Building our first coop

[PrincessMomma]

We are in the planning stages of our first coop. What are your favorite features of your coop? Why/how does it work for you? Anything that you wish your coop had? We're starting with 2 chicks, but I would love to increase that number to about 10 or so.

 

[Dilly]

A few of my must haves and are in my coop, are:

Concrete floor under coop so nothing can dig in.

Vinal or linolieum on wooden coop floor.

Shower stall material up all walls four feet, entire wall behind perch is covered.
(for easy cleanup)

Clean out tray under entire perch area and more. Accessable from outside of coop for easy cleaning.

Nest boxes located on outside of coop, (more space inside for chickens and egg accessable from outside of coop.


Windows on all sides and vents with shutters for cold weather or winter. Lined with hardware cloth.

Tall enough so I can comfortably work inside if necessary and for cleaning.

Electric, lights and water to coop.

Wall mounted feeders.

Nothing sitting on coop floor, everything built in at least 16 inches off floor.

Coop chicken door, fully operated from outside of coop, to open and be closed without entering coop.

an attic fan installed for air circulation. (hot calif. summers)

There is probably more, but these things were must haves for me, dealing with just the coop.


Now for my enjoyment, Our coop is built in so I have access to a portion of the barn, and the coop without any outside exposure. I will have a working sink hot and cold water, Hot water heater already installed in barn. Along with fans for summer. Table and work area, storage, all cycloned in with gates on three sides for easy access to other areas.
This area is not used for other animals, I use the opposite portion of barn for gardening supplies etc. Thus the need for sinks and water, electricity. So the chickens benefit as well.

Outside the coop, will be a covered run of 12x 24, sunked 2x12's with hardware cloth attached at bottom edge and taken two feet outside of pen all around base, then covered and or backfilled with removed soil. Hardware cloth on sides as well, height six to seven foot, roofing will be slanted for water runoff.

another 90'x16' yard covered in poultry flight netting.

That is my must haves and most of it done, remainder in progress. Chicks are three weeks old tomorrow.

Dilly

I forgot most important aspect, phone in already. CD player and television will be added to work area. I spend so much time out there, why not. The babies love the noise already so why not.

 

[LovinMyChickies]

I think Dillygirl covered the "dream" coop scenario. It sounds ideal!

I just want to add a comment. We just completed our coop and wish we had built it bigger! We have plenty of room for the "girls" (8x8 coop w/ a huge run) but it would be nice if we had built it to include a separate storage area for food, bales of shavings, and all those chicky accessories we've accumulated, (brooder, lights, chick feeders, etc...) All those things are taking up space in my already crowded garage.

Good luck,

Jackie

 

[Dilly]

Yep, I figured if I were going to do this chicken thing, do it right. The coop is 12x12 and so is the additional storage area. So total chicken space is 12x24. That is what I have as a gardening area ajacent to the chickie hangout as well. I knew that I would need room for storage small work area so I just did it to begin with. Reading allot on here really helped. It seems the conscensious was and is to keep building. lol

Also There is no way My hubby would allow chicken things or gardening goods in his Garage.

Dilly