Help a newbie with a coop design, please

[DaveD]

Folks, I am new here and have spent the last 3 days trying to figure out what I need for a coop. I think I am attaching pictures of what it should look like and here is a rough run down. Please let me know if I am doing something wrong and also if I am missing anything.

The house will be about 2 feet of the ground (added into the run area) 3'6" wide (on the nest wall) and 4' long. The walls will be about 4' high with the roof peak adding about a foot (5' at peak) the will be a 12"x12" gable vent on the north and south side.
The nests are 6" from the floor (south wall), but I am planning on the deep litter method with wood pellets, so I guess that will put the little right up to the bottom of the nests, but I am putting a frame around the chicken entrance. 3 nests each about 12"x12" with 14" high and the frame is going to make for a smaller opening of about 8"wide and 10" tall
Right on top of the nest is a tray covered with wire (The nests are not sticking out past the wall) and 4" above that is a roost. I will have a door on the outside to access the nests and also to pull the poop tray for cleaning. There is also an old basement window (hinges up) going above the nest area where the roost is.
There is a shed window (21h, 14w) going on the east side, with another going on the north side on the area in the run. (the run door/ramp and window will be opposite the drawing)
The west side is my entrance (both the coop and the run, even though I drew it on the wrong side for the run) I am thinking of making the door with a top half that folds down with a screen.

I am getting 6 birds.
Also, can I put the food and water in the run area, or do I need to put the water inside since the door will be closed at night? (do I need to close the door to the run at night?)

I am on Long Island, NY, so am not sure if the walls need to be insulated or not.

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you
David

 

[patandchickens]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Quote:
This is real small for 6 chickens (especially with nestboxes occupying some of the floorspace) unless you live somewhere that the weather/climate is such that they'll want to be outside all day every day all year. I don't think I'd do it in Long Island, although it would be more plausible there than (say) up here. Any chance of enlarging the coop? It really needn't be that tall -- I don't think you'll get much benefit from the upper portion of the height with its current very small footprint -- so what if you made it, say, 6x4, and 3-4' high?

the will be a 12"x12" gable vent on the north and south side.

You may well need more ventilation than that (although the openable window above the roost will help somewhat in summertime). It is much easier to build in the first place than to try to retrofit. Bear in mind that if you are planning on using one of those prefab louvered gable vents from Home Depot or etc, the actual space for air movement is *considerably* smaller than the dimensions of the vent overall. (Just a hole, that size, with hardwarecloth for predatorproofing and a flap or slider for closing down however much conditions require, would give you much better maximum airflow; and I'd *still* suggest building more than just two 1x1' vents, jjust to give you flexibility to cope with whatever happens.)

The nests are 6" from the floor (south wall), but I am planning on the deep litter method with wood pellets, so I guess that will put the little right up to the bottom of the nests

This is fine, but you will find the whole thing easier to clean if you simply make the nestboxes floor-level. If you give them their own floor and then wall-mount them 6" above the coop floor, it is hard to get underneath to clean; and the two setups are equivalent from a chicken perspective.

but I am putting a frame around the chicken entrance.

What works even better is raising the chicken doorway up about 6-12" above the coop floor, so there is a natural 'sill' keeping the bedding in the coop. They hop up and over it no problem.

3 nests each about 12"x12" with 14" high and the frame is going to make for a smaller opening of about 8"wide and 10" tall
Right on top of the nest is a tray covered with wire (The nests are not sticking out past the wall) and 4" above that is a roost. I will have a door on the outside to access the nests and also to pull the poop tray for cleaning.

That seems like a basically good arrangement. You might want to extend the poop tray further so it protrudes on the other isde of the roost too -- sometimes they will sleep with their head towards the wall and poop the other direction, and you may as well catch that too

2 nestboxes is plenty for 6 hens, and if you eliminated the third it would give them a hair more walking-around space in the coop.

Also, can I put the food and water in the run area, or do I need to put the water inside since the door will be closed at night? (do I need to close the door to the run at night?)

It is a whole lot safer to close the popdoor to the run at night. An awful lot of people THINK their runs are 100% predatorproof, right up to the morning they go out to find a pile of bloody feathers. Browse the Predators and Pests section of BYC if you don't believe me. But, that said, it is a personal choice.

Whether to put the food and/or water outdoors depends on a lot of factors and there is no 'one size fits all' best way. If you will sometimes get up late, so the birds will be up for some while before being let out, IMO at least water should be in the coop, ideally food too. If you have any reason to think rats/mice could possibly become a problem, it is wise to keep the food in the coop. Otherwise, if you will always let the birds out at daybreak every day without fail, it is personal choice. (Though in the winter you'll find it easier to keep water liquid indoors than out)

I am on Long Island, NY, so am not sure if the walls need to be insulated or not.

Totally don't need to. Would still be some benefits to doing it, though, if you feel like it.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[DaveD]

Pat, Thank you for the reply. I've changed the layout as follows:

instead of the floor being 3 1/2 x 4, it's now 3 1/2 x 6. Also, I pushed the nests out to add floor space, as you suggest.
Due to the longer size, I added another 21"h x 14w window on the east side and put one on the west side as well (picture of the west side included)
With the change, I am not sure about the perch now. Should I move the roost to the east wall or should I have a perch on the north wall and another on the south wall?

As for ventilation, All of the windows open - they are all the kind that slide up and down except for the one I mentioned that hinges. The 2 12"x12" vents on the south and north walls were for ventilation when the weather isn't so good. Do I need to be concerned about having too many windows? Should I have less windows and more vents? Almost my entire back yard is somewhat shaded for a decent part of the day so I thought windows would keep it from getting too dark inside.

