First Coop design....

[aart]

Not, JT but....

Id probably make it 12" on all sides, at first glance.

Not really needed as no ventilation in soffits/eaves.
But you could do it for aesthetics.

I'm assuming these get opened in hot days of summer? Same with the side window?

Yes, all windows open all summer, them closed in winter.

 

[Howard E]

I have the hard copy paper book, and the Tolman house mentioned on pages 66-69 is NOT the same as the Woods house many of us have built. It is similar, but different. Tolman house does not have a monitor. The Tolman house is also 10' x 17'. No plans or descriptions for a smaller Tolman house. At least none I'm aware of.

There are plans for a 6' x 10' Woods house, plus plans for other houses he said worked well. Haywood-Curtis house (an A frame type) was 8 x 8 or 10 x 10.

Some of us have built an 8' x 12' Woods house. Mine works well for up to 24 birds.

 

[Mike_g]

@Howard E : Here is the 6x10 Tolman house I was initially thinking of: Tolman 6x10 pg 80

I suspect the woods 6x10 with monitor window is a better design, lets in more of the south sunshine in the winter, and the windows may be opened in the summer.

Do you know where some 6x10 Woods house plans are located? I started to draw it on CAD but it'd be much better if plans were already done,

 

[Howard E]

Hmmmm.....that plan and photo are not in my hard copy book. Looks good though.

Plans for Woods 6' x 10' are in the modern era reprint of Woods book. Documented builds are on BYC......or JT may know????

 

[jthornton]

I like big overhangs myself. Helps keep the rain out. Make sure it's tall enough inside for you...

JT

 

[jthornton]

The Tolman Fresh-Air House is covered briefly in Prince T. Woods book starting on page 68.

The Woods 10 x 16 is on page 89-90, no dimensions but it can be scaled by knowing the starting size of 10' wide by 16' deep. It all about the ratio of width to depth.

JT

 

[Mike_g]

After waffling back and forth on the coop design, we've decided on an 8x8 shed roofed design. Yesterday, we built the floor: 2x6 treated joists on 24" centers, on 2 - 6x6 treated skids. 3/4 treated plywood over top of the joists.

We're still working on the remainder of the plan. I'm thinking 3:12 roof pitch with 6 ft high wall in the back and 8 ft high in the front, with asphalt shingles. <edit >: we may switch to 4:12 since I'm reading that 3:12 can be problematic with asphalt shingles

 

[Mike_g]

Very slow in building, but we're almost there.

Need to shingle, add trim, cut out the window on the high wall, add a door, and add nesting box doors. (and nesting boxes).

A few questions :

1. The nesting boxes will be internal to the coop, built to the left of the window on the big (south) side. The boxes will have flip up doors to access from the outside. I'm thinking the doors only need to be about 6" high or so, for hand access. Seem reasonable?

2. For a door, we saved the Masonite cutout, and will likely frame 1x material around it, like a shed door. Any tips or walk thru on this?

3. The south wall is 8x8. The window on the right side will be about 22"x44“,saved from an old wooden screen door. Above this and the nesting box doors, we have flirted with the idea of transom windows, just a few inches below the eave vents, probably 4ft to 6 ft wide, by about 14 inches high. The idea is for lots of light, and better appearance. Does this seem like a good idea?

 

[jthornton]

I built my nest box under the poop table, it's a front discharge but the idea is the same for front or rear sloping floor. If your making a conventional nest boxes I'd make the lid the same size as the boxes for easy clean out and easy reach to every corner.

In this photo I took this morning on the web camera you can see the perch over the poop table and the black carpet runner is on the roll out part of the nest box. It's not quite finished the runner and some thin foam will line the floor and a partial curtain for the front of the actual box part. A few parts of the brooder are still left on the poop table.


IMHO the more light the better to be able to see things when your in the coop.

If I was outfitting a coop the shape you have I'd put the perch/poop table across the low wall and the nest box under that. The outside access cover would be better protected from rain and snow by the overhang.

JT

 

[Mike_g]

JT,

Thanks for the thoughts. I was thinking of making the nest box doors left of the window on the big wall (south wall) to make it more symmetrical in appearance due to the window on the right side of the wall.

I'm thinking the high transom windows would add more light, I've heard that laying hens need more light, especially in the winter. In my theory, the large overhang would limit direct sunlight in the summer, yet allow more sunlight in the winter, when the sun is lower in the sky.

I like the idea of the sloped nest box floor, that sounds like it would work well.