Building new coop advice

[chickenmama1328]

I am building my new larger coop. I have had the prefab coops and my husband and I have been building a 8' x 12' coop with 8ft ceiling. I have 8 hens about to start laying and 22 that are right at one month old. And I may just get a few more, because......well chicken math. I want to make sure that I am making use of my space correctly. I want a breeding pen/brooder. Nesting boxes of course, but I know they are only going to use a few nesting boxes no matter how many I put in there so I am putting four 12" X 12" nesting boxes in. For now anyway. My bigger chickens are only 5 months and not laying yet. I have had chickens previously and had prefab coops and one night a bunch of coyote showed up and well........... Please let me know of things that you have in your coop or how it is layed out that would help me make the best use of my space. All advice is appreciated.

 

[DobieLover]

I am building my new larger coop. I have had the prefab coops and my husband and I have been building a 8' x 12' coop with 8ft ceiling. I have 8 hens about to start laying and 22 that are right at one month old. And I may just get a few more, because......well chicken math. I want to make sure that I am making use of my space correctly. I want a breeding pen/brooder. Nesting boxes of course, but I know they are only going to use a few nesting boxes no matter how many I put in there so I am putting four 12" X 12" nesting boxes in. For now anyway. My bigger chickens are only 5 months and not laying yet. I have had chickens previously and had prefab coops and one night a bunch of coyote showed up and well........... Please let me know of things that you have in your coop or how it is layed out that would help me make the best use of my space. All advice is appreciated.

You are too tight as it is on your space for 30 birds let alone getting more.
If you have a large fully predator proof run attached to the coop which would permit you to leave the pop door open 24/7, you could get away with the space you have and the current flock size.
You need to have as close to 1 sq ft of permanently open ventilation per bird in the coop as you can but sometimes that is difficult to manage. With a walk-in style coop, the easiest place to get a good amount of ventilation is between the rafters with complimentary gable and/or ridge vents.
You will likely want at least one more nest box for 30 layers.
You also want to have 12" of roost space per bird to minimize roost time trauma.
I also have an 8'x12' coop inside an 8'x16' building. I have the brooder in the "no-chicken" area and the nest boxes over the brooder. Trying to fit a built-in brooder into your current coop is using up space you don't have.
This is the way I set up my space.

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC. Where, in general, are you? Climate matters, especially when it comes to housing.

The Usual Guidelines

For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:

• 4 square feet in the coop (.37 square meters)
• 10 square feet in the run (.93 square meters),
• 1 linear foot of roost (.3 meters),
• 1/4 of a nest box,
• And 1 square foot (.09 square meters) of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

Some of these guidelines break down a bit when you get into very large flocks in very large spaces because each bird can more easily evade a specific other bird, but the more room you can give them the better.

An 8x12 coop is about right for 24 hens. These numbers are *guidelines*, not hard and fast rules (for reasons you can read about here), but they're a good starting point and you can adjust from there.

Ventilation will be really critical, especially if your space numbers are a bit tight. Here is my article on the subject: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/repecka-illustrates-coop-ventilation.77659/

I have a 16x16 coop and am getting my husband to help me install a partition between the 2 sides so I can separate subflocks of different breeds, different ages, or for breeding specific roosters to specific hens.

I haven't finished the coop article for it yet, but it's featured in my hot climate article.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum from Louisiana. Glad you joined.

Not sure how your doors and windows are positioned. I built a 3' x 6' brooder across the back of my 8' x 12' coop. It was about 24" off of the coop floor and 24" high. The bottom was 1/2" hardware cloth and the sides were 1" hardware cloth. I could brood chicks in it, use it as a broody buster, or isolate a chicken in it if I needed to. The top was a sheet of plywood that acted as a droppings board and it had two 5' high roosts across the 8' width of the coop maybe a foot above that board. I had a couple of bins on the floor to catch poop in the area that brooder did not cover.

