Coop plans so far.

[Northie]

He's what we have planned out so far for the old granary in my avatar picture. It's about 15'x10' (exterior measurements). The first part will be a maintenance area where we'll have access to the chickens food, grit, oyster shell, chicken door(s), water(?), and the nest boxes. I have a poop tray/board drawn under the roosting areas. And I was thinking about building a broody pen underneath a portion of it, what do you think, good idea? There's a double door to get outside because I was hoping to reduce any drafts coming in the exterior door by putting up a clear flap door on the interior one. It gets really cold up here. Our perennial plant need to be hardy down to at least -31f to survive and there's usually a stretch of -40f, at it's worst we'll see -45f with wind... So heating won't be optional I think... That being said lights should be over the roost right? We'll be insulating for sure and I've told my hubby he's in charge of figuring out the ventilation. He's a carpenter so he knows way more about that then I do. I don't have a watering system worked out yet but I'm also thinking about trying those nipple waterers. There will be a secure run outside connected to the lean to and maybe a larger pasture area to free range under supervision.

So, does anyone see anything that is going to cause me a head ache later in these plans? Any advice is really appreciated

Thanks

edited to fix silly autospell mistake...

 

[ScottM]

Water nipples won't work in that cold.

Totally great design. Egg and feed access. You'll need to enter to clean poop boards.

How will u do a total clean out? Will a wheelbarrow fit through both doors?

 

[Kornfed13]

For good clean out option might I suggest installing a small swing door below your roosting area at floor level. I just built my coop and so far this door is proving to be the best idea I had . It's the small door on the right .

 

[Northie]

I asked my DH if the wheel barrel would fit through the doors and he said no. He also mentioned I would have to lift it into the coop to get it in and out of there, which didn't sound fun. I showed him the extra little door you have for cleaning and he figures that would work way better. Thanks for pointing that one out, for all the little things I was working on i missed a big one lol! As for the water, I'll have to keep thinking about it. I'm hoping to have enough heat that the coop never gets to be as cold as I mentioned above. I'll have to ask around about what other people do during the winter up here for their chickens. I'm caught in that ventilation/insulation/heating conundrum lol.

I managed to get into the granary today and take a look inside, I'm getting pretty excited. There are a few spots that need repair in the roof but everything looks fixable so (fingers crossed) we should be starting this spring. This is going to be fun !


To spell is so irritating... Wonder how to turn it off...

 

[Kornfed13]

Can't wait to see it