawaii, my main problem is the heat, rain & wind. Hubby & I came up with this design....Dog house for a nest box, hens like roosting on the roof of is so we added a roost with poop board under. Works great! Shower curtains on EMT rods for windy/rainy days. Dust bath under the dog house and shavings on the ground. It's 8 x 12 x 7 if I go according to C/4 & R/10 I could add more hens but feel it would be too crowded and right now they're laying everyday so not messing with the equation. More room the better

 

[Gridguru]

Thanks! To secure the bottom of the coop, I was going to attach a plywood floor and then put vinyl over top the plywood. Does that seem like a good idea?

For the bottom of the actual coop, that would work.

You'll want something around the outside of the run though. Just something to prevent animals from digging under the wall, getting in the run, then opening the door to the coop (if it doesn't lock). Whatever you use should probably run out 12-18 inches from the edge.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Your hens would roost at night & wouldn't roam around. Not knowing where you are & what kind of predators you're dealing with that would be roaming is the biggest concern. Make sure your coup and run is secure, not so much keeping chickens in but keeping predators out. Another good thing about Hawaii, we got the Hawaiian Hawk & Owls, roaming dogs & cats, mongoose & wild pigs but not all the rest....Guess I need to count my blessings

 

[Howard E]

I have not been a participant on this forum for all that long, but long enough to see there is a desperate need for a few sets of basic plans for coops for small back yard flocks. These could be designed with input from experienced moderators and posters on this forum. Goal would be to put them into the public domain for all to see, use and modify as they see fit, but still plans that if built as designed, would work and work well. As is, a lot of folks wind up re-inventing the wheel, and are doing an incredibly bad job of it.

The small coop "chicks" found and purchased was likely expensive for what it was, yet for the same money, could have been made so much better. So why didn't they? Probably out of ignorance. I am beginning to doubt that 90% of the builders of these coops have the slightest clue what they are doing. Not in building........most seem to be skilled craftsman who are highly capable of building something well, they just don't know anything about the role and function of what it is they are building. The unfortunate thing is that the buyers of these coops.......folks like "Chicks", take it for granted and trust that these builders know what they are doing, when they don't. Ironically, both are wrong, yet neither of them is at fault. They simply didn't know. The same could be said for the backyard coops built by the owners themselves. These folks do an incredibly good job of building coops that feature mistakes galore. Again, not on purpose........they simply didn't know.

I do applaud the efforts of the long time and experienced forum participants, many of which must have the patience of Job.

 

[junebuggena]

Just take a look through the "Coops" section. There are tons of coops with step-by-step guides.

 

[Howard E]

Thanks for the reminder. That is an excellent resource. I can remember spending hours wading through all those, fascinated with what folks decided to build.

I still think it would be a good idea to take a handful of those, (one of my favorite basic tried and true designs is the Wichita style) and go into some detail on each feature.......what each feature is and what it does. The pros and cons of each part and how to go about sizing them to get them in the right proportions, etc.

I'm not much of a crusader for any cause, and one of the things that truly makes me cringe is to hear someone say....."there ought to be a law"......but having said that, if there was a way to do it, I'd wave my magic wand and rid the unsuspecting world of ill conceived, poorly laid out and poorly made commercial coops for backyard flocks. Lacking that, about all I can think of is to put together some plain vanilla basic coop designs, talk about what is important and let folks take it from there.

Let knowledge and informed consumers drive the commercial guys into doing better.