Check my plan for inside the coop.....

[TerryH]

Hello all. I've been trying to work out the beginning interior layout of our coop as we're about to get to that point. I'd like you guys to check my plan and suggest any changes or additions that you see that I need.

The coop is 9x8. The front wall is 9' tall and the rear wall is 8' tall. The pop door will be aluminum and operated by an Add-a-motor. We'll be covering the studs with OSB and the floor with linoleum. The coop will use the deep bedding method with pine shavings.

This wall is 8'6" long. My plan is to have a 36" wide poop tray using PDZ on this wall above the pop door 32" from the floor. 2 roosts above the tray. The roosts will be 2x4's staggered 12" in height and the highest 12" from the wall.

Roosts will end up being in front of the windows if that matters. The poop tray will pretty much take us the entire space between the wall and the door under the window.

I envision something like this...

A pretty standard 4 hole nesting box on the back wall under the window on the left. This wall is 81" but the poop tray will occupy 36" of it.

On the other wall I plan to have a few vertical PVC feeders and a 5 gallon bucket for water with horizontal nipples. There is 56" from the cabinet to the back wall.

Feeders like these.

Does this sound like a viable arrangement? Suggestions? Changes?

Thanks for your help!!

Terry

 

[TerryH]

Blinds inside would be a nightmare to keep the dust off. I think you will greatly enjoy having the light from your windows and your hens will adjust. I have used a heavy short panel curtain in lieu of a shade that I hung on cup hooks above the window at night mostly to keep our hens warm from the cold window. When I was in the coop I just took the rod off the big cup type hooks at the top of the window and moved the rod and curtain to cup type hooks on the bottom. The curtain was easy as pie to clean, just slide off the rod and wash it in a bucket and throw it over the fence to dry.

Our chickens now live in an old sheep shed that has been raised off the ground and now have wire bottoms. They are not intended for people to go into and are easy to clean out underneath from outside with a rake.

Are you going to paint the inside of your coop to make it easy to hose down?

Just to show you that we love projects as well, here is the kids guinea pig house from 25 years ago made into an outdoor nest box for the chickens.

Thanks for your reply! Love the nest box!!

I am sheeting the inside with OSB and everything will be painted and then linoleum installed on the floor and 12" up the walls. We'll be using the deep bedding method inside the coop.

 

[JackE]

I'm so sorry Jack. I did not mean to offend you nor did I mean to imply that you had done anything substandard. My intent was to explain how my pea brain works. I obviously failed. Please accept my apology.

No apology needed. I'm not offended in any way. This is one of the problems with writing back and forth. Believe me, There is no offence taken by me. When I write, I try to write, like I would talk to somebody, face to face. You know, like a general discussion. Some of what I write, I mean it, in a humorous way. So there is no offence, or problem here. We are just talking (Writing)

 

[limited25]

Vents at the top would be good because the breeze isn't blowing right on the chickens when they roost. Very nice coop you made.

 

[daisygirlfp]

Can you gather eggs from outside the coop? Absolutely love the feeder idea. Our chickens have ventilation under the roof overhang and we open up the bottom of the sides in the summer time to allow the air to draw through. I want to be one of your chickens.

 

[TerryH]

Vents at the top would be good because the breeze isn't blowing right on the chickens when they roost. Very nice coop you made.

Thanks. I'm enjoying the build. I have the rear ones blocked off right now but there are continuous vents in the back and the front at the top of those walls.

Rear...

Front...

 

[TerryH]

Can you gather eggs from outside the coop? Absolutely love the feeder idea. Our chickens have ventilation under the roof overhang and we open up the bottom of the sides in the summer time to allow the air to draw through. I want to be one of your chickens.

Thanks. I've done a ridiculous amount of research trying to get it right. I also want to make tending the chickens as easy as possible for my wife and insure that the chickens are happy. We contemplated an outside egg gathering door but decided to stick with going into the coop to gather the eggs. The layout of the coop and the spot that it's in is not very conducive to a place for the egg box that allows easy gathering from the outside. The front wall is too short. The west wall will be inside the run and we would have to walk around the run to get to the back. Going inside seems like the best answer.

 

[TerryH]

Another possibility would be to put the roosts and poop tray on the back wall and the nest box on the wall by the pop door. I would probably need to put the water and/or the feeders on the front wall under that window by the door if I moved the roosts. I would still have 16' of roost but they would be right in front of those 2 windows. There are commercial properties near by so there would still be some amount of light coming in those windows. Would that matter? It seems like the back wall might be a better spot for the roosts space wise if the windows aren't an issue. I could actually lower the roosts a bit in that configuration so the vents would still be well over their heads and they would still be higher than the nest box.

 

[TerryH]

After some more research I see that it's apparently ok to have the roosts in front of the windows so I've decided to change the original plan and put the roosts on the back wall with the 2 windows. I'll move the 4 nest boxes to the side wall where the pop door is. Planning on doing the water on the front wall under that window and leaving the PVC feeders on the shared wall between the cabinet doors and the poop tray...closer to the cabinet doors of course.

 

[limited25]

Our roosts are in front of the window and along the back wall. Had a roost in front of both windows but our 5 chickens all squeezed together on their roost and never used the other roost by the window so we took it down. Couldn't believe they had all this room to roost and had to bicker about who was going to sit by who. lol We initially had our water inside the coop as you are describing but now have it outside in the run. Much easier to fill it and it doesn't spill on the floor of the coop anymore. Your PVC feeders are a great idea.