Coop suggestions are welcome!

[RMLandreth]

My husband is almost done building my chicken coop, and then we will fence in the run (which will be the entire corner of our lot from the t-posts/shed on back to the chain link fencing). We plan on covering the screen door with the same material we used on the siding, but I want it to be split in half so the top part can be mounted on hinges. I figure that way I can open the top part of the door and have a screen for extra ventilation during the hot and humid summer days we have here. The long opening on the bottom will have a heavy “door” on hinges that we can lift up and secure for the chickens to have access to and from the coop. Should we install vents on the very top of the coop where I circled in red? I was thinking we should. And as for the inside - are there any pros/cons to having premade metal nesting boxes vs building our own from wood? And we will have some leftover 2x4’s from the construction - so I’m considering just using those for them to roost on. If I did, would I need to mount them vertically or lay them flat horizontally? I want it to be wide enough/comfortable for their little feet. Or should I just find some thick branches and use those instead? I hope I’m explaining it well enough... Any tips or extra suggestions would be much appreciated!

 

[rosemarythyme]

Yes I think you should add a vent in the triangular area (front and back), and also... are the soffits open in the roof there on the sides? Did you happen to leave that open as well? Can't tell from the photos.

You mentioned hot and humid so you really want to maximize your ventilation. If you don't already have the soffits open, that would be a great spot for more ventilation, and I'd go as far as to cut openings in part of that wall too, close to the underside of roof, as the roof provides good weather protection.

Nest boxes can be homemade or prefabricated, do whatever makes sense for you. As far as the roosts, you can use the 2x4s and place them either side up - chickens honestly don't care that much.

 

[RMLandreth]

Yes I think you should add a vent in the triangular area (front and back), and also... are the soffits open in the roof there on the sides? Did you happen to leave that open as well? Can't tell from the photos.

You mentioned hot and humid so you really want to maximize your ventilation. If you don't already have the soffits open, that would be a great spot for more ventilation, and I'd go as far as to cut openings in part of that wall too, close to the underside of roof, as the roof provides good weather protection.

Nest boxes can be homemade or prefabricated, do whatever makes sense for you. As far as the roosts, you can use the 2x4s and place them either side up - chickens honestly don't care that much.

Yes, the soffits are open so that will help! I didn’t want to overkill it by adding a window, but after hearing you suggest it I’m thinking that it might be the best thing for the chickens. Arkansas tends to have hot, humid summers! And we’ve been getting lots of rain. One last question I had was - do you (or anyone) have a recommendation as to which solar powered lights work well? We never had a light in ours growing up, but I would like to have something in there for my own convenience. Thanks a bunch!

 

[rosemarythyme]

For my own use, I just got some of those cheap battery operated puck lights that you can stick on/screw into the wall. Though now that I've had them a while I'd suggest getting something more powerful, as the light those little pucks put out isn't a lot, so even with 5 windows in the coop if it gets gloomy/overcast it really can get dark inside.