Coop idea. What do you guys and girls think?

[flyboy129]

Hello all!
I'm a newbie here, but not to birds. I have built and rebuilt coops, always improving them trying to achieve that impossible perfect coop.

I know, I know. Every situation and setup is different, along with personal preferences. So, my preferences are ease of maintenance, easy to clean, predator proof, and this time, since I don't have room for 30 plus hens and a rooster, small. I am currently building a minibar. Ten feet wide by 12' long. The back 2 feet will be for chickens. 4-5 max. My nest boxes will be built into the wall about 30" up, and will be accessible from the outside. The roosts will be 1 1/2" PVC pipe with antislip vinyl on the top. Below them will be a 2x4 wire covered lift up hatch for the poop to fall thru and allow me to sweep out the coop. Beside the roosts will be a 2'x4' awning window covered with hardware cloth. I have picked up 1/16" plastic sheets (4x8) to completely cover the inside of the coop. All the seams will be caulked. This is so I can literally sweep the bedding out thru the hole under the roosts, and hose the coop out if i want. Thoughts? Ideas? Critiques?

 

[woodenart]

Hi,

If I could some quick thoughts, the nest boxes would be 30 inches from the floor ? This seems to high, most chicken coops tend to have the nest boxes lower to thefloor with the perching set at same height or higher.

Have a look at our chicken coops here for ideas http://www.woodenart.org.uk

Mark.

 

[darkmatter]

Quote:
Not so impossible, mine's perfect and has been in use for decades. (See my BYC page for pics of my setup)

 

[flyboy129]

The 24" height seems to be the norm, however, the previous coop I had built had two levels of nests. One at 24" and the other at about 42". The hens liked the top row better! I dunno? That is why I decided on 30" for this one. And as far as perfect coop, that is really referring to me never being satisfied with one coop. I build it, then see a clever idea or where I didn't think something through as far as I should have and go "DOH!" Ha ha. But, I don't just go and build another one.

I am happy enough with the end result to toss it out the window.