Design of Multi-Bay Coop to Accommodate Rooster Behavior

[ejcrist]

I'm in the process of building a coop that is actually 4 coops in one with attached runs. The basic design is a 10'x24' building and I haven't framed the runs yet but they will extend out 10' and each be 6' wide.









Each interior coop will be 6'x6' and have a chicken door leading to each run, and there will be a 4' wide hallway that'll run behind each coop. The exterior fencing is simple enough and a no-brainer - I'll use 1/2" hardware cloth around the outside of the runs and install a skirt out of the same material that'll extend out 3' all around the building and runs. I'm planning to use this coop/run setup primarily for breeding, so each of the 4 sections will have one cock and my best 4 or 5 hens.

Now for the part I have a question about. Is it ok to use regular chicken wire between the interior coops and runs or should I separate them with something like plywood on the bottom 3' or so, so the roosters don't get distracted by each other's presence? I don't want them to be distracted so they concentrate on fertilizing the eggs. I've never raised roosters together in close quarters so I want to make sure the design doesn't interfere with the purpose of the breeding coop. Any thoughts and/or advice would be greatly appreciated. I don't think they'll be distracted and even if they are I could always add the barrier after the fact but I'd rather get it right the first time.

 

[aart]

IIRC solid partitions on bottom 3 feet is a good idea between cockbirds as they can sometimes fight thru wire.

Sweet coop(s)...look forward to watching this progress, hoping you keep posting.

 

[tmarsh83]

My next coop, (not withstanding a divorce being threatened) will be very similar to this, with the possible exception of one larger coop/run area for non-breeding layers. Maybe a meat bird section too.

Great design.

I'd lean towards solid divider also, more because I like to overbuild things.

 

[ejcrist]

My next coop, (not withstanding a divorce being threatened) will be very similar to this, with the possible exception of one larger coop/run area for non-breeding layers. Maybe a meat bird section too.

Great design.

I'd lean towards solid divider also, more because I like to overbuild things.

Thanks. Gosh I hope things work out for you with the divorce issue.

I'm like you and tend to over-engineer projects too. My main (and first) coop and run I built is way over-engineered and I got a lot of criticism from friends for probably spending too much building it but we get a lot of high winds here often and have a lot of predators so I knew I was doing the right thing. Since then we've had a couple of 50-60 mph gusts, dust storms, etc., and my coop/run is standing tall with no damage while some of the neighbors lost roofing tiles and had other damage. So yeah, I'm definitely in the camp that would rather over-do it a little rather than save a few bucks on material.

Here's the first project:

 

[tmarsh83]

Oh I'm happily married, but after the expansion and coop build this spring another might have me in the doghouse! Lol

 

[ejcrist]

Oh ok, I get you now. Sorry but my brain doesn't start working properly until a few hours after coffee. Yep, I know what you mean.

 

[aart]

Oh I'm happily married, but after the expansion and coop build this spring another might have me in the doghouse! Lol

Maybe 'doghouse' word would have been better than other D word ;-)

Oh ok, I get you now. Sorry but my brain doesn't start working properly until a few hours after coffee. Yep, I know what you mean.

I got the same impression as you did.

 

[tmarsh83]

Maybe 'doghouse' word would have been better than other D word  ;-)

I got the same impression as you did.

I'll blame not enough coffee yet. Lol