City Coop design questions

[Ylee]

My wife and I are planning on building our first coop and the only place we have to put one is on the north side of our house. The area is 5ft wide by 8ft long by 6ft high. It has cedar fencing on the north and west side of the area and the brick of our house on the south side and I plan to put the door on the east side with wire mesh all around it. We live in Fort Worth Texas so it doesn't get that cold. My questions are these:

Can I just build the outer wire cage part and put a slanted roof over the top? Does the roof need to be over the whole length or perhaps just half to 3/4s? The chickens should have protection on 3 sides. Or do they need the smaller roost I see in some plans? The whole area is pretty shaded most of the day and never gets direct sun.

I was planning on putting a roost in the back with a pan underneath with the PDZ in it for easier cleanup and using kitty litter pans in the front for nesting boxes. Would this work?

Do any city dwellers have something similar on the sides of their house and would you be willing to post pictures or offer suggestions? We would love any advice we could get!

Thanks!

 

[pittsbirder]

im new to this also but just built a city coop. i highly recomend the pdz poop board under the roost with a litter scoop it is so easy. your run wont need covered the whole way as long as they have a way to get out of the wx. are you building a coop and run or all one thing? im not sure a kitty litter pan will work for a roost but again i'm new. for some reason everone talks about em being square like a milk crate or boxed like shelf system. good luck and hope something i said helped

 

[Ylee]

We are planning on doing an all in one coop and run. We are only planning on getting 6 birds so I was thinking we should have enough room (40 sq ft) based the on other posts. I was just curious since we are in such a southern climate if I could have a more open run and not have an enclosed roosting area or if that would be harmful to the birds. I was going to put the wooden bar about 4.5 feet off the ground with the poop pan underneath.

I saw several posts about people using kitty litter pans for nesting boxes and they seem to work so I thought that would be a way to start simply with the nesting boxes. Do the nesting boxes need to be elevated off the ground?

 

[pittsbirder]

i would think yes off ground in case of rain ect but lower than the roost. i would still build a roof over some so they have an escape place from wind, rain, or whatever wx you get. good luck