Could my hens access the feedere & water with this setup?

[The Kibble Goddess]

Hey Y'all,
I'm tweeking my coop design as hubby builds instead of being sensible and planning things correctly from the start & I need some experienced persons to advise. I wanted to put my feeder & waterer under the coop to cut down on mess, dampness & poo inside the coop, but the coop ended up being only 15" off the ground and that looks kind of low. However, the area under the nesting boxes is 26" tall by 18" deep by 3' long and I could certainly put the feeder and waterer there. My question is, "Would the hens be comfortable going under the low coop to get to the feeding area?"

And how high off the ground should the nipples for the waterer and the trough for the feeder be located? I currently have one Speckled Sussex and one White Crested Polish, both are 10 weeks. I will be getting 2 EEs and 2 BOs late next February. The info I've seen says 'back height', but I'm not getting any accurate measurements off my hens, they keep schunching down when I measure, so I'm not sure how tall 'back height' is

Thanx!

 

[gryeyes]

Addressing the "back height" issue first, you could prop a yardstick up against the coop wall (inside or outside, whichever would work for you) and watch to see when chickens walk past it. That would give you an idea how high to hang the nipple waterer in the coop.

15 inches under the coop would be a really sucky place to put feed and a waterer. If your nest boxes are high enough, you could use that floor real estate for the operational end of a PVC feeder.

 

[The Kibble Goddess]

Greyeyes,

Under the nest boxes is where I was going to put the feeders, its just that the hens would have to walk under the 15" high area to access the under-box area. They would only have to go about 1 1/2' from the edge of the coop to the feeders, but it would only be 15" high. I just don't know if they are willing to travel under a low coop to get to the food & water.

How high would I need to raise the coop to improve the under-coop height?

Thanx!