Coop Design Help

milezone

In the Brooder
8 Years
Joined
Feb 3, 2011
Messages
66
Reaction score
0
Points
39
Location
SW Kentucky
Hi Guys,

I worked on a design that will be easy to build, yet able to hold 5 - 7 Chickens (I hope I did the figuring right), which has 4 nesting boxes. I am still totally lost on the inside design, so hopefully you all can help me on that? And if my measurements do not seem right, or may be improved would love to hear all your comments? Thanks

Milezone



coopdesign1.jpg
 
Looks great!

For roosts, attach 2x4's to the framework along the short sides then run flat 2x4's the long way across the coop. One removable board could fit into the window frame on the bottom sill, with two more on top frame of the window.

Put some pitch (slope) on your nest boxes so water moves away from the house.
 
You only need one or at most two nest boxes for 6 chickens, and between 5' and 6' of roost space.

I would provide a vent at the top of the highest side and skip the window on that side. It could be about 3.5' wide, next to the door, and about 6" or 8" tall. This would ensure the warm humid air escapes. With nest boxes on the back, the roosts will have to be on the sides, but that will make them roost on separate roosts. You may find they all crowd together on one side.

It would help id you told us where you are.
 
Thanks for the comments, we are located in SW kentucky. We have 14 acres, 1 acre is all fenced in (with the dogs), so we will let them free roam in that area. At night we will lock em in as we have plenty of Coyote's in our back woods area. Don't think they can (or will) come in our 1 acre fenced area, but just to be safe will lock em at night.

Milezone
 
I would make largest side into 2 doors that open out. This will make it much easier to clean. You can add a couple windows into the doors for summer time ventilation.
Also on that side add 4" ventilation across the entire top. This will stay open year round. You want vents in the winter that will not blow onto the birds when they roost.

As ddawn said 2 boxes will be plenty.
 
Thanks guys for the excellent suggestions. I think I want to keep the 4 nest boxes, just in case we add more hens. :-) Ok I changed the front doors (excellent idea) and added vents. How do we look now?

Milezone

coopdesign2.jpg
 
Nice! Maybe put a droppings board under the roost. I have been glad that I did.
 
You might want to think about making larger eaves. I didn't on my first coop build, and regretted it. On rainy days, it's very nice to be able to stand out of the rain as you access the coop, etc.

By the way, you are putting your nestboxes right where they're going to get runoff from the roof. That won't be very convenient on rainy days. The nests inside the boxes could get wet when you open them to collect eggs.

My chickens don't seem to have gotten the memo about 1 nestbox for every 3-4 chickens. I have nine bantams, and they all use a single nestbox, even when someone is already in the favored one and there's a perfectly nice, comfortable, empty alternative box available. If you build 4 nestboxes, I expect you'll find something similar with your flock.

And about the location of your pop door. Is it your intention to free range your flock or are you planning to build a run attached to the coop? I ask, because my original design for my small chicken coop had the pop door right in the front access door, as your design shows. I realized, though, that I didn't want to have to come inside the attached run to get inside the coop, so I switched the pop door to the side so that it lead directly into the attached run. There's a picture of this setup on my BYC page (scroll down past the first coop/run and the tractors to get to the part about the winter coop).

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=32217

If you leave your pop door in the front, notice that the ramp from the pop door will be in the way when you open both sides of front door. You'd probably want to make the right side door your main access door in that event, and make the ramp easily detachable for when you need to open both front doors. By the way, having the whole front wall open up with two doors is an excellent design. I have the same thing on my small winter coop and it works beautifully.
 
Last edited:
Quote:
LOL! I thought only my silly hens were like that! I hear caterwauling from the coop often - and it's one hen complaining because the nest is full -- even with the nest next to it empty. Twice I've found one big hen sitting on another in the nest, and the poor bottom hen squawking "get 'er off!!"
roll.png
It sometimes looks like the line for the ladies room - snaking out the door!
lol.png
 

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom