Chicken coop advice :)

[Jennamr]

Hi All! Newbie to the site (though i have been scouring for information for many months!) I have five 7week old red sex links who just moved out to their coop! Honestly dont know what I would have done without this site, I grew up in suburbia and my fiance and i are slowly moving our way as far into the country as we can get lol my little flock is the beginning of my homestead! We just moved in here less than a year ago (and are intending to flip this and move again next year to a more permanent location) and we converted a neglected shed into the girls coop. After cleaning her out, i soaked the entire interior in industrial strength vinegar and after in dried, sprayed the whole inteior and floor in exterior, low voc, high seal paint (to deal with and prevent mildew). My hubby sealed up any cracks, holes etc and we installed vents and windows and fixed the doors. They just moved in Friday, and we will have the run complete this week! Hoping for some advisement on if we have done it right, or if there are any suggestions for improvements or tweaks! Breakdown of the coop/run is below along with pictures!

Coop:

Approx 11ft by 11ft x 9ft high
2 vents on front and 2vents on back, as high up as they could go.
Front - has 1 window that can be opened for ventilation (has a hardwire mesh screen for safety) and the door for human entrance
Back - 2 windows, one on the left can be opened for ventilation and the one on right is stationary

Roosting area - currently have 2 wooden bars sticking out and a branch for the girls ( doesnt seem like they have gotten the hang of this yet) over a sandbox (filled with 70 percent Stall dry & 30 percent construction sand for litter box style poop cleaning daily). Ladder provided for the height

Nesting boxes - 4x for 5 chickens; currently have little roosts for them to land on, but thinking small ladder may be required?

Dust bath - litter box, with stall dry and sand (hunting for DE to add in)

Far right corner, has there door to the run

I am using pine shavings for the coop floor with some stall dry mixed in.

Run - approx 11x7, was an existing dog run from previous owners,if we were staying here permanently i would make it bigger, but i dont think i will get more chickens until we are at the new house. We have added a covered roof to the back of it, however, i will be expanding that to cover 90percent if not all of the run (any left unroofed, will be covered in the hardware mesh). We left the existing metal fence, but have put the hardware mesh around, and this will cover all open area, with a skirt at the bottom which we will be putting 2x2 concrete pavers on (whole perimeter).

Current concerns are:

- Adequate ventilation?
- Rear window that opens, is this too close to the roosts to cause a draft? Should i swap the windows and put the stationary window on the left?
- Am i missing anything?

ALL feedback welcome!

PS. I could sit and watch J.D (one year old boxer) interact with 'his girls' all day! He has been around them since they were Day olds and despite being an energizer bunny with springs for legs, learned right away that he had to be super calm and gentle not to scare them away! He runs straight to the coop when we go out and they come to him right away

 

[Amelia Egghart]

Wow! I wish I had that to start! Great job! Here's some oh what I've learned the hard way:

Chickens go UP ladders but never down I'd lower the roost and the nesting boxes to prevent crash landings from off the tray. No higher than 18" unless you do wide slats across the entire back. In your case the roost is a good height above the tray but the tray should be lower.

They prefer to sleep flat footed, so a wide roost is better. what you have is good while they're young though. Like a 2x4 with the 4 facing up.

The nesting boxes should be lower than the roost, so if the tray is down to 18" then the boxes should be a bit lower. Plus with that flat top they'll love to roost on top of the boxes as well. If you don't want that, put a sloped top. But I'd just add a roost bar over the top and scrape every morning. Pretty easy. And they can have multiple roosting areas in case of a tiffy.

Good work! Post more pics!

 

[Amelia Egghart]

Ventilation: if you think you have enough, you need more.

A draft above their heads is perfect to pull out excess ammonia. Unless there's a maelstrom, I'd leave those windows open. At least cracked.

 

[Jennamr]

Wow! I wish I had that to start! Great job! Here's some oh what I've learned the hard way:

Chickens go UP ladders but never down I'd lower the roost and the nesting boxes to prevent crash landings from off the tray. No higher than 18" unless you do wide slats across the entire back. In your case the roost is a good height above the tray but the tray should be lower.

They prefer to sleep flat footed, so a wide roost is better. what you have is good while they're young though. Like a 2x4 with the 4 facing up.

The nesting boxes should be lower than the roost, so if the tray is down to 18" then the boxes should be a bit lower. Plus with that flat top they'll love to roost on top of the boxes as well. If you don't want that, put a sloped top. But I'd just add a roost bar over the top and scrape every morning. Pretty easy. And they can have multiple roosting areas in case of a tiffy.

Good work! Post more pics!

Thank you!

That was the mess we started with (previous owners left a BOATLOAD of junk behind and the shed wasnt very well constructed!) So it actually ended up more work to renovate then to build from scratch, buuuuut had we built from scratch they wouldnt have gotten such a large coop!

Thanks for the advice! I was a tad concerned about the roost area being high, had hoped that the ladder would do it, but if they wont go down it then that may be a problem! What do you mean about the wide slats?
FUnny you say that about the nesting boxes... when i gave fiance instructions for them, i said it needed a slanted roof so they dont sit and poop on it and i got the ya ya ya...obviously i didnt get it, so when i asked him about it when it was installed, the look i got had me adding the wood pieces around to make a little sandbox... theres stall dry and construction sand in there so if they do land and poop its easy to clean! Hadnt thought about the roosting bar though, good idea!

