Building my coop - need advice on materials !

[Sonya9]

Unless you live in a city with a 3 or 5 bird limit then build a walk in hen house if at all possible and make it roomier/bigger than you think you will need.

After 6 mo or a year of keeping chickens your needs/plans will likely change you will be in and out of the coop/hen house all of the time.

Not only is it a convenience thing but it can also be a safety issue. We have lots of rat snakes around here and when I lock the birds up at dusk I always glance around for snakes, if you can't see inside the hen house you never know what you could be locking inside with your birds.

 

[Pitikok]

I keep looking at the plans and wondering why the drawing has the nest boxes at almost 20" deep. Can you confirm if that is what the plans you are working from have?

I think if you draw it out on graph paper for the siding cuts you should be able to get it all out of just 5 sheets and still have some scrap.

Here you have a better view at the nesting boxes size - do you think this is too big ?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

16" x 18" (approx)? Those are large for nesting boxes. Not Taj Mahal large, but the cheap OSB nesting boxes you get at FarmKing, TSC, ext all run about 12" x 12" x 12-14"

I don't know of any problems from larger nesting boxes, but i have really limited experience.

 

[Pitikok]

I have zero experience, that's why I'm asking

 

[Pitikok]

Unless you live in a city with a 3 or 5 bird limit then build a walk in hen house if at all possible and make it roomier/bigger than you think you will need.

After 6 mo or a year of keeping chickens your needs/plans will likely change you will be in and out of the coop/hen house all of the time.

Not only is it a convenience thing but it can also be a safety issue. We have lots of rat snakes around here and when I lock the birds up at dusk I always glance around for snakes, if you can't see inside the hen house you never know what you could be locking inside with your birds.

I'll keep that in mind for my second project. We didn't want to start too big since we have not much experience (in both building stuff and taking care of chicken). We have room to add more in the future so I'm not too worried at the moment !

 

[21hens-incharge]

Here you have a better view at the nesting boxes size - do you think this is too big ?

View attachment 2324893

They are a bit larger than NEEDED but then again I haven't heard many complaints from birds about things being a BIT bigger than the minimum.

Sooooo.....my thoughts on the coop....

You are not past the point of no return yet to make a couple mods....

If you do not absolutely require them to be able to use the under the coop space....
Take out the one cross board on the end and drop the floor to the ground. Make a human walk in door there. You will appreciate that ability to step inside and stand fully upright when weather is bad. I found with my old 6x4 coop that reaching 4' was about my top limit. That extra 12" would be a pain to maintain.

You can keep it at 5x5 it would just be a bit easier to maintain....or add on in the future too. I am pretty sure you won't need any additional siding since the entire structure from ground to highpoint is still under 8'. Might need one or two additional 2x4's.

The nests while a bit oversized aren't a huge issue.

 

[Mamatomany123]

Others have given good advise but I wanted to say that 6 will be your maximum. I wouldnt put more than 5 in there personally

 

[Pitikok]

They are a bit larger than NEEDED but then again I haven't heard many complaints from birds about things being a BIT bigger than the minimum.

Sooooo.....my thoughts on the coop....

You are not past the point of no return yet to make a couple mods....

If you do not absolutely require them to be able to use the under the coop space....
Take out the one cross board on the end and drop the floor to the ground. Make a human walk in door there. You will appreciate that ability to step inside and stand fully upright when weather is bad. I found with my old 6x4 coop that reaching 4' was about my top limit. That extra 12" would be a pain to maintain.

You can keep it at 5x5 it would just be a bit easier to maintain....or add on in the future too. I am pretty sure you won't need any additional siding since the entire structure from ground to highpoint is still under 8'. Might need one or two additional 2x4's.

The nests while a bit oversized aren't a huge issue.

I see, that shouldn't bee to hard to modify. I'm assuming we're only talking about bringing the floor down, the nesting boxes would stay where they are on the plans right (so about 18 inches from the ground) ? Or should I also lower the boxes so it's easier for the chickens to go in there ?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Leave the boxes where they are - your birds will have no difficulties hopping 18", even the bantams, if you choose to get some. Only a duck would have difficulty, and that house is too small for ducks. Also, ducks don't use boxes, they just drop eggs wherever and forget about them.

 

[Pitikok]

I'll stick to chickens for the moment, so that sounds good
Thank you all for all the advice ! I should have asked long before, this is really helpful