Coop design help

[CharliMurphy]

Hi Everyone! - New to the forum here but I have been lurking for a good while. I'm hoping all of you can help aide in a design of my first coop.

I live on approx. 1.5 acres in a community, not farm land. Currently allowed to have 4 chickens but they have to but in a coop and run. This may increase to 6 in the future, so I want to approach it in the 4-6 chicken size for the build. Below is a picture of the area I want to put it, as well as some general notes. This is a small privacy fenced in area, not open access to the full property.

I believe I want to have the coop to the right, close to the fence, and the run to the left pushing toward the propane tank. The propane tank is an inanimate object that only hooks to my gas fireplace, which I have never used in the 3 years we have lived here. I can move it, remove it, whatever I want to do with it. I want the coop to be approx 5' to 5'6" total height. I'm thinking a pull out drawer across the front to clean the coop and either the nesting boxes on the right side or across the front above the drawer. Probably a slopped roof slopping away from the house for both the coop and the run.

Anyone have any pictures or plans close to what I'm describing? Thoughts, ideas, things I should do different or plan for?


EDIT - Location is the WV panhandle, near the MD/WV/VA lines. Climate zone 6 or 7 for gardening purposes.


Thanks!

Charlie

 

[ColoradoPip]

Do a quick search on this forum (or google and click images) and you can find more examples than you can count!

Tips based on my experience putting a coop in a similar position:

• Leave ~3ft (or more if that's not big enough for you and the mower, mower is just a reference, not saying you will mow it) space between the house and coop/run as well as ~3ft space between the fence and coop/run. Make sure it is easy for you to get in the to shovel, clean, remove, and repair. Trust me on this. It's extremely important for many many reasons, mostly to be able to keep the area clean and smell free.
• The grass will become dirt, and possibly mud depending on your climate. You will need to decide to cover some or all of the run and based on that decision decide what will work best for your run (e.g. sand, deep litter, etc.).

That's a start!

Others will ask you to fill in your location so we understand your climate and can better suggest things. What works in Florida will not work in Michigan!

 

[CharliMurphy]

Do a quick search on this forum (or google and click images) and you can find more examples than you can count!

Tips based on my experience putting a coop in a similar position:

• Leave ~3ft (or more if that's not big enough for you and the mower, mower is just a reference, not saying you will mow it) space between the house and coop/run as well as ~3ft space between the fence and coop/run. Make sure it is easy for you to get in the to shovel, clean, remove, and repair. Trust me on this. It's extremely important for many many reasons, mostly to be able to keep the area clean and smell free.
• The grass will become dirt, and possibly mud depending on your climate. You will need to decide to cover some or all of the run and based on that decision decide what will work best for your run (e.g. sand, deep litter, etc.).

That's a start!

Others will ask you to fill in your location so we understand your climate and can better suggest things. What works in Florida will not work in Michigan!

Thanks for the suggestions. I figured 3-5' to between the coop and the fence. If I pull the coop 3' from the house, it doesn't leave me much room as I don't want to push too far out. I'm in the pan handle of West Virginia, close the the WV/MD/VA lines. Climate zone 6 or 7 (depending on where you look) for gardening. I will update my post. I've been looking at a ton of pictures and just haven't seen exactly what I want but lots of ideas to combine.

 

[EggWalrus]

Make sure that where ever you put it, it's high and dry. I would wait till after a good rain and be sure no water pools or stands where you are planning to put the coop and run. If you're dead set on putting it in one particular place and water doesn't drain away from that spot, bring in some fill dirt.
Personally, I would never, ever put a coop that close to my house. Besides the smell, hens aren't completely quiet. They can be as noisy as roosters but with out the crowing.
And unless you are only 4 feet tall, you want to have the height at least 6-12 inches taller than the tallest person that will walk in it. It's really sucks to begin associating chickens and eggs with back pain from hunching over. Or all the knots on your head, that's if you don't knock yourself out, like I did, in a "too short" pen.
Whatever you decide, we wish you much success!

 

[CharliMurphy]

Make sure that where ever you put it, it's high and dry. I would wait till after a good rain and be sure no water pools or stands where you are planning to put the coop and run. If you're dead set on putting it in one particular place and water doesn't drain away from that spot, bring in some fill dirt.
Personally, I would never, ever put a coop that close to my house. Besides the smell, hens aren't completely quiet. They can be as noisy as roosters but with out the crowing.
And unless you are only 4 feet tall, you want to have the height at least 6-12 inches taller than the tallest person that will walk in it. It's really sucks to begin associating chickens and eggs with back pain from hunching over. Or all the knots on your head, that's if you don't knock yourself out, like I did, in a "too short" pen.
Whatever you decide, we wish you much success!

