Critique my coop...

[Judy]

Quote:
The real answer is, it depends on the personality of the chickens. Some would peck each other to death at those numbers and some would do fine. It would probably help if you stayed with one size of chicken. It's true that standards and banties can live together, but chickens do best when they are all the same size -- equals out the playing field, so to speak.

Use a tree branch for a roost if you want, but make it a thick one. Chicken's feet just don't curl tight around a narrow rod like other birds' do. Nothing wrong with mounting it between two adjacent walls, but remember they won't be able to use the very ends as they hang off.... I agree that it will be tricky to get a good roost in there.

You don't have to use a poop board or deep litter. You don't even have to use any litter, though you will probably want to -- less mess on their feet and smells a lot better. It's really a personal choice. If you plan on taking all the litter out often, like every week or two, be sure you seal the floor well to make cleaning easier. A scrap of linoleum flooring running up the walls a little way will help a lot.

I gather you're in Oklahoma. It should be mild enough for them to be outside the coop essentially all the time during daylight hours. If they will have, say, your whole back yard, or a generous run at least, the need for space in the coop diminishes.

I hope the vent in the pic is open for its entire size and not just the small area of light visible in the pic.

 

[SouthernBornOUFan]

Quote:
The real answer is, it depends on the personality of the chickens. Some would peck each other to death at those numbers and some would do fine. It would probably help if you stayed with one size of chicken. It's true that standards and banties can live together, but chickens do best when they are all the same size -- equals out the playing field, so to speak.

Use a tree branch for a roost if you want, but make it a thick one. Chicken's feet just don't curl tight around a narrow rod like other birds' do. Nothing wrong with mounting it between two adjacent walls, but remember they won't be able to use the very ends as they hang off.... I agree that it will be tricky to get a good roost in there.

You don't have to use a poop board or deep litter. You don't even have to use any litter, though you will probably want to -- less mess on their feet and smells a lot better. It's really a personal choice. If you plan on taking all the litter out often, like every week or two, be sure you seal the floor well to make cleaning easier. A scrap of linoleum flooring running up the walls a little way will help a lot.

I gather you're in Oklahoma. It should be mild enough for them to be outside the coop essentially all the time during daylight hours. If they will have, say, your whole back yard, or a generous run at least, the need for space in the coop diminishes.

I hope the vent in the pic is open for its entire size and not just the small area of light visible in the pic.

Thanks. I think I'll just go with 2x4s and I'll have to Feng Shui it as best as I can. My goal with this was to make as little maintenance as possible. So I would prefer to not clean litter ever week lol. I am in Oklahoma and it was 12 degrees last night...So warmth is a concern and a bridge I haven’t quite crossed.

The vent is open about 90%. There are some 2x4 joices in the very top that I couldn’t cut through, but I wanted a large vent under the porch to protect from rain and drafts. The picture of the light and vent are a little misleading, it is open more than you can tell from the pic, it's the angle and light from the rear.

Their run will be probably about 12ft long. This will be a tractor as well.

 

[Judy]

12 degrees won't bother them, honest. We're getting down to 20 with awful winds and my two week olds have been running around in the coop for long periods without bothering to get under mama and warm up. Hardy little critters. And half of one wall is open air, hardware cloth, not even covered with plastic this year. They don't care; they (the adults) spread out on the roosts as if it were the height of summer and they were hot.

You might find that a poop board saves you a bunch of work. A discarded plastic tray or scrap of linoleum would be great -- pull it out, knock the poop off, slide it back -- not necessarily every day. Thing is, night poop is a good 50% of their poop, so if they are out most of the day, there won't be much in the coop at all. If you aren't ready to clean the coop and it seems a bit poopy, just throw a couple handfuls of pine shavings on the poop. Problem solved. Might want to do these things at least several times a week, but we're talking about 2 minutes of work here.

I have a dirt floor with pine shavings, and an 11x17 coop. I don't clean it out, period, unless I want the stuff for the garden. I'd explain what I do if it gets smelly but it wouldn't work for you, obviously.

When the time comes, you might decide to take off one of those larger walls and put it on hinges, then cover the hole with hardware cloth. Drafts are welcome when it's 90 degrees at night!