Chicken Coop Design

[plantationpark]

Hello,

I built this enclosed chicken run against the house, with solar shade roof panels. Does the chicken coop need to be another fully enclosed structure attached to or inside the run, with both the nesting boxes and roost together? Or is it ok to construct the nesting boxes attached to the exterior wall of the home and the roost alongside leaning up against the exterior wall ?

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC. Where, in general, are you located? Climate matters a great deal when it comes to building coops.

I'm a great fan of the Open Air coop concept, but you might need more windbreak than one wall provides depending on your local conditions.

 

[plantationpark]

Welcome to BYC. Where, in general, are you located? Climate matters a great deal when it comes to building coops.

I'm a great fan of the Open Air coop concept, but you might need more windbreak than one wall provides depending on your local conditions.

Thank you for the response. I'm in South Florida and the run is on the south east corner of my house. I've already accepted the fact that I will loose my roof panels first tropical storm or hurricane that comes my way.

I haven't been able to find many example images online of Open Air coops, so I'm holding off on the next phase until I can get some input from the experts.

 

[perkolator]

If you're in FL I'd just do the open air coop. I'm in CA and weather is good enough that my chickens all treat it as an open air coop, since they don't even sleep inside the actual coop section. I think only two of my chickens slept inside the coop this past "winter".

For your setup, you probably just need the mentioned windbreak and you'd be good to go. I'd probably put a roost bar at an angle connecting to the verticals of your structure in the front corner opposite the door. For nest boxes, I'd likely put them on the panel between house and door.

 

[Alaskan]

Make sure that the house wall is scrubable.

The chickens might want a bit of a visual barrier where they perch at night. like lattice, or a plantation shutter, or just a couple of palm leaves tacked up.

However, in hot climates breeze at perch level is a GOOD thing.

Situate the nest boxes so that they are dim, and don't have the sun beating down on them, and so that they are lower than the sleeping perch. But since it is so hot there, you might not want to provide a fully enclosed nest.

I would suggest setting up several different nests, and see what they like. A ground nest with just a little shade overhang might be nice. Also, nests mounted on the walls can work. You can start out with cardboard boxes and then upgrade to wood or plastic once you see what your girls like.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Hi, welcome to the forum from Louisiana. Glad you joined.

Location is a good thing to know for so many different reasons, not just climate. If you modify your profile like we did to show your general location it will always come up.

There is no reason that the nests and roosts have to be connected. They need access to the nests when they are ready to lay. The nests need to stay dry, don't let rain in. They need access to the roosts when they are ready to sleep. Most people have them in the same building but most people don't live in a climate like yours.

 

[3KillerBs]

This was my inspiration for my current build. Since you don't even have the week or two of winter that I get, you need even less shelter. More a sight-block to make the birds feel sheltered like they would if they slept in a tree and *maybe* a bit of protection from storms if the wind blows along the wall of the house rather than the house blocking the wind.

And yes, you can put your nest boxes where you find them convenient for your purposes. They don't have to be inside anything, though they shouldn't be subject to rain or strong winds.