Could your pop door be at window height? AKA could I use an existing window as a door with a ramp?

[Avatar Farm]

I have a shed I want to convert to a coop for now. But I'd like to use a window as a pop door rather than cutting one at floor height. Our current coop is 3-4 off the ground and our shed is obv. at floor level. Is there any reason I couldn't just use the window, and put a ramp down to the run, instead of cutting another hole in the coop?

 

[hayley3]

I have a shed I want to convert to a coop for now. But I'd like to use a window as a pop door rather than cutting one at floor height. Our current coop is 3-4 off the ground and our shed is obv. at floor level. Is there any reason I couldn't just use the window, and put a ramp down to the run, instead of cutting another hole in the coop?

You can do it but will the ramp be too steep to where the the chickens won't use it? I'm planning to put a porch on mine, not sure if that will help you or not.

 

[Alaskan]

I have a shed I want to convert to a coop for now. But I'd like to use a window as a pop door rather than cutting one at floor height. Our current coop is 3-4 off the ground and our shed is obv. at floor level. Is there any reason I couldn't just use the window, and put a ramp down to the run, instead of cutting another hole in the coop?

Should be perfectly fine.

Other options, since ramps often take up so much space... is a series of steps... where they hop from one to the next. I find even fat fluffy girls can hop 1.5 feet up.

Never had silkies... not sure about them..

 

[Avatar Farm]

You can do it but will the ramp be too steep to where the the chickens won't use it? I'm planning to put a porch on mine, not sure if that will help you or not.

That's an excellent point. They've not to this point needed a ramp, but the door was big, it was human accessable, so plenty of room. In a perfect world, I won't need to build a pop door lower, but if we must, of course we will

 

[Avatar Farm]

Should be perfectly fine.

Other options, since ramps often take up so much space... is a series of steps... where they hop from one to the next. I find even fat fluffy girls can hop 1.5 feet up.

Never had silkies... not sure about them..

They are Swedish flower hens. To this point they have been able to fly/hop up and down into their current coop, but the door is way larger than the new access would be.


We've never had foot/leg problems, but I hope to keep that streak going.

 

[Avatar Farm]

That's an excellent point. They've not to this point needed a ramp, but the door was big, it was human accessable, so plenty of room. In a perfect world, I won't need to build a pop door lower, but if we must, of course we will

I guess if I make it really long, they can walk to wherever they are happy with and hop on/off from there. The run is 10x20.

 

[Avatar Farm]

OH! If I make a porch, I'll have somewhere to hang their feeder, Since I don't like to keep it in the coop, to minimize the desire of bears and rodents to go into the coop.

 

[hayley3]

OH! If I make a porch, I'll have somewhere to hang their feeder, Since I don't like to keep it in the coop, to minimize the desire of bears and rodents to go into the coop.

My food had to come out of the coop, the rats were making themselves at home. Inconvenient for the chickens now.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I never saw how high off the coop floor or how high off the ground that window is, in feet. That info could be helpful. The size and plans for the design of that pop door could also help. I'd like to envision what you are thinking about.

I looked up Swedish Flower hens. Apparently they are a normal size for dual purpose chickens, not huge but not that small either. My dual purpose chickens that size have no problems flying up to and down from my 5' high roosts or 3 to 4 feet high nests. The entrance to my grow out coop (for chicks as young as 5 weeks old) is about 2-1/2 feet above ground level. It's not that the chickens can't fly up and down, they have to want to. But they won't use a ramp or a pop door at ground level if they don't want to either. The trick is to get them to want to.

There are exceptions, there always are. If you get chickens that can't fly like Silkies or Frizzles it is a different story. While chicks just a few days old can jump pretty well if a broody hen tells them to, they can't fly. Super extra large chickens may have some problems with height. Are any of these in your future plans?

That window probably isn't all that high. Since you want a place to feed outside that will keep the feed dry I like the idea of a porch. I could see building steps to help protect the feed from rain but remember to leave yourself access to it. You can use a ramp if you wish. You could put a perch for them to fly to. Whatever you do and wherever you put that pop door, you will need to train them to want to go in and out.

My full-sized fowl hens have no problems flying up to a nest 3 to 4 feet off the coop floor with a nest opening of 8" x 8" with no perches to land on. I don't know how big you plan to make your pop door. The bigger it is the more rain and weather it can let in your coop. My personal preference is a minimum of 12" x 12". That's big enough for any chicken. I had a midget white turkey use mine that size.

Good luck!

 

[Avatar Farm]

The theory is that at some point we will build another 'real' coop lol, and the DH doesn't want 'some weird hole at the bottom of the shed' if we don't need it. lol .

I need to put a couple more windows in it regardless, So I have some flexibility in where it goes and it's size. This is one of those 7x7 resin sheds from a big box store. I'm excited about the two roof vent/skylights it has on it. I'm going to put a fan in one if it turns out to need more active air exhaust.