Coop design input!

[gtaus]

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The vent height above the roost was a concern of mine, I thought they might be too low compared to the roost. How high above the roost should the bottom of the vents be minimum? Right now there is about a foot of space.

The safe answer, from what I have read, is that the venting should be as high as possible from the roosting chickens. I seem to recall reading 18 inches was a good distance, but maybe 12 inches will be fine. A number of people close up their vents in the harsh winter weather to prevent drafts, but then you have the danger of humidity and frostbite.

I have seen some of these slide out tray designs on coops sold at the farm stores. I would only suggest that you actually try it out first as a full tray may not pull out as easy as an empty tray. A full tray may sag from the weight, snag on housing, and make your life miserable. Typical complaint on that design I have heard from others. I opted to make a drop down clean out panel and a solid floor (but my coop is larger and built for deep litter).

Nice drawings. Wish I was that organized when I was making my coop.

 

[gtaus]

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Should the access door to the run open into the run or out?

I use a dog kennel gate panel, which opens both in and out. If snow is a concern, I would suggest opening the gate out of an uncovered run as you can shovel outside the run free of snow in the winter, but you can't shovel inside the run unless you can first get in there. If the run is covered, and snow cannot build up behind the gate, then I would have it open into the covered run because you know it will not be blocked.

 

[rosemarythyme]

The safe answer, from what I have read, is that the venting should be as high as possible from the roosting chickens. I seem to recall reading 18 inches was a good distance, but maybe 12 inches will be fine. A number of people close up their vents in the harsh winter weather to prevent drafts, but then you have the danger of humidity and frostbite.

I have seen some of these slide out tray designs on coops sold at the farm stores. I would only suggest that you actually try it out first as a full tray may not pull out as easy as an empty tray. A full tray may sag from the weight, snag on housing, and make your life miserable.

Vents above a roost ideally should be as high up as you can get them, I'd aim for maybe 24" but if that's not possible then either try putting them as high as you can, or place vents elsewhere if wind direction allows for it.

Good call on the slide out, I didn't catch that. IMO even a small slide out tray is a pain, poop and bedding will spill over or get caught on the rails and a 4x4 tray, while it doesn't seem that large, could be much harder to manipulate than you think.

 

[gtaus]

IMO even a small slide out tray is a pain, poop and bedding will spill over or get caught on the rails and a 4x4 tray, while it doesn't seem that large, could be much harder to manipulate than you think.

Especially if in the winter you are dealing with frozen poo and bedding that completely blocks the tray from sliding out. Again, maybe a drop down clean out panel where you can rake out the droppings/bedding.

 

[Fayonan]

Cool story

 

[sealer39]

To me your design looks pretty good for 4 chickens. I have a 4x4x4 coop/tractor with three nesting boxes for 9 birds and they get along fine. However, they have 240 sq ft of run space so the coop is for laying eggs and roosting. If I could do mine over again (and mine is very similar to yours)

• I would have the poop boards slide out of the coop just like a drawer so you could deal with it outside then slide them back in.
• Instead of making an access door in a wall, make the whole wall the door. Easier access to the coop. And if you have a heat spell the wall/door could be left open. Just build a hardware cloth frame to put in the open space.
• My nest boxes are about 3” above the floor BUT I cut the access holes too low. Make sure there is at least a 3” lip so they don’t scratch out all the nesting material.
• You live in an apartment so you may be moving in the future. Consider building as light as you can or build it in such a way that it can be disassembled.
• Again, on the run, make the door as big as you can so carrying in supplies will be easier.
• I hinged the roof of the nesting boxes so I could get eggs from the top so I would not have to stoop down and hunt for eggs.
• Currently my waterer is inside the coop and the feeder is mounted to the outside and goes through the wall. I’m about to move them both to the run to give more space inside the coop and mainly because the chickens are always in the run anyway.

Hope this helps. You’re off to a good start in my opinion!

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

Good start on the coop plans. One thing I would encourage you to do is do comply with your local ordinances regarding the number of chickens you are allowed. If you really want more go to your town council and make an honest and legal plea to have more birds. Blatantly disregarding local ordinances will only create more problems and make it harder to change them. Good luck with your flock.

 

[mdquilts]

If you are concerned about them nesting under the poop board you could place the food and water under them instead. It would also increase the space they have for jumping off the roost onto the floor.

 

[gtaus]

I would have the poop boards slide out of the coop just like a drawer so you could deal with it outside then slide them back in.

Sounds like a good design for Louisiana. If the drawer-like tray was deep enough that you would not have to worry about poo and bedding piling higher that the sides, then I suppose you could always pull out the drawer-like tray. Problem with the tray design where I live in Northern Minnesota, is that they trays on the prebuild farm store coops are too flat and the poo and bedding gets higher then the tray sides. In winter, this can freeze and your tray is stuck until it warms up. If you have some cold winters there where you live in Ohio, I'd still want to look at the tray design for your locale.

My 6X12 coop is elevated, and with the drop down clean out panel, I simply put my wheelbarrow or garden cart alongside the coop and shovel the spent litter directly into the cart. Easier for me to take to the compost pile by the garden. A small tray would probably be less work in many respects and gives you more options. I am not opposed to clean out trays per se, it's just that where I live in northern Minnesota, I don't know of anybody locally that uses them due to our long winters which makes the tray design less functional. Even the poultry people at the farm stores advised me not to consider buying their prebuilt coops because of the tray issue. This will be my first winter with my laying hens, so I just followed the local poultry owner's advise as to what worked for them and what did not.

I also do not have poop boards under my roosts as I use the deep litter method. Everything drops down to the bedding level and gets turned over in the mix. In theory, I should only have to clean out the deep litter once or twice a year. A number of people on BYC forums have advised me to consider adding poop trays under the roosts, but then I would be cleaning out the trays much more often than I had planned. The local people I know don't use poop boards, because, again, in the winter, the poop freezes and it is easier to throw fresh litter on top of the frozen poo in the bedding then it is to clean out the poop tray when it is -40F outside. Most people where I live don't clean out their coops in the winter - everything waits until spring thaw, then one big cleanup.

It's good to think about these things in your design before you build because some things are hard to redo later. Glad to read so many suggestions from BYC community. I always have more to consider for myself. Will continue to follow this interesting thread....

 

[OHchickens87]

Vents above a roost ideally should be as high up as you can get them, I'd aim for maybe 24" but if that's not possible then either try putting them as high as you can, or place vents elsewhere if wind direction allows for it.

Good call on the slide out, I didn't catch that. IMO even a small slide out tray is a pain, poop and bedding will spill over or get caught on the rails and a 4x4 tray, while it doesn't seem that large, could be much harder to manipulate than you think.

The slide out is not the full 4x4
The slide is only for under the roost to catch those droppings so it will be much narrower. The actual flooring will have a good surface like linoleum so it will be easier to clea I am thinking of doing deep litter method there.