door entrence size

[tav1]

what's a good entrance size door for a coop? big or small hen.....bigger or smaller doors.....maybe?

 

[Egghead_Jr]

12X14" works well. Really any size as big or bigger than your nesting box entrance size is fine. I used to have a section of wall that slid open on tracks. 2'X3' so I could shovel out the bedding and just open the door about 10" to foot when letting them out in morning. It was a small coop on stilts I'd built. It's all on how your coop/run layout is, climate where you live, etc. There's no one right way.

 

[Ridgerunner]

In general, we use the pop doors instead of just using a human door for the chickens in walk-in coops to help keep rain and other weather out. You want the pop door to be fairly small for that reason, whether in a walk-in or a really small coop.

I’ve used a 12” x 12” door and had no trouble with a six month old Midget White tom turkey using it. Other breeds of turkeys could have had trouble with that door but Midget Whites are fairly small. He was still larger than any chicken.

So I’d suggest a 12” x 12” as a good size. Put it high enough off the coop floor so the bedding doesn’t get scratched out and you should be good to go. Any chicken can use that and it should not let much weather in.

 

[tav1]

I was reading thread on doors and as you mentioned raising the door ....I did read some where. would I have to make a small ramp
to the height of the door way to go out or will they just hop up there and go out. sorry newbi question.....lol

 

[Ridgerunner]

What kind of chickens do you have and how high is that opening? Normal adult chickens have no problems jumping up a couple of feet. At 12” high they more step up than jump. Even chicks with a broody just a few days old can normally navigate a jump of 6” or so without really slowing down. They are so busy following Mom that they just go.

I don’t raise the decorative chickens like Silkies that can’t fly or those that have strange things on their heads obstructing vision, so I have no experience with them, but I suspect they would not have much of a problem jumping at least a foot.

My pop door is about a foot off the ground. My adults have no problems with that at all. When I have a broody with chicks I stack pavers to make steps, but after a week they probably don’t need that either. I still leave the steps there for them.

 

[tav1]

I'm just making my small coop now .no hens yet probably in the spring....planing a only 2 hens for eggs only.

 

[Mel281]

We have a 12x12 pop door, about 14" of the ground. We are having trouble with it because the hence like to roost IN the doorway, blocking it for the others. Ours is insulated, so there is actually a space for them to sit there.

 

[Amberjem]

my hen door is 12 by 14, three feet off the ground so has a ramp

 

[tav1]

I have a 12x12 shed and the coop 3x3x 3' high is going inside it and butted up against the wall. The bottom of the shed to the ground where the door is to be is about 2 feet.