Fiance has had it up to his ears with my "change orders" lmao So i am going to be asking for them slooooowly...

 

[Jennamr]

Ventilation: if you think you have enough, you need more.

A draft above their heads is perfect to pull out excess ammonia. Unless there's a maelstrom, I'd leave those windows open. At least cracked.

The ventilation part has me very confused, so TBH i have no idea if i have enough lol! One of the rear windows is opened all the way, all the time (the coop backs into a tall treed area, so this one is sheltered from inclement weather) the front one is propped half way open all the time as well and the 4 vents at the top are always open...

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

Here is my two cents, Those little vents above the windows are not enough. I would take the entire area above the windows to the top and cut out the plywood between the existing framing. Attach 1/2 hardware cloth with screws and washers, into the framing from the outside then cover the edges with trim boards. Do this on both ends of the shed. Never close them up.


Look at mine, copy and paste link from signature to see what I mean.

Gary

 

[Jennamr]

Here is my two cents, Those little vents above the windows are not enough. I would take the entire area above the windows to the top and cut out the plywood between the existing framing. Attach 1/2 hardware cloth with screws and washers, into the framing from the outside then cover the edges with trim boards. Do this on both ends of the shed. Never close them up.


Look at mine, copy and paste link from signature to see what I mean.

Gary

First of all... i saw your coop earlier and it is FABulous! Well done! Second.. do you give courses for hubbies who do not see the need for all this for "just chickens"..?

Couldnt see from your photos, but i am pretty sure i know what you mean for the venting... and good news i think i can take care of that myself, without giving hubby a change order lmao Dont think that is too much for winter, even with the windows being "open-able"?

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

First of all... i saw your coop earlier and it is FABulous! Well done! Second.. do you give courses for hubbies who do not see the need for all this for "just chickens"..?

Couldnt see from your photos, but i am pretty sure i know what you mean for the venting... and good news i think i can take care of that myself, without giving hubby a change order lmao Dont think that is too much for winter, even with the windows being "open-able"?

Glad you can do it yourself, save the change order for the hard stuff. It would be real easy, just drill a starter hole in one of the inside corners and use a Sawzall (first choice) and use the framing as a guide cut it all the way out, a jig saw or hand saw would work to. (enough mansplaining)

Haha, yes I can give courses in hubby management but I got lucky on this one. It took me awhile to convince my husband to agree to chickens but once I did, with the help of our kids, it was him who made it clear it had to be nice, visually appealing was his words..... So may months and lots of $ later we have a coop that could be repurposed into a tiny home if we wanted! Which we won't, unless those freeloaders don't start paying some rent....

Gary

 

[bruceha2000]

They will go down a ramp but it can't be nearly as steep as that ladder. Down is harder on a chicken than up. In fact most any Large Fowl can fly up onto a 4' high roost. If you ran a ramp, hinged on the side wall, along the front of the tray to the floor, they will likely use it to get at least part way down and possibly at least half way up. Hinged so you can lift it for floor maintenance. They will poop on the ramp because, well, chickens poop any old time including wherever they are walking.

For 5 hens you need no more than 2 nest boxes but since they are built, no need to change that. If you move the hanging food and water under the nest boxes, they will be easier for you to access rather than where they are under the tray.

As @Amelia Egghart said, the nest boxes MUST be lower than the roosts. They will sleep as high as they can get (you might find them in the chandelier!) and you don't want them sleeping in the nest boxes. If you do need to lower the nest boxes, you can hang the food and water from the ceiling between the tray and the door wall. That will make it easier for you to fill them. Don't make the bottom of the nest boxes any lower than 18" off the floor or that floor area will become lost to the chickens.

Draft happens when the air blowing in one opening and out the other hits the birds on the roost. You could have to look at that flow to decide if you NEED to swap the windows. That said, I think if it isn't difficult, I would swap them.

Most definitely want to have a 2x4 on the flat or a 3" round rail for a roost. If you make it removable, it will be easier to clean. I find little poop on the round fence rail but there is some on the 2x4.

There really isn't any reason to drop the tray to 18". They WANT to be high when they sleep. The tray doesn't NEED to be any more than about 12" wide, the birds poop when they are on the roost and their butts only stick out so far UNLESS you run parallel roosts, then they should be 18" apart (so the birds can't peck each other) with the tray sticking out 6" or so past the roosts. Any roost parallel to a wall should be 12" from it.

I have found that with my girls a "wall seat" is preferred. You could run roosts out from the long wall for more "wall seats" but they will have to be supported on the outer edge which might make "poop sifting" a bit more difficult. You might be able to angle brace each one in the same manner as the tray is supported. That would make sifting easier.

 

[IdyllwildAcres]

Don't think that is too much for winter, even with the windows being "open-able"?[/QUOTE]

I guess that depends on wether or not the roost gets a draft. My winters will drop into the teens here and there, since the girls went out as two day olds in April there were a few days in the 20's. Open air coops are used in Wisconsin and Canada. I think the key is no drafts on the roost, I would put up some sort of dividing wall/curtain up IN the coop if drafts were an issue. Ventilation is more important than trying to trap in heat, when you trap heat you trap moisture which settles on the birds combs causing frostbite.

Gary