Calling all roost & poop board designers! ;)

[sillygolucky]

If space is tight and tricky, and poop boards are yet another thing to awkwardly squeeze in there, consider not using poop boards. I don’t, and I’m very happy with my choice! I clean the coop twice a year. I have a very deep layer of pine shavings on the floor and they dry everything out, so it doesn’t smell. About once every month or two, I toss new shavings on top. That’s all. I have lots of permanent ventilation, and it really doesn’t smell. Dry is the key. Consider trying that.

That is awesome you are doing just fine without the poop boards!! I have gone back and forth on the deep bedding. Our biggest hurdle with that is that the coop is not designed for deep bedding The deepest we could have it would be about 1.5". We could probably add some 2x4s around in places to give us more depth, but the nesting boxes and pop door (which closes right onto the coop floor) are the biggest issues because we don't want to make the openings of those any smaller. Especially for the pop door we'd have to do some major cutting into the structure and the attached run has hardware cloth bumped right above it outside that we wouldn't want to damage (hard to explain lol).

I feel like every time someone gives an excellent suggestion. lolol. While our coop is going to last a long time and has a lot of great qualities, it just seems like one hurdle after another when attempting to optimize the inside! BUT!!! We will work with it!! (Though I can't deny I just wish we'd have bought a prefab shed and then built all the other stuff on our own lolol...) I'm just so grateful for experienced peeps here and all of your candid and experienced advice!!

 

[aart]

(My drawing is looking down from the top, if that got confusing! The 14" is the room between the roosts.)

It's a decent drawing, I got it, but I'm a drafter by trade.

14" might will be well within pecking reach once they are full grown.
Beak to Butts it will be.

 

[3KillerBs]

Great idea to reduce our chook count if needed. That may possibly happen if more than one of the freebies we got turn out to be roos. lol. And I'm sure some of our neighbors who have chickens would take an extra layer or two if needed!!

I was able to get $15 each for POL pullets last year in my area. Prices vary, but you can check Craigslist for your local going rates.

"Packing peanut" extras tend to be male. Ideal says it in their ordering information as "extra males for warmth".

I'm hoping our ventilation is more than adequate. I hadn't heard of the sqft specs for that before--so is it whatever the minimum roosting requirement would be? (E.g. 11" of roosting, therefore 11sqft of ventilation?) We have two 24/7 open copulas and a permanently open vent under the gable in the back. We also plan on adding another vent on the opposite end of the coop, too.

You figure the coop capacity based on the interior square footage not counting the nest boxes -- 4 square feet per adult, standard-size hen (the numbers the manufacturers claim are based on the standards for commercial-raised chickens). Then the other numbers apply based on the number of chickens.

Ventilation is a tricky one because it's not just the amount but the location that matters and because just how much you need can vary in different climates and settings. BUT, you need ventilation just as much in the winter as in the summer. The goal is to have the temperature and humidity the same inside as out.

My Little Monitor Coop has just shy of 5 square feet of ventilation not counting the pop door in a coop intended for 4 hens. My Outdoor Brooder, which is 4x8", has 16 square feet of permanent ventilation plus 10 more square feet of supplemental ventilation. But in my climate it's necessary to add shade to keep the temperatures from climbing.

While our coop is going to last a long time and has a lot of great qualities, it just seems like one hurdle after another when attempting to optimize the inside!

These "Amish" style coops are, unlike many prefabs (particularly the coop-and-run combos), often well-made but the good carpenters who build them aren't usually knowledgeable about what chickens actually need.

 

[sillygolucky]

It's a decent drawing, I got it, but I'm a drafter by trade.

14" might will be well within pecking reach once they are full grown.
Beak to Butts it will be.

I actually did read (on your coop page I think?) that you were a drafter by trade. Very nice!! Must be handy for sure.

And I am LOLing at "beak to butts"...true enough...probably not the ideal setup unless you have a ton of room to give them between bars. But then, I would think the standard single bar would be the best choice in any set up.

 

[K0k0shka]

I agree that often these coops are built by people who only have general carpentry skills, not carpentry skills + chicken knowledge. For a good coop, you really need both. Among the top mistakes is putting anything at floor level. No room for bedding, and the bedding you do have falls out the doorways. I built my coop with chicken needs in mind, and both my pop door and human door are 10” off floor level. I still think cutting the pop door higher and similarly redoing the nests is a worthy investment. It’s one-time upfront labor and pain in the butt, but once that’s done, your options open up and you can choose a setup that makes your life easier in the long run. So, bite the bullet now to have it easier from now on, or skip the remodel and have it be annoying every day….

