chickenslug
Hatching
- Mar 9, 2025
- 1
- 1
- 9
Hello! I'm preparing to welcome my first flock later this spring and am getting their home all set up. I've been doing tons of research and am really happy to join this community as it seems like such an amazing wealth of information! I recently bought a coop (made locally by an individual) and am making plans for the attached run. I had two questions I was hoping to get your input on:
1. The coop is raised about 2ft off the ground and has an open bottom. From reading, I see most others' coops have some kind of floor that is covered with bedding. I understand that under the roosting bars is an area that needs to be cleaned most frequently - from your experience, for easiest maintenance and cleanest environment for them, should I add a floor, or keep it open to the ground? I would make the whole thing predator-proof in either case. I was thinking it would be easier to try out the deep litter method with the coop open the ground, but it may also be harder to clean with only 2ft of clearance.
2. The coop has a gable style roof and I'm thinking through how the attached run will work because the highest attachable point below the roof panel is ~4ft high. Does anyone have experience attaching a walk-in run to this style coop to the side? My current idea is to just have a lower section extending directly out from the coop and raising to 6ft away from the coop, but wondering about rain falling into the run from the coop roof. I'd love to build a gutter/rain barrel system eventually, but that may be a bit further down the road. If anyone has pictures of a similar set up, I'd love to see!
Thanks so much!
1. The coop is raised about 2ft off the ground and has an open bottom. From reading, I see most others' coops have some kind of floor that is covered with bedding. I understand that under the roosting bars is an area that needs to be cleaned most frequently - from your experience, for easiest maintenance and cleanest environment for them, should I add a floor, or keep it open to the ground? I would make the whole thing predator-proof in either case. I was thinking it would be easier to try out the deep litter method with the coop open the ground, but it may also be harder to clean with only 2ft of clearance.
2. The coop has a gable style roof and I'm thinking through how the attached run will work because the highest attachable point below the roof panel is ~4ft high. Does anyone have experience attaching a walk-in run to this style coop to the side? My current idea is to just have a lower section extending directly out from the coop and raising to 6ft away from the coop, but wondering about rain falling into the run from the coop roof. I'd love to build a gutter/rain barrel system eventually, but that may be a bit further down the road. If anyone has pictures of a similar set up, I'd love to see!
Thanks so much!
