AllenK RGV
Chicken Addict
Yes pop door is something like a 12" high 10" wide chicken door in a traditional coop that you open to let the chickens out, I don't use one or plan on needing one personally and to keep bedding in I'll put in a 12x1x4 board that I expect mine to just hop over. I wake up at sunrise anyway so I am there to let them out. They have automatic watering and 20lbs of hanging chicken feed so even were I to sleep in they are fine.
Roosts can be something as simple as 2x4's or treated landscaping timbers cut in half with the flat side up.
As far as bedding goes it is there to make a soft surface so hens don't a)injure themselves hoping off roosts to the floor and b) make poop removal either easy as with sand, or can be a ready made compost bin with around 8 inches of wood chips/leaf litter, you would just be raking in the poop every day or two to make it look more sanitary and to feed the compost in the lower layers.
With a little ingenuity you can make a coop very inexpensively and with a structural engineer mentality it can be very expensive.
I would consider these as priorities:
1)decide what flooring type you want to go with as they pop on the roosts.
2)get the roosts figured out before you get the birds.
3)nest boxes are needed once you have layers this can be done on the cheap.
4)if you have a mixed age flock with layers/non layers/rosters the primary feed needs to feed everyone, and you feed calcium supplements with crushed chicken shell or oyster shell separately trust us the bir1ds know to eat what they need. Layer feed is only appropriate if you have only a flock of mature layers.
5)decide if you want to have a pop door these can be set on timers to open/close.
6)Chicken can supplement much of their diet free ranging, but be prepared for some losses due to predation as every omnivore and carnivore that is hungry will eat them.
There are plenty more I didn't hit and have further questions for you.. they are:
Do you have welding and woodworking equipment +experience? I suspect you do.
Are you willing to scout for scraps such as pallets, metal scrap yards, and the local dump for discarded construction materials? if so you will find loads of items you can get for nearly free to make your project happen. I was fortunate nearly everything I needed for my coop was on site and I have a drainage ditch out back with loads of discarded lumber to repurpose. And yes my tetanus shots are current
Finally if you need manure nothing beats a donkey or mule for predator defence and lots of manure.
Best of Luck to you!
I missed that.