I put my nests on one of the side walls, two levels of nests. I had another single roost above the nests and the top of the top nests also acted as a droppings board.

My one window was on a side wall about where the front roost was. That was the preferred location on the roosts for the highest ranking chickens.

I had my pop door and feeder on one side and the waterer on the far end of the coop away from the roosts/brooder, leaving as big of an area clear in front of the roosts so they had an open place to land when they flew down. I also feed and water outside,

 

[chickenmama1328]

You are too tight as it is on your space for 30 birds let alone getting more.
If you have a large fully predator proof run attached to the coop which would permit you to leave the pop door open 24/7, you could get away with the space you have and the current flock size.
You need to have as close to 1 sq ft of permanently open ventilation per bird in the coop as you can but sometimes that is difficult to manage. With a walk-in style coop, the easiest place to get a good amount of ventilation is between the rafters with complimentary gable and/or ridge vents.
You will likely want at least one more nest box for 30 layers.
You also want to have 12" of roost space per bird to minimize roost time trauma.
I also have an 8'x12' coop inside an 8'x16' building. I have the brooder in the "no-chicken" area and the nest boxes over the brooder. Trying to fit a built-in brooder into your current coop is using up space you don't have.
This is the way I set up my space.
View attachment 3287081View attachment 3287083

I have plenty of ventilation. I have 2 24 inch windows on the front, each end has a 32 inch window and the back wall has two 32 inch windows. My door is 7' by 32" inches and is a dutch door that I can open the top. The windows have hardware cloth as does the screened door I can close when top of dutch door is open. My run will be 24' long and 12' wide with hardware cloth six feet high and a 18 skirt of hardware cloth so predators cant dig in and it will be roofed. They free range usually if I am at home and have my dogs with them. If they don't all try to lay in the same 3 nests then I will put another row of nest on top of the other nesting box. I am going to use the brooder part under my roosts that are 12 feet long with removable poop boards for cleaning. I will also use the brooder area for a breeding pen or to separate an injured bird. They have a dusk to dawn electric door that has a remote and access with my phone if im not home. There is a camera in the coop and a cameras to see every part of the yard. At night if anything comes near the coop the strobe light on the camera goes off as does a siren. Motion detector light on every location needed to cover all areas around the coop as well as the red predator eyes at night and crows and owl decoys placed in the yard. I measured 10" per chicken to roost and the math worked out for the plans I have visioned in my head. The coop is 3/4" plywood and the floor has linoleum that will be under the bedding. The top of the coop is fiberglass sheeting and will have wood and the pieces that you put to seal off the waves in the roofing. I dont want anything to have access to the coop. Every possible opening has hardware cloth on it. The windows have shutters to close if it gets exceptionally cold but I live just south of Memphis TN so it doesn't get crazy cold here usually but if it does I have an oil filled radiator type heater. 3 roosting bars 12'. That is enough space for 42 chickens unless I done my math wrong. They will only sleep in the coop and lay eggs in the coop. Why would you say I dont have enough room? Not being rude or anything I just want to make sure im doing my math correctly and my girls get everything they need.

 

[Raptor Chicken]

It sounds like you've done some homework.

But windows don't equal ventilation. Ventilation should be high up, well above where they would roost.

At least thats what I've been told here.

 

[3KillerBs]

It sounds like you've done some homework.

But windows don't equal ventilation. Ventilation should be high up, well above where they would roost.

At least thats what I've been told here.

 

[chickenmama1328]

Hi, welcome to the forum from Louisiana. Glad you joined.

Not sure how your doors and windows are positioned. I built a 3' x 6' brooder across the back of my 8' x 12' coop. It was about 24" off of the coop floor and 24" high. The bottom was 1/2" hardware cloth and the sides were 1" hardware cloth. I could brood chicks in it, use it as a broody buster, or isolate a chicken in it if I needed to. The top was a sheet of plywood that acted as a droppings board and it had two 5' high roosts across the 8' width of the coop maybe a foot above that board. I had a couple of bins on the floor to catch poop in the area that brooder did not cover.

