Coop Construction

[U_Stormcrow]

Now my youngest son has jumped onboard and is currently in his room drawing a sketch of a coop where the bottom is on hinges and can be dropped open to dump the contents onto a tarp for cleaning. Pretty smart but makes me nervous. Is there already such a thing?

Heavy, and supporting the floor as that surface area become larger becomes increasingly difficult.

What most with raised coops do is set the floor height above the height of their wheelbarrow, then make a hinged opening on one wall at the floor level, close to the full width of the wall that they can open up and secure in place via clasp, etc.
Open the "door", roll the wheelbarrow up, grabe the rake, and pull the spent bedding into the wheelbarrow. Close "door" and cart off. A bow rake works best.

 

[DobieClose]

Heavy, and supporting the floor as that surface area become larger becomes increasingly difficult.

What most with raised coops do is set the floor height above the height of their wheelbarrow, then make a hinged opening on one wall at the floor level, close to the full width of the wall that they can open up and secure in place via clasp, etc.
Open the "door", roll the wheelbarrow up, grabe the rake, and pull the spent bedding into the wheelbarrow. Close "door" and cart off. A bow rake works best.

The wheelbarrow height is what I’m currently planning. I’m hoping my son doesn’t attempt to have us go totally out of the box.
Being “unexpected “ is kinda his thing.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

The wheelbarrow height is what I’m currently planning. I’m hoping my son doesn’t attempt to have us go totally out of the box.
Being “unexpected “ is kinda his thing.

Its how we learn. No need for apologies, I raised my girls the same way.

 

[DobieClose]

Its how we learn. No need for apologies, I raised my girls the same way.

Thanks.
I actually did something I’m kinda proud of. Picked up my chicks just hatched on April 11th and the Jersey Giant was spraddle legged. I made a brace that day with a piece of straw and a rubber band (looked this all up online) and isolated her. It was quite cumbufor her. The next day I bought some athletic tape and put a new brace on her. As of yesterday she’s in with the other chicks. She is, however a little smaller but she’s not getting pecked at now.

 

[DobieClose]

Another coop design question. If you install exterior nesting boxes, won’t they be colder in the winter?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Another coop design question. If you install exterior nesting boxes, won’t they be colder in the winter?

Yes, but chickens have down coats they can't take off. What we consier cold, and what THEY consider cold, are radically different temperatures. And the effect of "bumping out" the nesting boxes, as opposed to simply having access from a bottom hinged "door" in the wall is pretty minimal under most circumstances.

That said, eggs can freeze, if its cold enough. But my experience with that is limited to camping one unusually cold year in a canvas tent, when it never climbed above 17 degrees. I will defer to others with greater experience on the topic.