- Jun 9, 2010
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Our shed-style coop is finally up! We are now designing the inside of the coop and I'd like to get opinions from the experts before we finalize things. First off, here is the coop - and yes, we will be painting it
. It's 6' x 6' and will house 8 large-breed chickens. It has windows on four sides, as well as lots of ventilation. It sits under an oak tree so in the hottest weather the shade will help. We live in Portland, OR and we have about a month of high-90s weather in the summer and a week or so of freezing in winter, so pretty mild overall. We are building a 15' x 10' attached run with a roof, so they will be able to use the run year-round.
'
Since we have 8 big chickens, we made two 6' roosts inside. You'll have to imagine the 2nd roost about 12" below the higher one and 12' in front of it (it hasn't been cut to length yet so it's leaning in the nest box). We've put in a droppings board that is wide enough to accommodate both roosts and serve as a step up since I'm not sure how high these gals will be able to leap. There is about 19" of height below the droppings board, and it is about 2' deep.
If you're standing in the doorway and look to your left, this is what it looks like. The food and water will be against the wall behind the door (so ignore the feeder-looking thing under the droppings board).
If you look to your right, you get this view. There are 3 nest boxes towards the door (not all visible) and the larger space towards the back is for storage. We'll put some kind of curtain or door over it to keep the hens out.
OK so now that you've got an idea of the layout, here are my questions:
1) Will the chickens use the space underneath the droppings board? It just looks so cramped in there now and I don't want the hens to be crowded.
2) Would you stick with the giant droppings board (not quite as easy to scrap off as a narrow one) or pull it and just do deep litter? We will put vinyl on the floor and sprinkle with DE, and the girls will probably spend a lot of time outside, so I think DLM is feasible.
3) We used tongue-and-groove cedar siding. Given our weather, would you bother to insulate?
4) The (recycled) door has a petsafe door attached. Has anyone heard of a chicken using such a door? Our run will be completely enclosed and roofed so it would be kinda nice for the chickens to have free access & no drafts. Otherwise we'll get an automatic door but If I can avoid spending the $$, I will.
5) The nest boxes are facing the south-side window and I wonder if they will get too much light. Can I just put curtains over the entrances? I'm going to paint the inside dark gray.
6) Do I need to do anything over the nest box dividers to keep them from sitting on top? (not sure why our plans told us to make square dividers, grr).
Thank you in advance!


'
Since we have 8 big chickens, we made two 6' roosts inside. You'll have to imagine the 2nd roost about 12" below the higher one and 12' in front of it (it hasn't been cut to length yet so it's leaning in the nest box). We've put in a droppings board that is wide enough to accommodate both roosts and serve as a step up since I'm not sure how high these gals will be able to leap. There is about 19" of height below the droppings board, and it is about 2' deep.

If you're standing in the doorway and look to your left, this is what it looks like. The food and water will be against the wall behind the door (so ignore the feeder-looking thing under the droppings board).

If you look to your right, you get this view. There are 3 nest boxes towards the door (not all visible) and the larger space towards the back is for storage. We'll put some kind of curtain or door over it to keep the hens out.

OK so now that you've got an idea of the layout, here are my questions:
1) Will the chickens use the space underneath the droppings board? It just looks so cramped in there now and I don't want the hens to be crowded.
2) Would you stick with the giant droppings board (not quite as easy to scrap off as a narrow one) or pull it and just do deep litter? We will put vinyl on the floor and sprinkle with DE, and the girls will probably spend a lot of time outside, so I think DLM is feasible.
3) We used tongue-and-groove cedar siding. Given our weather, would you bother to insulate?
4) The (recycled) door has a petsafe door attached. Has anyone heard of a chicken using such a door? Our run will be completely enclosed and roofed so it would be kinda nice for the chickens to have free access & no drafts. Otherwise we'll get an automatic door but If I can avoid spending the $$, I will.
5) The nest boxes are facing the south-side window and I wonder if they will get too much light. Can I just put curtains over the entrances? I'm going to paint the inside dark gray.
6) Do I need to do anything over the nest box dividers to keep them from sitting on top? (not sure why our plans told us to make square dividers, grr).
Thank you in advance!