Coop Design Help for 5 Chickens

[Davidhalpern2]

It seems your backyard too small for the chicken.   I am not recommend keeping the chicken close to the house and near the neighbors at all because of the smell and noise.

If your a diligent urban chicken keeper and clean your coop and run regularly there will not be any smell. If your only keeping Hens the noise is less than a cat makes!
As far as neighbors, mine love the eggs, and beg me for Chicken manure (the best garden fertilizer on the earth)

 

[XtremeSteve]

LOL That is awesome!

I don't think I would touch a pair of crocs if my life depended on it. There is a direct link from wearing crocs to the exponential decline is sex appeal. LOL

I will definitely get a pair of these for outside for me and I could even keep them in the storage section of my coop, for my wife, she probably wants a pair of Manolo's... ;-)

 

[Davidhalpern2]

L​OL That is awesome!

I don't think I would touch a pair of crocs if my life depended on it. There is a direct link from wearing crocs to the exponential decline is sex appeal. LOL

I will definitely get a pair of these for outside for me and I could even keep them in the storage section of my coop, for my wife, she probably wants a pair of Manolo's... ;-)

These would work well for her;


http://us.christianlouboutin.com/us_en/shop/women/chelsea-chain-calf.html

 

[1906]

I agree with Davidhalpern2 about the smell. If you clean it regularly, there will be no smell. I have 4 hens in a 4.9 square meters coop plus another 6 square meters of run space and I clean it very regularly (daily - half an hours work) and there is no smell at all and even your wife would be happy to go into my coop/runs

, no reason to have a smelly coop.

 

[iawoodchip]

My first thought was to just put a roof over the back 6 to 12 feet, and make the rest of the area predator proof, leaving the whole area open air. I wouldn't think the weather in Vegas never gets so cold the chicken would suffer as long as it's not too drafty. Storage, nest boxes, roost, food and water should be quite easy to arrange with free standing units. My first thought also would be to use hay or straw on the entire ground space. Some folks like sand floor better. Do a little research on dry litter method. Jim

 

[TalkALittle]

You mean this kind of doodle?



Don't forget to subtract the space from your total square footage that your feeder and ramps take up. Do the math and figure out how much room there is under those ramps and if an adult bird can't stand under them it won't count as usable space.

I'd consider putting the food in the run. It is very likely that your birds will spend much of their time in the run anyway and only use the coop for laying eggs in and roosting at night. They really don't eat or drink at night so keeping a feeder in there only takes up valuable space. Also, if they have to go back in to eat, they are going end up pooping in the coop more than if the food and water were in the pen. That means more cleaning for you. If you are thinking about having an automatic door on a timer anyway, then you know they'll have access to the food and water in the run as soon as the door opens in the morning. Take a look at treadle feeders. With a treadle feeder you can keep their food outside and not worry about pests eating it at night. They hold a decent amount of food so you only have to refill them occasionally. I'd also consider having the primary access to water be in the run. Again, because that's probably where they will be spending their time and where you'll want to keep any mess and/or drips. Having a small waterer or single nipple in the coop is smart in case the door malfunctions one morning or something, but I'd be inclined to keep the primary eating and drinking stations in the run.

 

[TalkALittle]

My first thought was to just put a roof over the back 6 to 12 feet, and make the rest of the area predator proof, leaving the whole area open air. I wouldn't think the weather in Vegas never gets so cold the chicken would suffer as long as it's not too drafty.

That actually was my first thought as well when I saw the picture of the space. Speaking of open air, what is your plan for ventilation? I see the one window on the end. Will that be a functional window or just for letting in light? I imagine in Vegas, it could get pretty hot in a coop without lots of ventilation.

 

[Davidhalpern2]

I TOTALLY agree! I feed and water in the run. I use this treadle feeder;

http://www.thecarpentershop.net/mediumplywoodchickenfeeder.html

I had to build a simple enclosure/cover for it to keep it from getting wet. It holds about 3 weeks worth of feed for me. Couple this with a bucket/ nipple waterer with a hose float valve and your life becomes much easier! I used 1/4" drip irrigation water line and a pressure reducer from my hose bib to the bucket.

And for what it's worth I use construction sand in my coop and run. No drainage issues and cleans up with a kitty litter sifter. I add Sweet PDZ to the sand in the coop.

 

[yellowchicks]

Quote: I totally agree with the above. How tall is your wall? The shape of your yard although small and narrow, it lends itself to have 3 finished walls, ready for a perfect open coop in your climate!

Just put a 6' wide solid corrugated plastic roof across the south end, sloping from the house to the property line wall to provide some shades. Make it say about 10 ft long. Install a 2" x 4" roost bar about 2.5 ft high right across the full width of your yard. An instant open air coop is done!

Put a 1/2" x 1/2" hardware cloth roof panel at least 6 feet high for the remaining length (say about 15 ft in length), so you can walk comfortably into that area. Create a gate at the north end for access. Install two above ground nest boxes with a slanted roof against either the house or the property wall, closer to the gate for easy egg retrieval. Then set up the water and feeder across from nesting boxes also next to the gate for easy access and refill, shied it from the rain. The entire length can be deep litter method using either wood shaving or sand.

Right outside the gate, create a 3' wide plastic storage bin span right above the water valve, so you don't have to relocate the valve either. With this setup, there will be minimum cost, cleaning and maintenance needed. You can get done in one weekend!

What you will need to watch out for is the house window location relative to the chicken area. Might want to keep those windows closed to keep the dust out.

 

[iawoodchip]

I don't know if you're following my thought process. At the back of the space there are 3 wall already in place. A simple roof over the back few feet and Walla. There's your open air coop.