 

[sillygolucky]

I was able to get $15 each for POL pullets last year in my area. Prices vary, but you can check Craigslist for your local going rates.

"Packing peanut" extras tend to be male. Ideal says it in their ordering information as "extra males for warmth".

Wow, that is a great price. Forgive my lack of knowledge, but what does POL stand for?

And yeah, I saw on Murray McMurray's info (where we got our chicks) that they will add extra males for warmth and I'm like ?!!?!?

Speaking of, I am pretty sure I heard one of our chicks trying to crow this morning. I didn't see who but we know it's either one of our 3 Easter Eggers (which I recently figured out that sadly McMurray calls Ameraucana...) or one of the 3 RIRs. Seems a little early for crowing at 4.5 weeks?! Maybe he's inspired by our two neighbor roos?? haha.

My Little Monitor Coop has just shy of 5 square feet of ventilation not counting the pop door in a coop intended for 4 hens. My Outdoor Brooder, which is 4x8", has 16 square feet of permanent ventilation plus 10 more square feet of supplemental ventilation. But in my climate it's necessary to add shade to keep the temperatures from climbing.

Just checked out your Little Monitor Coop link. So helpful! It's always really educational seeing the stream of evolution from one coop setup to the next. Glad you have worked toward what works best for you and your chickens! What a challenge to design a coop to withstand a hurricane!

It does get humid here in IN, but not hardly as much there in NC where you live. I was aware that the temp/humidity in the coop should be the same as outside. So far, we've monitored it empty and it's always been cooler/less humid, even completely closed up (except perm ventilation). It has lots of shade and in an area with a good cross-breeze, so fingers crossed once they're living in there it will at least be the same if not cooler. We also have a fan we plan on installing (that will blow well above the roosts).

 

[sillygolucky]

These "Amish" style coops are, unlike many prefabs (particularly the coop-and-run combos), often well-made but the good carpenters who build them aren't usually knowledgeable about what chickens actually need.

Ah and yes...agreed. The guy who built ours isn't Amish, but we do have a lot of those around here, too. I realized after we had already purchased and had it delivered that he and his wife were only on their first or second year of having chickens and scarily I think I knew more about it than they did! I plan on giving him a lot of feedback so he can hopefully use that info for improving future designs.

 

[3KillerBs]

Just checked out your Little Monitor Coop link. So helpful! It's always really educational seeing the stream of evolution from one coop setup to the next.

Thank you. That's just what I hoped to do -- to show people how I figured out what did and didn't work. DH is the one who came up with the Monitor Roof idea, which is absolutely fabulous.

Wow, that is a great price. Forgive my lack of knowledge, but what does POL stand for?

POL = Point Of Lay -- pullets who are at the age to start laying eggs. People pay more for them because they don't have to raise them from babies, can be sure that they're female, and they have there entire productive life ahead of them.

A started pullet would be one old enough to be off heat and to have some level of confidence that they're actually female (though not perfect certainty). Maybe 6+ weeks.

Seems a little early for crowing at 4.5 weeks?! Maybe he's inspired by our two neighbor roos?? haha.

Some cockerels are precocious. I've got 2 or maybe 3 in my Ideal Dozen and at 7.5 weeks I'm expecting a funny little crow soon.

 

[sillygolucky]

I agree that often these coops are built by people who only have general carpentry skills, not carpentry skills + chicken knowledge. For a good coop, you really need both. Among the top mistakes is putting anything at floor level. No room for bedding, and the bedding you do have falls out the doorways. I built my coop with chicken needs in mind, and both my pop door and human door are 10” off floor level. I still think cutting the pop door higher and similarly redoing the nests is a worthy investment. It’s one-time upfront labor and pain in the butt, but once that’s done, your options open up and you can choose a setup that makes your life easier in the long run. So, bite the bullet now to have it easier from now on, or skip the remodel and have it be annoying every day….

% agree that the builders need both the skills AND chicken knowledge. I suppose that is common sense, and it was unwise of us to assume he had the chicken knowledge since he was building the coops!! Hindsight is 20/20. lol.

I do also think redoing the pop door and nests would be worth it, but I just don't know if it's feasible this year. (Lots of other things going on right now for us as well.) I think we could deal with it until next spring if needed. And honestly if we would be moving the nest boxes (which takes up the whole one side of the coop) we would probably just want to do a complete renovation by tearing out that wall and add on. We'd probably need to find someone to help us so we don't compromise the structure Also, we do not have the right tools to do it all. If we have to clean litter out more frequently until then, we'll have to work with it!

