Features you FIRST added to your coop and then ended up changing or tossing out entirely....

[conny63malies]

So far nothing. I tend to do research before i start. With the coop i just build i changed the run before i even started, added a service door, a small vent above the door and used shingle roofing instead of metal. I also used hardware cloth instead of chicken wire for the run. Picking the perfect feeder and waterer will be the next thing

 

[WoodlandWoman]

The only thing we changed was the pop door. There was nothing wrong with the old one, we just added an automatic door. Now if we aren't able to be here, the coop still gets closed up at night. I like knowing the chickens will be safe, even if we can't be here.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I made nests with access from outside and never use them on my walk-in coop. I much prefer to look inside the coop. I’ve found snakes, a possum, and dead chickens that I would have missed if I had not gone inside.

I had to raise the lip on a nest in my tractor. It was low enough that they were scratching out the bedding, fake eggs, and real eggs.

I changed from a portable brooder to a built-in brooder under the roosts. The top acts as a droppings board.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I forgot another change we made. Up until a few years ago, we always had single nests. Our last flock, we ended up with some really broody chickens. We had several that were broody more than once in their first year. With age, they eventually became less broody. They all wanted to lay in the same nest and they all wanted that same nest to be broody in. They got really cranky about it, too. They'd stand in line for a long time and even climb on top of the broody to lay. I noticed they weren't getting along out in the yard, either. They were fussy and pecking at each other. They can hold a grudge with each other! So, I went with a community nesting area. If someone is broody, another chicken can just lay next to her. It really improved the way everyone got along.

If I had a broody on fertile eggs, I would have just moved her to her own housing, but these were chickens on infertile eggs.

In the future, if I didn't have a community nesting area, I would build nests that were double width.

 

[canesisters]

I started out with a 5' roost and a shelf below with trays to catch poo. 6 full sized chickens were making that 5' roost very crowded!!! I've been planning to extend it the full 8' (wall to wall) for quite a while - and have been putting it off. Then a few weeks ago 2 of my hens went broody and now - just days away from hatch day, I find myself in a crunch to get that full-length roost and poop shelf in ASAP so I can close in the area below it as a place for the hens to raise their chicks until they get big enough to join the 'big kids' in the run.

eta:

The before:
(very dark and hard to see - sorry). It's 5' long with a shelf below. It was just sort of stuck in the middle of the wall.


The after:
8' long with shelf (bricks in the middle to support heffalump-butts). The area below - 2' x 8' - is closed off with simple screen panels. The nest box (plastic tote) where the hens started setting is on one end with Nova and the remaining un-hatched eggs - and the new ground level nest where Sola has her 2 babies is on the other end.
The screens are held in place with the other nest box (grey tote)on one end, the container full of scratch at the other end and a cinderblock in the middle. I was using leftover bits and pieces for this whole thing and came out short making the last screen - but the chickens don't appear to have a problem with the uneven screens. LOL