Hello, need advice about coop

[1Maynard]

Hello from Texas. I am repairing my granddads barn, one side of it used to be his chicken coop it runs the whole length of the barn. Beside that he had a run that ran the length of the chicken coop. The coop is probably around 60 ft by 10ft and has a tin roof and the back wall is boarded up. the run is 60ft by 8 ft and completely enclosed with chicken wire. He did not have the coop completely sealed off from the run.probaly 20 ft of the coop had sheets of tin between the run and coop. That's where he had the roosts. I am thinking about boarding up the back 25ft so that they have a completely enclosed roost. As for litter, he never used any. Thoughts on that? It is just dirt. Also the boards on the back wall of the coop have 1/2 gaps, I was thinking about sealing them up, i don't know. I know I will be adding boards under the roosts to catch poop. Any more ideas, tips, or suggestions would be amazing. I've read so much stuff on what to do or not do I'm a little confused. This thing will be awesome once it's done, would just like to save some money if I can get any advice first.

 

[1Maynard]

The end goal is to have the happiest healthiest chickens possible.

 

[Fancychooklady]

Sounds like you have a very exciting project ahead of you. The gaps in the boards may well be for ventilation. Chickens create a lot of condensation and so need good ventilation , but not draught .
If your grandad had chooks in the barn ask him how healthy his birds were. Perhaps you might look at filling the gaps up to a certain height , say head height. Dirt floor is fine, sand even better for cleaning up poop. Some pics would be nice.

 

[1Maynard]

I will post pics soon as possible. He passed when I was younger so I can't ask him how everything worked out for him. I have a few memories of going and collecting eggs from the chickens and one big goose haha. It hasn't been taken care of at all. I am having to basically rebuild the run, replace chicken wire and add new hardware cloth. That's a good idea about filling the gaps to head height. Thank you.

 

[roostersandhens]

 

[TwoCrows]

You really should add some bedding to the floor. It does make for easier clean up as just a dirt floor can harbor disease. You might go with sand. I am a huge fan of sand. It is easy to clean, it stays dry, there is no poop smells, keeps the flies away, the chickens love to scratch around in it and many types of sand has gizzard stones already in it. You can use river sand, sand from gravel yards. I use sand from nearby arroyo's and washes. Some people even use sandbox or play sand. After you add about 4 or 6 inches of it, you can go all year without having to add any more. You can use a kitty litter scoop to scoop poop. Easy clean up.

Great to have you aboard and enjoy BYC!

 

[1Maynard]

I think I will go with the sand. I saw an article some where that the lady said she used a pitchfork with hardware cloth zip tied to it, to use as a giant litter scoop. Sounds like a good idea to me. Thank you,

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC - good luck with your project.

 

[BantamLover21]

Welcome to BYC! Glad you joined us! Good luck with your chickens and coop!

 

[Kelsie2290]

Hello and Welcome To BYC! Good luck with your coop remodeling.