Coop design - separating different breeds?

[hatchaholic]

Ok, I have a question. Right now, we have black sexlinks, BR, RIR, NN, wyandottes, silkies, cochins, and EEs. They all share one large coop, and about 1/4 acre yard. Now, we are trying to decide what to do to be able to separate specific birds for breeding purposes. I figured I'd ask the experts on BYC for some suggestions. Can anyone help??? We figure we will have to build something else, but just not sure how to start...

Thanks for your advice!!

 

[onthespot]

If you can't afford to separate them all by breed, you could keep all the hens together, away from roos, and pull just the breed you want to breed and put them in the "breeding suite" with only their own breed of rooster. That way, no cross breeding happens, and you can breed several kinds of purebreds without extensive and redundant feed and watering chores/supplies/equipment. Not the most efficient way to get the most purebred eggs out of a mixed flock, but probably the cheapest and least time consuming.

 

[Heather J]

I love the way Mrs. AK bird-brain set hers up, it's one long building with a walkway down the middle (or one side, I can't remember) and individual coop spaces all the way down. Each breed/coop has it's own run on the outside. I used the idea for my new building, which I separated into three 'coops' with three pop doors, and the runs will be fenced between to keep them in their own area. i have a human door on the opposite side of the runs and can change the feed/water, collect eggs, from inside the building but still standing outside the actual 'coop' areas...well, we're still getting there, the Plywood went on for the roof today! I plan to make the three spaces so they can be open to the others, or closed for different breeds during breeding season.

I also plan to build very simple A-frame houses out of 4x8 sheets of plywood late in the winter for specific breeds, and then put them in a run. I could even split the building in two down the middle to make two 4x4 sections for two mating trios if I want to try for sizzles (cross frizzled cochins and silkies) or other mixes. All of my runs will share walls with the others so it should save me a lot of time and hassle with fencing costs. If I put the A-frames up on 2-foot stilts, it will provide some shade for the birds, since my property has no native trees and the ones I've planted are still quite small, this will also put the bottoms of the coops up off the gournd so I can reach all of the corners from the doors, etc..

 

[hatchaholic]

Thanks for the ideas. Does anyone have any pictures to show. I'd like to see them to get a better idea.

 

[yoker]

I was thinking of building a coop kind of like the one heather J. talked about. then I would raise the chicks on pasture untill fall.
I have one now with little pens 3x6 ft. and a pen on top that is 3x3 with a wire floor, so I go in the one and can reach in to the other.
I can keep roosters in the top and breed hens in the bottem.
what do you think?