Designing a ground-level medical and mom & chick coop

[juniperz]

I occasionally have a chicken that needs to convalesce separately from everyone else. Thus far I've either brought them inside to live in my shower stall (gross and and smelly) or split off a corner of the existing coop using chicken wire (a pain to set up and get into as needed). I want to design a minimalist, ground-level coop that could act as a medical ward and also host broody hens with chicks. This would be inside a secure run, so it doesn't need to be predator proof.

It needs to have an area for a nest box, food and water, and a roosting bar that would be just slightly above the ground (so that they don't just sleep in the nesting box, but it's easy to hoop on and off). I need to be able to open the top and reach in, and open/close the entrance as needed. There needs to be a poop collection system.

It would be easy for me to build a square box with all these things taking a separate corner, but I wanted to reach out to the hive mind to see if anyone had any clever ideas that I was missing.

 

[aart]

I need to be able to open the top and reach in, and open/close the entrance as needed. There needs to be a poop collection system.

I'd make it tall enough to walk into.
If you post some pics of your coop and run, you might get some great ideas.

 

[juniperz]

Making it tall and large enough to walk into would be the opposite of what I want - something small and minimalist. This would also be separate from my regular coop, so that's irrelevant. The run is a huge fenced yard, so that doesn't need to be taken into account either.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Not sure how big you want it, but my rabbit hutch-esque brooder works for me as a minimal maintenance chick brooder, isolation cage, and broody breaker:

No nest box (as I don't have broodies raising chicks) though one could be placed on the left side. This opens from the front but a top hinged opening could also be an option.

My roost is just some scrap wood screwed together, and fits snugly across the width:

My poop clean up is simple - I drag the unit around the run to cleaner spots and the rest of the flock will go kick around the bedding in the old location, "cleaning up" for me.

 

[juniperz]

Not sure how big you want it, but my rabbit hutch-esque brooder works for me as a minimal maintenance chick brooder, isolation cage, and broody breaker:
View attachment 3034564

No nest box (as I don't have broodies raising chicks) though one could be placed on the left side. This opens from the front but a top hinged opening could also be an option.

My roost is just some scrap wood screwed together, and fits snugly across the width:
View attachment 3034565

My poop clean up is simple - I drag the unit around the run to cleaner spots and the rest of the flock will go kick around the bedding in the old location, "cleaning up" for me.

Thank you for the pictures and info! Something like that, with a hinged door at the top, is along the lines of what I was picturing - but the portable roost is something I hadn't thought of! That's a good idea since an injured chicken may not even be able to roost. (My very favorite chicken once suddenly lost the use of her legs, then slowly regained it. It seemed like a stroke?)