kerner
In the Brooder
We've been kicking around getting chickens for about 10 years and this spring was finally the year it happened. When we first considered getting them I bought the Garden Ark plans, but when we finally decided to get chicks we realized we needed a bigger coop. Our city limits urban chickens to six hens, to prevent chicken math we just decided to max out from day one.
I did a lot of research about different coop plans and ways to keep the chickens safe - not only from wild predators, but from our dog and other neighborhood animals. I love the look of the garden coop designs, also seriously investigated Justin Rhodes chickshaw (with an attachable run). In all the research we couldn't quite find something that fit well with the six chicks living in a brooder, our combined coop/run/tractor desires, and fitting the mid-century modern architecture of the house.
A bunch of sketches, a few restarts, and some I guess let's see what happens has us to this point. I figured I may as well chronicle this thing, get answers to a few questions, and see if there's any advice that can impact where things are headed. I realize I probably should have posted this sooner to get better feedback, but that's the way things go.
I've made a few minor adjustments along the way (for example doing a solid floor vs roosts over 1" hardware cloth ala chickshaw). The basic plan is a 12' long, 6' wide, and 4' tall with a 6x4 coop over the back half of the tractor - to keep measuring and cuts simple the horizontal cross braces are 6' and the uprights are 4' (remaining from a 10' 2x4). Most of the coop will be painted, but I'm using cedar fence pickets for the coop siding - partially because I like the look and partially because I was able to get them cheap. The sides and top will be covered with 1/2" hardware cloth. The base is 2x4" welded wire. We'll be moving the tractor around the yard and I'd originally planned to leave it open, but I felt the 2x4" wire was a good safety balance. The coop will have a locked pop door and is covered in wood or hardware cloth everywhere. I'm planning to do the roof with an elastomeric coating raised up on both rafters and purlins to provide ventilation (going to paint the coop floor with this too for easy cleaning).
Here is a progression of sketches, I never drew up a full set of plans, but had a pretty good handle on where things were going. My initial plan was to do two pieces - a mobile coop and a run that could be attached to each other, but I opted for simplicity.
My 10 year old helped building the top and bottom frames and my wife was a good sport helping to get the basic frame assembled.
After getting started I decided to add in a small human sized door at the front of the tractor.
Both kids (10 and 6) helped prime the thing and do the primary cream paint. At that point I decided to add a roost into the center of the run. You can see the hound who is very curious about the brooder in this picture
The top blue paint went on yesterday and now I'm into roof planning (something I probably didn't think through enough). The back wall of the coop will have siding top to bottom but be hinged to open the coop side completely. The currently open, short side will have a door for two nesting boxes and have hardware cloth on the bottom side. There's almost 2' of chicken head room under the coop and 32" from the coop floor to the top of the blue pieces.
This is where I've run into my first real questions. My plan is to tack 1/2" hardware cloth across the entire top of the coop/run. As I framed in a roof test to do some measurements It dawned on me that it's totally possible for something to get under the rafters. There would still be a solid barrier of hardware cloth between any chicken attackers and the birds, but I'm wondering if that will be sufficient.
I'm also a little concerned about ventilation. The overall height of the coop makes windows tricky given winter cold and drafts over roosts. Measured all out there is about 5 sqft of vent opening around all four sides of the roof - assuming the entire top stays open under the roof surface, just enclosed by the hardware cloth/rafters/deck.
What say you BYC experts?
I did a lot of research about different coop plans and ways to keep the chickens safe - not only from wild predators, but from our dog and other neighborhood animals. I love the look of the garden coop designs, also seriously investigated Justin Rhodes chickshaw (with an attachable run). In all the research we couldn't quite find something that fit well with the six chicks living in a brooder, our combined coop/run/tractor desires, and fitting the mid-century modern architecture of the house.
A bunch of sketches, a few restarts, and some I guess let's see what happens has us to this point. I figured I may as well chronicle this thing, get answers to a few questions, and see if there's any advice that can impact where things are headed. I realize I probably should have posted this sooner to get better feedback, but that's the way things go.
I've made a few minor adjustments along the way (for example doing a solid floor vs roosts over 1" hardware cloth ala chickshaw). The basic plan is a 12' long, 6' wide, and 4' tall with a 6x4 coop over the back half of the tractor - to keep measuring and cuts simple the horizontal cross braces are 6' and the uprights are 4' (remaining from a 10' 2x4). Most of the coop will be painted, but I'm using cedar fence pickets for the coop siding - partially because I like the look and partially because I was able to get them cheap. The sides and top will be covered with 1/2" hardware cloth. The base is 2x4" welded wire. We'll be moving the tractor around the yard and I'd originally planned to leave it open, but I felt the 2x4" wire was a good safety balance. The coop will have a locked pop door and is covered in wood or hardware cloth everywhere. I'm planning to do the roof with an elastomeric coating raised up on both rafters and purlins to provide ventilation (going to paint the coop floor with this too for easy cleaning).
Here is a progression of sketches, I never drew up a full set of plans, but had a pretty good handle on where things were going. My initial plan was to do two pieces - a mobile coop and a run that could be attached to each other, but I opted for simplicity.
My 10 year old helped building the top and bottom frames and my wife was a good sport helping to get the basic frame assembled.
After getting started I decided to add in a small human sized door at the front of the tractor.
Both kids (10 and 6) helped prime the thing and do the primary cream paint. At that point I decided to add a roost into the center of the run. You can see the hound who is very curious about the brooder in this picture
The top blue paint went on yesterday and now I'm into roof planning (something I probably didn't think through enough). The back wall of the coop will have siding top to bottom but be hinged to open the coop side completely. The currently open, short side will have a door for two nesting boxes and have hardware cloth on the bottom side. There's almost 2' of chicken head room under the coop and 32" from the coop floor to the top of the blue pieces.
This is where I've run into my first real questions. My plan is to tack 1/2" hardware cloth across the entire top of the coop/run. As I framed in a roof test to do some measurements It dawned on me that it's totally possible for something to get under the rafters. There would still be a solid barrier of hardware cloth between any chicken attackers and the birds, but I'm wondering if that will be sufficient.
I'm also a little concerned about ventilation. The overall height of the coop makes windows tricky given winter cold and drafts over roosts. Measured all out there is about 5 sqft of vent opening around all four sides of the roof - assuming the entire top stays open under the roof surface, just enclosed by the hardware cloth/rafters/deck.
What say you BYC experts?
- Should I worry about something getting under the roof, but above the hardware cloth? What suggestions would you have?
- Do I need to plan more ventilation somewhere? If so, where could I put it given I'm planning two freestanding 15" roosts (leaving 17" above roost height for the roof opening.
- What other advice would you have?
