Coop Design Look Over

[tsperry88]

Good morning everybody. I drew a design that I plan to build soon, but wanted to ask for any change suggestions before I get to set on it. It will be for 15 chickens. I'll have a small run, but they will mostly be allowed to roam my property. The front windows are single hung. They can be oriented so that either to the top or bottom open. The window on the gable over the nesting boxes, I haven't decided if I want. The back window is in 2 parts. A 7'x24" lower portion that is a seasonal window. A permanent plywood cover for winter, and probably some sort of soft cover I can throw up quick for storm protection in the summer. The coop is on a hill, and with the roof overhang, I'm not worried about wind driven rain from that side. The upper portion is 7'x12", that would hinge up for easy opening and closing during the winter. The soffits are vented with hardware cloth that do not close off, and I can either vent the roof ridge or not. I know I need a chicken door somewhere on it.... Does this look ok? What should I change?

 

[Acre4Me]

Welcome to BYC.

yes, you want the window above the nest boxes.

yes, you want a ridge vent at top of the roof, along with the under eave venting.

where are you located? What is summer and winter weather like where you are at? What is the orientation of the coop As compared to winter winds and driving spring/summer rains? Will there be and shade for the coop, or is it in the open?

 

[tsperry88]

I am in VA. The front faces north. I’m not sure the typical direction of wind driven rain here, but it’s fairly well protected on all sides from strong winds. It’s just inside the tree line, on the edge of the woods. Mostly shaded. Attached is a photo of the build site.

 

[tsperry88]

Another option I had considered for the back ventilation is (2) 2x3 openings with hardware cloth and functional shutters, or even just use the same 20x30 windows I drew on the front.

 

[Acre4Me]

I am in VA. The front faces north. I’m not sure the typical direction of wind driven rain here, but it’s fairly well protected on all sides from strong winds. It’s just inside the tree line, on the edge of the woods. Mostly shaded. Attached is a photo of the build site.

All good things! Assume by front, You mean the side with the double doors? This puts the window above nest boxes facing south for good light.

a note about the double doors in winter. Water+ freezing temps in the coldest side (north) may make for frozen doors. If you can add any protection over the door it will help. Simply extending the roof to Sheild the doors from weather will go a long way. Before we built out the roof over the door to our walk-in/elevated coop,the door had some issues with swelling, making it hard to open. It is directly behind the barn, so it was sheilded from the worst weather. Now it is completely covered, so it is much easier/comfortable to tend the chickens/clean coop.

 

[Acre4Me]

Easiest ventilation since you are building is raise the roof above the walls using 2x4s (narrow side touching the framing). This gives you 3.5” between roof and wall and above birds head’s. Cover with HWC. Then with a ridge vent or other roof vents, the air/heat/humidity will go up and out.

VA does not generally have extreme weather. Cold, rain, heat, humidity, and some snow. But, all within the ability of a chicken to deal with. They have a harder time with heat ...not cold (unless extreme cold/many drafts), so the fact that their coop and run will have shade mitigates the hardest item for them to deal with.

 

[tsperry88]

If I have 3.5” ventilation on the soffits and a vented ridge cap, what would you do on the wall opposite the 2 windows?

 

[David61]

All of that is the easy part. What about the roost, poop boards, nesting boxes, run door, pick boards , waterers, feeders, grit dish, calcium dish.....

 

[Acre4Me]

If your doors are North, and your nest boxes are south, that makes the two windows facing west. You could move the windows to east side to utilize the wall on the west for roosts/shelves/whatever. Here the worst weather comes from the west and north, so I’d just make the west wall solid/draft free (other than upper ventilation). But, depends on your weather patterns. Morning sun comes from the East.

you can make the entire area above the doors open (covered in HWC to keep out predators). We did this on ourcoop, then made a solid cover out of wood to cover it in the coldest part of winter. Otherwise it’s open. Ours isopen in south and north sides except in winter when north is covered. We have 6’ or more of roof extending beyond the coop on both sides, so Wet weather does not enter Through those openings.

 

[tsperry88]

It doesn’t seem like the easy part, but I’m over thinking the rest too Water will be horizontal nipples on pvc pipe. I have a 20 gallon HDPE tank in my house basement utility closet. I’m plumbing it in with a float valve. From there it’s gravity fed underground to the coop with a solar circulation pump to complete a loop back to the tank. I expect the 20 gallons in conditioned space to maintain close to room temperature, slowly circulated through the coop pvc line. That’s the part I enjoy. I’m a major tinkerer.

I still have 8-10 weeks to figure out the rest. The chicks are still 3 weeks hatching. The brooder is ready and I have supplies for the first 8 weeks.