I put my nests on one of the side walls, two levels of nests. I had another single roost above the nests and the top of the top nests also acted as a droppings board.

My one window was on a side wall about where the front roost was. That was the preferred location on the roosts for the highest ranking chickens.

I had my pop door and feeder on one side and the waterer on the far end of the coop away from the roosts/brooder, leaving as big of an area clear in front of the roosts so they had an open place to land when they flew down. I also feed and water outside,

I live about 4 miles south of Memphis TN in North MS, Thank you for your response and suggestions. I ordered replacement kennel pans for dog kennels that will be my removable poop boards. My roosts will be removable as well as the nesting boxes for cleaning purposes when its time to do a deep cleaning. The nesting boxes with be on another wall like you said yours is. I am getting some Ayem Cemanis and will want them to have a breeding area so my other rooster cant breed the Ayem hens. I am so excited. My husband is building me a porch on The front too because I sit with my birds ALOT and I want it to be as pretty as possible, but very functional. I have 2 24x24" windows beside a dutch door that I can open the top and have hardware cloth door I can open for more ventilation and 4 other 32x24" windows. Ventilation was my first priority. I also have a two fan wall fan I can install if I have to to move more air. Im working very hard to make sure there isnt a gap over an inch anywhere in the coop or the run. I even have cameras around the coop that strobe and siren goes off if a predator comes around. But it is made of 3/4 inch plywood so I dont have any predators in my area that can get in this coop and my little door is dusk to dawn with a hydraulic arm that keeps the door pushed down so it cant be pushed up. I love my babies so much and I want them happy. Alot of my birds are prairie bluebells so they arent quite full size chickens but they arent bantams either. The roosts will definitely be higher than the nests and I am putting nesting box curtains up as well. Thank you for your help and advice.

 

[chickenmama1328]

The first roosting bar is a little under the window openings but the rest are in the middle and top portion of the window. I have been trying very hard to research and give them only the best I possibly can. I got lucky and got the wood for free. Most people dont believe me but all the wood come out of Graceland, Elvis' house. My husband and I are medics for shows and Young Rock is being filmed in Memphis and this wood that they have used at Graceland for years for events, props and backdrops. They were going to throw it away and I said oh no your not and put it all on our trailer and brought it home. I was so excited because wood is so high right now that I couldnt have built this coop like this if it weren't for getting the wood free. My brother said I had to call it Graceland. I said no, its Eggaritaville like Jimmy Buffit's Margaritaville but I am going to name a rooster Elvis if I end up with 2 roosters. lol. Thank you so much for your response.

 

[chickenmama1328]

Hi, welcome to the forum from Louisiana. Glad you joined.

Not sure how your doors and windows are positioned. I built a 3' x 6' brooder across the back of my 8' x 12' coop. It was about 24" off of the coop floor and 24" high. The bottom was 1/2" hardware cloth and the sides were 1" hardware cloth. I could brood chicks in it, use it as a broody buster, or isolate a chicken in it if I needed to. The top was a sheet of plywood that acted as a droppings board and it had two 5' high roosts across the 8' width of the coop maybe a foot above that board. I had a couple of bins on the floor to catch poop in the area that brooder did not cover.

I put my nests on one of the side walls, two levels of nests. I had another single roost above the nests and the top of the top nests also acted as a droppings board.

My one window was on a side wall about where the front roost was. That was the preferred location on the roosts for the highest ranking chickens.

I had my pop door and feeder on one side and the waterer on the far end of the coop away from the roosts/brooder, leaving as big of an area clear in front of the roosts so they had an open place to land when they flew down. I also feed and water outside,

Your coop sounds wonderful. Thank you for letting me know how your coop is set up successfully so I can reference as I put it all in this week. I am in North MS about 4 miles south of Memphis TN.