Thanks for the info. My house is fairly large, and this is actually behind the garage. My neighbors all have 1-3 acres and are not closely distanced. I actually visited a friend a few times with a similar setup and I never noticed a smell or heard any noise, from 8 chickens.

As for the height, I do have some requirements that I have to abide by and that is what it is. It's actually similar setup to the one I had some hands on time with over a few weeks. If I have a pull out tray I don't see a need to physically be inside of it and it will be small enough that I can reach in if I need to.

 

[ColoradoPip]

So with the pull out tray. It must be deep enough to put bedding into and support the amount of poop, plus the girls kicking it around, to still be able to pull it out. For instance, if you plan to add 6" of bedding in the tray, then account for another 6" of poop height (some poops are tall!), plus bedding getting piled another 2", I would make the tray something like 14", but I overdo things so likely more like 20", deep.

The tray in my prefab coop is only a few inches deep (at most) and I stopped pulling it out because it just didn't work well being so shallow.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Pull out trays never quite work as people expect. In order to be deep and large enough to be useful, they'll become so heavy and unbalanced that all it's going to do is dump bedding everywhere while the frame around the tray squeegees off poop inside. For 6 chickens (your max) you're looking at a 24 sq ft coop which means a 24 sq ft tray... not very manageable.

I don't think having the set up close the house is a problem as long as you have a plan to manage all the poop.

 

[EggWalrus]

Pull out trays never quite work as people expect. In order to be deep and large enough to be useful, they'll become so heavy and unbalanced that all it's going to do is dump bedding everywhere while the frame around the tray squeegees off poop inside. For 6 chickens (your max) you're looking at a 24 sq ft coop which means a 24 sq ft tray... not very manageable.

I don't think having the set up close the house is a problem as long as you have a plan to manage all the poop.

And they do poop a lot!
If you're worried about your neighbors seeing the coop over that wooden fence, to heck with them. If it's legal in your town and on your property and the neighbor is complaining about a coop that can be seen, I'd tell them nicely to pound sand !

 

[Cryss]

Instead of sliding poop trays think about poop boards. As someone has said poop and bedding get squeegeed off as you slide it out so everything ends up on the floor anyway. I have 2 coops with slide trays. After attempting to facilitate one of the trays when all was new and I was naïve I’ve never even contemplated trying to move them again. Now I have a walk in coop (absolute heaven!) with poop boards and a layer of PDZ. Since chickens poop while roosting all night long it works great and only takes a few minutes to scoop. The coop floor has pine shavings but if they aren’t roosting they are outside so the floor rarely gets pooped on. I love my poop boards!

 

[Fluffyflufffluff]

Hi Everyone! - New to the forum here but I have been lurking for a good while. I'm hoping all of you can help aide in a design of my first coop.

I live on approx. 1.5 acres in a community, not farm land. Currently allowed to have 4 chickens but they have to but in a coop and run. This may increase to 6 in the future, so I want to approach it in the 4-6 chicken size for the build. Below is a picture of the area I want to put it, as well as some general notes. This is a small privacy fenced in area, not open access to the full property.

I believe I want to have the coop to the right, close to the fence, and the run to the left pushing toward the propane tank. The propane tank is an inanimate object that only hooks to my gas fireplace, which I have never used in the 3 years we have lived here. I can move it, remove it, whatever I want to do with it. I want the coop to be approx 5' to 5'6" total height. I'm thinking a pull out drawer across the front to clean the coop and either the nesting boxes on the right side or across the front above the drawer. Probably a slopped roof slopping away from the house for both the coop and the run.

Anyone have any pictures or plans close to what I'm describing? Thoughts, ideas, things I should do different or plan for?


EDIT - Location is the WV panhandle, near the MD/WV/VA lines. Climate zone 6 or 7 for gardening purposes.


Thanks!

Charlie









View attachment 2059768

As a general rule of thumb, one chicken requires 3-4 square feet of coop space. And if you're looking to have 3, you're going to need a 12 square foot coop (3×4, 6×2 or larger). However, if you're going to co-opthem all the time, you need at least 10 feet each.