 

[Swbertrand1]

Of course I have already pored over dozens of threads on this subject! But since we all have different spaces and limitations to work with, I thought I'd toss my situation out there in case some of you have some excellent ideas

We LOVE our coop, it's very well made, and extremely predator-proof and also has great ventilation. Long story short, we ordered it back in January before we'd done a ton of research on coop "amenities" lol, but we wanted to get on the list to have one in time for our first flock this year.

My big issue is with the roosts. The coop is advertised to house 28 chickens (honestly I don't think I'd ever put that many in there!! We have 11.). As you can see in the photo, the roost doesn't allow for easy cleaning nor does it give any space for chickens to fly down. Not to mention the lower roost which is directly across from the nesting boxes! Plus any walking around they'd do would be in the line of poop fire!! The roost is not attached to the wall or floor, but you can lean it to one side to clean. It's heavy and cumbersome. And it's also too big to fit out the door! Its dimensions are: 79w"x36H (that's the height of the top roost). As you can see the top roost is only inches from the windows and wall . There is only 10" vertically between each roost, and only 5-6" horizontally! Definitely a complete recipe for getting pooped on. lol.

Our chickens are--RIR, NHRed, Ameraucanas, and Barred Rocks. No bantams. So we'd like to give them about 12"+ of space each, if they want it, and room for wing flapping. The building itself is 4'x10', but the inside only allows us about 3'5"Wx8'L to work with (that L is leaving us about 1.5' at our entrance so we could dip into that if needed).

Since our chicks are only 4.5 weeks old, I'm not sure what their roosting habits will be, but as of now they do seem to cram onto the chick roosts we have for them in the brooder, leaving some open when they could have more space. So, I'm wondering if we could build just one 8' roost with a 24" wide poop board under it. That would leave us about 17" along the right to walk in and clean, etc... But wouldn't give them a lot of elbow room if they need or want it.

Ideally, I'd love two 8' roosts (preferably parallel, but could stagger), but with only about 24" width available for the poop board total, we wouldn't have the proper distance away from the wall for the roosts nor between them.

Another idea I saw on a different thread showed shorter roosts arranged perpendicular to the wall which seems like it could work well in our space! See my chicken scratches below if you can decipher it all (Here's the link to the post with that design: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/roost-diagrams-needed-for-large-coop.981682/#post-15286690) Would probably put the poop board around 30" high and the roosts 8ish" above. The poop board would only extend on the ends (is 6" enough?). If my maths are correct, this setup would leave around 14ish" between the inner roosts.

I still don't feel like that leaves a lot of room for them to get up and down, but I don't know how else we could give them more floor space. We could put some ramps in there to help. Any other ideas for that?

So that's my sitch! Any crazy out-of-the-box or super simple ideas welcome! Thanks in advance!! I'm leaning toward the perpendicular roosts as of now...

When my bf built our coop, he created a door at one long end of the coop for entry/exit that is about 14" off the floor. It's about 14" or so down to the floor of the coop and about 12-14" up to the first roost bar. In the photos you showed above, imagine the roost bars running from side instead of lengthwise in the coop.

Our first roost bar is just inside of the door by about 14" but about 14" higher than the door threshold (it's a step up in effect), so to roost they have to jump up to go to the higher roost bars. Those remaining roost bars run laterally (like the first) but another 14" higher and each successive roost bar is the same total height of about 42" off the floor. The chickens just jump from bar to bar as they wish. In the morning, they file across the bars one by one, jump down to the low bar, then to the door threshold and come out.

When they need to reach the nest boxes, they jump down to the floor from the doorway and walk to whichever nest box they need to reach. When finished, they walk across the floor, then jump up to the door opening and exit.

Try thinking about a split level house for what I've described and you'll get the picture of our entry door versus the floor and the door versus the roost bars. ADVANTAGE: we don't have issues with them being able to reach either the nest boxes or the roosts and we're using most all the horizontal space at the floor level and at the roost bar level.
BEST OF ALL HOWEVER:
We put a pullout floor (drawer) in the same end as the door and just below it that allows us to pull the entire "floor" from the coop and clean it super easily any time we wish.

With a slanted, stepped setup like I see in your photos, it looks like you're creating work for your birds to get to the roosts and eliminates easy access to that side of the coop, not to mention cleaning under the roost bars will be less than fun.