Coop Builders - What would you have changed or done differently?

[lithiachick]

Love it Paris! He did an awesome job. Looks alot like mine, but mine is empty still. I paid someone to build mine!

 

[herrdogs]

Absolutely love this! Congrats on your great catch (your hubby)!

 

[chickenkeeper12]

This is the best thread ever. My god would I change a lot of things. The main thing I would change is the height of most of my runs. I only have 1/4 that is 6ft tall. I hate having to bend over but I got a little cheap and didn't spend the money to build it right. Also I would want to make the coops themselves higher as well. My wish it to make one big coop and have all my birds in there but that probably not going to happen.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

This is the best thread ever. My god would I change a lot of things. The main thing I would change is the height of most of my runs. I only have 1/4 that is 6ft tall. I hate having to bend over but I got a little cheap and didn't spend the money to build it right. Also I would want to make the coops themselves higher as well. My wish it to make one big coop and have all my birds in there but that probably not going to happen.

YES! We just finished our permanent run and it's tall enough so that we can easily get inside. What a blessing! The other great thing is that husband fashioned the run door so that it's wide enough to get a wheelbarrow into the run. We do deep litter in the run and that allows us to get in there with the wheelbarrow and fork out some of that wonderful compost created by the deep litter. So much better than having a narrow door open and trying to work with the wheelbarrow on the outside of the coop. And chickens escaping! LOL!

 

[Hogs and Horns]

This is such a helpful thread. Thank you to everyone who's shared their experiences and photos! We just started construction of Coop 2, a larger and (we hope) better-planned home for 3 young Bielefelder pullets, 1 young Bielefelder cockerel, 1 adult Buff Orpington hen, and 1 adult New Hampshire red hen. We refer to this thread several times a day. Thanks to your wonderful posts, we may even make fewer mistakes!

 

[Mims]

If you click on "my coop" you can see what I did. My whole coop/run is "wrapped" in hardware cloth. Keeps out everything, except maybe mice (and they'd get eaten.) The more ventilation the better. I'm in Maine. We had many overnights at 14-15 below zero and the days did not get above freezing. I had no heat, no insulation and one leghorn lost one point on her comb to frostbite. It's the humidity due to lack of ventilation that can cause frostbite. I covered the coop windows and the run walls with plastic, to keep down the wind, but the eaves were all open the whole winter.

mlowen - I LOVE your coop!