chicken coop concept - please critique

[daddykirbs]

Hi, I'm about to embark on the adventure of raising some meat birds. I have a simple drawing of the layout of the coop and run and am curious to get some feedback.

In the coop area the entire back wall would be lined with roosts. There would be a chicken door and a people door.

 

[Pico de Gallo]

How many birds?

What sorts of materials?

Where are you located?

Are you planning to raise em year round?

Have you raised meatbirds before? If it turns out to be a greater PITA than anticipated, it'd be nice to have left some room for laying boxes in a suitably convenient location.

Are you feeding outside? If so I'd leave a generous overhang in the front to shelter the feed from precip.

My outbuildings are all more 'squarish' to maximize perimeter to volume ratio. You've got 40' of perimeter...which'd make a 10' square building, totalling 100 ft2...a 33% increase in volume for the same amount of wall.

I also build in 4' increments for ease of install (16 or 24" studs, paneling comes in 4 x 8' sheets, roofing materials similar...). Framing odd increments leads to more cuts and more waste: can get expensive in both time and materials. For a 5 x 15 structure sheathed in 4x8' panels you'd use a total of 8 full panels, plus two additional panels cut into 3' and 1' strips, 10 panels total (hope you have a tablesaw!). That extra 1 ft strip would likely require an additional stud. For comparison, a 8 x 12 structure would require no cuts, contain 96 ft2 (~30% volume increase over 75 ft2)....while also requiring 10 panels.

I'm typing from experience. My own coop was built completely backwards, from the roof down! I'd acquired an old 7'11" x 7'8" garage door, quite the robust one-piece ceiling solution. It all seemed so easy until I began sketching and testing different angles to maximize my dimensions. I'm quite happy with the results: but if I'd just spent ~$80 on roof panels + sheetmetal screws, I could've saved a ton of time and headache by just building an 8x8' building.

You could alleviate many of these issues by using different materials, but this of course leads to other complications.

Whatever you do, keep the roosts low! Meatbirds aren't so great at hopping about!

 

[daddykirbs]

Good questions. I should have thought of those details.

30 birds twice a year.

4x4 post construction with fence boards as coop exterior. Chicken wire surround and on top for the run.

I'm in the San Antonio area of Texas.

I have not raised meat birds. I have only butchered 3 birds to date.

Currently I have 3 coops for the layers and other non-meat birds.

 

[Pico de Gallo]

Plenty of room for 30 birds who'll spend most of the day squatting in situ. Re-using cedar fencing? That'll work. I wouldn't go overboard plugging gaps btwn wallboards, as they'll enjoy the extra ventilation: given your latitude, humidity and the fact that meatbirds are prodigeous producers of poo.

I'd love to do post and beam someday, but Mr Taxman considers it a 'permanent structure'. Same deal w anything exceeding 120 ft2. Or if I poured a slab. Thus everything's built on 4x8" skids, which just happen to point towards that big vacant lot adjacent to my property...

 

[Linn Bee]

Pico de Gallo, I like the way you think! Daddykirbs, ya got some more planning to do unless there is a good reason for the 5 X 15 building, but it looks like other size options would be possible with the available space in our drawing. Keeping standard material sizes in mind will make for a better, easier, more pleasing result unless you are working with recycled scraps of this and that where you need to make everything fit your pieces.

 

[daddykirbs]

I do appreciate the replies. Here are some of my thoughts.

The "odd" size of the coop didn't bother me so much because it would built kinda like a fence or a pole barn with posts. These posts would have some 2x4s horizontally connecting them. Fence boards would then be put vertically. The 5 foot span between posts isn't really a deal breaker.

The shape of the coop and run were intentional based on the area I wanted to utilize. It was going to tuck nicely out of the way up against a small dirt ridge.

Now, here's were I did learn something

I forgot about the TAXMAN! Yes, the permanent structure will make a difference on my property. I will now go back to the drawing board and either utilize an existing structure, or make a mobile coop.

Thanks again!

 

[daddykirbs]

Here's what I ended up with. I like it much better.