Coop design questions

DLC Eskies

In the Brooder
5 Years
Jan 21, 2015
54
2
48
Chapman, Kansas
I've been doing some tweaking on my coop design and came up with a few questions that I would like some advice on.

We have decided to build a large coop, 12' x 16' (188 sq ft according to a home design program) because it seems that "the chicken bug" bites as hard as "the show dog bug" , lol, and we really don't want to have to build a second coop as our flock grows. We plan on eventually have around 30 birds.

On to the questions.

We've designed the coop so that there is a roosting area on both of the 16' sides, 1 side will be the full 16' long and the other will be 11' long.
Both are planned on having a 3' 8" wide poop pan 2' off the floor with the first roost 1' above and 8" to the inside of the pan. The second roost is 1' behind and 1' above the first with the 3rd roost the same distance from the second.

Will this be enough space between roosting bars? Should the poop pan be higher or lower? Is a 3' 8" pan wide enough or should I make it a little wider?

My other questions are about placement of brooder boxes. Can I section off an area under one of the roosts to put a couple of brooder boxes? How big should the boxes be?

Thanks in advance!!!
 
I am a relative newbie...but have a couple of thoughts...what I did...and what I wish I had done different.
I built a 5X8' coop (8FT long)...and I stuck the brooder boxes smack in the middle of the back wall of that 8FT section....I wish I had put them on one or the other side. I would NOT have the roosts above the next boxes...they will tend to possibly poop into the boxes possibly. If you can build them into a wall I would do that.
On the poop board, I am placing mine about 4" below the roost bar, and it will go from just under the roost bar to about 10" behind it. I do not anticipate projectile poop at this point...lol.
On my roost bar, I initially was going to do one on each end...but have decided to build it in an "L" shape. It turned out pretty good, and I anticipate it will work beautifully for my 6 chicks. It is 20" off the ground so they have plenty of room underneath so they don't lose any sq. footage.
Sounds like you have a good setup planned! :)
 
Here is my roost. I also built it so the girls can look out the window. You can see the nesting boxes to the left. They ar 16"x16"......and painted completely black. They like dark in general for the nests...atleast I have heard that anyway.
I secured the L in the roost with a strong piece of 2x4 that had broke into a 2x2 piece. It was perfect and holds well with all of the other supports. Roost is 16" off each wall. I may put some plastick on the walls behind roost just in case they decide to projectile poop.
400
400

In the last photo u can see the support brace for the L. Also...my roost isn't 100% level...but I am sure they won't care. I have doors on both sides for easy cleanout.
 
I would say that the higher your roosts are off the board, the wider the board needs to be...think 'trajectory'.

My roosts are 8" above and centered on a 24" poop board and I rarely have any 'misses' where poop hits the wall.

In general......Roosts should be at least a foot higher than the nests, or they will sleep in the nests and poop in them.
Roosts should be 12-18" away from the wall and apart laterally.

 

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