First post here / Framed up my first coop / First chickens...

[Panhandler80]

Good afternoon. I probably should have joined this site BEFORE framing up (with no plans) my first coop last weekend, but I think what I have will certainly work. Have a couple questions about halfway down. Hope to get home with a little daylight left after work a few times this week in order to get roosting perches in, get my sheathing on, and frame up my nesting boxes.

Have had a few ducks around the house a few times in life, but never built a coop or cared for chickens. In NW Florida with pretty agreeable weather. Hot in summer, but on the water and usually a good breeze. Maybe one or two hard freezes per year. Looking to have 15 birds. Enclosed (including top) run will be approximately 340 square feet, which is about 22 square feet per bird. They will also spend some time out of the run on about 1/3 of an acre, or 14,400 sq ft. Will have an assortment of layers.

- 8 x 8 pad approximately 2' off the ground.
- 4 x 4 posts into the ground 2' deep
- 2 x 6 foundation band, and three additional joists
- Low wall is 4' exterior height
- High wall is 5' 8"
- Joists, band and 4 x 4s are treated.
- Floor is 3/4 untreated, as are all of the studs and plates
- Two barnyard doors will span a total of span a total of 4' when complete.
- Drop door will be in wall opposite the barnyard door
- Five nesting boxes will be going in. I'm afraid I should have built them virtually flush with the floor, but too late now. Should work. The distance from floor to entry (after I build a little lip to keep shavings in) will be about 6 inches, and once framed out, the entry into the box will be 12". I had intended for this to be bigger.

Questions:

1. Roosting perches. I'm sold on the idea of keeping them same height. My thought was to nail supports into barn yard door wall, run them about 5.5' towards drop door wall, and then support by tying into rafters with cross brace. They would be about 3' off the ground, with a ramp providing access to the perch closest to drop door wall. This would maximize the available floor space. And would limit where roost droppings would land... ie hopefully on a poop sheet that can be removed out barnyard door. See diagram with red perches. My only concern here is that 1) is this high enough for them to be happy? At the barn yard wall, I wont' have but about 12" of clearance.

2. Thoughts on linoleum onto the floor?

Anyway, it's going pretty well, but there are definitely some things I would have done differently.

 

[Alaskan]

Looks good so far, except maybe those windows are way too small.

I would make the coop wall that is against the run, so protected by the run roof, solid wire. You really want a crazy amount of ventilation.

 

[rosemarythyme]

1. 3' high is plenty. Chickens want to sit up "somewhere high" but it doesn't need to be that high. Higher than nest boxes is good enough IMO.

2. Linoleum should be fine for protecting the wood floor.

 

[Breakfast for dinner]

Hey Pandhandler80 from an FS brother and welcome. Nice looking house and property.

Just started this chicken thing myself. Wishing you the best.

 

[aart]

Go with big roof overhangs, for soffit venting high and low and to protect other ventilation, top hinged windows work well.

Height of nests don't really matter ...if they will be exterior to coop?
Use a side access door instead of the nest roof being hinged to avoid hinge leakage(common problem)...big over hangs on nests 'roof' too.
Here's my thoughts on heights:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/coop-stack-up-how-high-stuff-works-well.73427/

You likely mean vinyl rather than linoleum, don't go cheap, get heavy duty foam backed for longer life, no need to glue to floor. I've been happy with mine, I used it to line the poop boards too.




Oh, and...Welcome to BYC! @Panhandler80
Here's how to add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, (laptop version shown), then it's always there!

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome!
It's a nice size, but too short. Unless you are all 4'6" tall or less, you will be miserable moveing inside that coop. Make it walk-in height now, when you still can. I agree, wider roof overhangs are best, and definitely larger window openings. You could do an entire open wall in your climate, in the leeward side.
Only use hardware cloth over all openings, no chicken wire!
Are you going to allow your birds to go under the coop, or fence it off to keep all critters out? It will be miserable, crawling under there, to retrieve a bird, eggs, or whatever.
Mary

 

[Panhandler80]

Welcome!
It's a nice size, but too short. Unless you are all 4'6" tall or less, you will be miserable moveing inside that coop. Make it walk-in height now, when you still can. I agree, wider roof overhangs are best, and definitely larger window openings. You could do an entire open wall in your climate, in the leeward side.
Only use hardware cloth over all openings, no chicken wire!
Are you going to allow your birds to go under the coop, or fence it off to keep all critters out? It will be miserable, crawling under there, to retrieve a bird, eggs, or whatever.
Mary

I guess I may have underestimated how often I'll actually be INSIDE the coop. All of the litter can be cleaned out from the outside. Yeah, it is a little short. I've been trying to figure out how to provide more ventilation, and because of the shortness, it's kind of hard to not have birds exposed to wind while on roost. I'll figure something out.

With what I was thinking for roosting perches, it would actually be pretty much IMPOSSIBLE to get inside the coop. Guess I better go back to re-thinking that. At this stage I'm not inclined to consider raising the height of the walls. They are all framed up and installed. Raising height would basically mean starting over.

I think what i'll do is have my person door on the tall wall, and then have the pop up door IN the person door. That way I'm entering from the tall side. Can then leave my roosting perches like I'd planned and can still clean them from barn yard doors.

For ventilation:

- I'm going to leave the "triangle" open on the side that faces the house. This would be the area ABOVE the line that would be created if you continued the height of the short wall around that wall. That's at least 10 square feet.

- I'm going to put a 7 x 1.5' window above the nesting boxes. Another 10 square feet.

- The windows on the front will each double in width and 50% increase in height. That's 12 square feet.

- The long slit across the back will be left open. I'm guessing 4-5 square feet.

- I'll also have open air between the roof joists (each space probably 15" x 3.5", and there will be 10 of those.

Oh, by open I mean... open but with hardware cloth.

Total open area of: 35+ square feet for 15 birds. Should be sufficient.

____________________________________


I can crawl under the platform well enough. It won't be fun, though. You're right about that.

 

[Folly's place]

How about making a house type roof, rather than a shed roof? I know there's a name for it, and am blanking out right now. Rather than a flatter shed roof, one with a peak in the center. Or, add another foot or 18" of framing on top of your existing framing. You will appreciate it, and so will your chickens!
Mary

 

[Panhandler80]

How about making a house type roof, rather than a shed roof? I know there's a name for it, and am blanking out right now. Rather than a flatter shed roof, one with a peak in the center. Or, add another foot or 18" of framing on top of your existing framing. You will appreciate it, and so will your chickens!
Mary

Gabled roof.

True. I was also trying to keep that edge at or below the fence line behind it. You're probably right, though. All I'd have to do is pop off that top plate, and then take out all of those angled studs on the two sides. I just hate going backwards. Maybe I can get home in time today for some demo, so I can at least have a good starting point tomorrow.

 

[aart]

Raising height would basically mean starting over.

Nope, you can just add short wall sections on top of what you already have.