Coop modifications!

[bigz1983]

Here some of my recent coop modifications..
Dutch door.
Nest box with outside access panel and easy to clean $1 plastic tubs from Wal-Mart.
I cut rectangler holes through the wall and made a excess panel to gather eggs.
The Dutch door makes feed and watering easy because they can't bull rush the door.
I put metal trash cans by the door for feed storage.
There's a smaller trash can inside a bigger one to prevent rain and snow from getting in the feed.
The nice thing about the access panel is there is no need to build a external nest box with a mini roof.

It works good!

 

[Folly's place]

Nice big coop, but here are some comments.

Chicken wire will not protect your birds! Get hardware cloth, and install it very well, with staples, and then wood strips screwed in on top.
Your latches will be opened by a raccoon one day; get better.
Use bungie cords, at least, on your garbage can lids. Also set the cans up on blocks or something to keep them off the ground. I didn't do well with garbage cans outside, because rain leaked in. Mine are in the coop under a roof.
Mary

 

[bigz1983]

Nice big coop, but here are some comments.

Chicken wire will not protect your birds! Get hardware cloth, and install it very well, with staples, and then wood strips screwed in on top.
Your latches will be opened by a raccoon one day; get better.
Use bungie cords, at least, on your garbage can lids. Also set the cans up on blocks or something to keep them off the ground. I didn't do well with garbage cans outside, because rain leaked in. Mine are in the coop under a roof.
Mary

Yes I agree chicken wire is not as good as hardware cloth against predators.
But hardware cloth can be chewed through by a persistent predator too.
I have seen it first hand.
I have photos.
We had a very aggressive opossum chew through hardware cloth.
Using it teeth one strand at a time it cut a 6 inch slit in the hardware cloth at night about ground level and killed 1 chicken.
I caught it in the act that morning.

 

[IamRainey]

I think your Dutch door is smart and so is your outside access to the nesting boxes!

A bungee cord on those storage cans won't stop even a small raccoon. They're as agile as they are devious and tireless. To them a bungee cord -- even 2 strong ones -- is merely the entertainment portion of the dinner experience. And I hope the OP doesn't have any bear. They'd just pick the whole thing up, throw it 6'-8' and then amble over to enjoy what's spread all over the area at their leisure.

Keep the feed inside a latched structure. And then put a carabiner clip on that latch! Speaking of which, I'd replace the latch on the access to the nesting boxes -- and anything else -- with new latches that can be reinforced by carabiner clips too.

Got to agree about the hardware cloth v chicken wire. Chicken wire just won't do it! Keep in mind hardware cloth also comes in different gauges. Get the heaviest possible one. More expensive to be sure but how expensive and how tragic is replacing mauled chickens? My heavy hardware cloth has kept my chickens protected from coyotes for the last 3 years. ::knock wood!::