I neglected to mention that I am planning on putting that corregated clear plastic over the run and when the winter comes to town, I was going to put plastic over the chicken wire fence (except for near the top for air). I have a fenced yard and was hoping to let the girls have some free time during good days.

-David

 

[SoJoChickens]

Dave,

I like your Sketchup drawings. I'm thinking about using Sketchup to draw my new coop plans. How hard is it to get started with Sketchup?

Thanks!

 

[chookchick]

I still think it is too small for 6 chickens. Four would be a really good number for that size of coop and run. The recommended number of sq. ft. per chicken, for the run is 10, which I think is still too small. You will be amazed at how fast they grow, and how big those little chicks get. If they are crowded you are much more likely to have problems with pecking, etc...I have six chickens in an 8 by 8 coop and it feels about right, though I may add just a couple more. You could start with four chickens, and then add more next year when you see how they do, get addicted, build a huge coop, get an incubator, etc.....

 

[TACEYPERKINS]

Hi DaveD- Depending on what type of bird you get, this size of coop my or may not work. I have built several of these types of coops. Just about this same size. If they are bantum size chickens it is pushing it. But if they are medium to large size fowl I would say 4 tops! Also, the revised coop layout is better with the boxes on the outside. But again, depending on the size of your chickens will depend on the size of the box. My easter eggers use my 12x12 boxes and they are a medium sized bird. But my larger chickens do not. You may want to make them a couple inches bigger in width and heigth. Also about the feeder, in the summer you can keep food and water out side, but when it is rainy your feed will get wet, so I always keep my feed in and one water on the inside and one on the out side. I find they stay cooler during the summer if they have access to water that hasn't been sitting in the sun boiling.
Other then that sounds like you got a good start. Have fun and enjoy them. ~ Tacey

 

[patandchickens]

The house part there looks much more plausible for 6 chickens now. 4 would still be better but you can probably get 6 to work ok, esepcially since you will be roofing the run for wintertime.

For the roost you can choose between making two parallel 3.5' roosts, or one long 6' roost. There are pros and cos of each. I would probably go with the 6' if I was ok with making it *low*, like only 14" or so above the floor and with no droppings board; but would use the two parallel roosts if I wanted them higher and/or with a droppings board (because there won't be room for chickens to easily get onto/off a higher roost if they have to do it from the short dimension of the coop)

All of the windows open - they are all the kind that slide up and down except for the one I mentioned that hinges. The 2 12"x12" vents on the south and north walls were for ventilation when the weather isn't so good. Do I need to be concerned about having too many windows? Should I have less windows and more vents?

I don't think you really have too many windows -- that could be a concern in a colder climate but not for LI. However windows are not the most useful wintertime ventilation. It really works best to have openings atop the walls, esp. the usually-downwind wall (because if it is both cold and windy, you need to have the upwind-side vents closed and rely only on the downwind-side ones). I am just concerned that while you can open the coop up enough for mild weather, in wintertime you are likely to have humidity problems (esp. with only 3.5 sq ft per hen in a low-air-volume type coop). Take a look at my ventilation page if you haven't already (link in .sig below).

The run is really kinda small, that's not quite 7 sq ft per chicken with the 'house' portion also being rather small. It really does not cost that much more to build a larger run - I would suggest figuring out the numbers and building a run sized to 50-foot increments of mesh since that's the size roll it's most often sold in

Letting them out into the yard sometimes occasionally maybe is fine as far as it goes, but will not keep them from getting crabby with each other in confinement the other 99.9% of the time, you know?

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[gsim]

Quote:
This revised design is far better. Just do 4 x 6 and do not make it shorter in ht. It is good to have some height so that the chooks are not close to the hot roof decking in hot weather. I would add either a cupola/vent or a continuous ridge vent and also some sort of soffit vent on each side. It is nearly impossible to get too much ventilation. And you want your permanent ventilation to be all above the height of the sidewalls if at all possible. That way the fumes are vented out, but no drafts at roost , nest, or floor height. I would do the roost somewhere besides the wall where the nest bumpout is. Also, put your roosts 12" from walls and put a poop board under them, 24" wide. It will keep your litter good for a whole year, done right. It should be removable for ease of cleaning, but if topped with linoleum, can easily be scraped daily.

Also, they will use it to jump up to the roost at night, so a walkboard inside is not necessary. I have two indoors walkboards that rarely get used as my chooks just jump up to the nests (24") and roosts (48").

Do close the pop door at night. It is your 2nd and last line of defense if the run fence fails. Always best to have two lines of defense. Read through the predators section as much as you can. It is very educational. DO NOT UNDERSTIMATE PREDATORS.

Take long breaks, short puffs, laugh a lot, and work safely.

 

[LynneP]

Just a practical suggestion, Dave. Since 8' is a standard length for lumber and sheathing, why not make it 8' long instead of the 6. You'll notice a huge difference in ventiation and it would give you extra floor space inside and exercise room in the run, also making it easier when you want to get your shoulders in. Your corrugated panels then will fit without cutting on the long ends. If you raise the base to 4' the panels will install more easily, too. And be sure you can easily get into the nests and that they are very secure. And with high winds on Long Island, I'm sure you'll make this very solid- nice design...

Oh be sure your posts are not in contact with the ground- assuming you'll use concrete/sono or something else that is rugged and rot-proof.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree with Lynne and Pat's comments about maximizing the size by using standard materials dimensions. It's not just the 50' length of wire or 4' and 8' dimensions of standard materials but also number of shingles in a packet. If you are careful you can get more room with very little, if any, extra cost and you might save some cutting and fitting. Remember though that the dimensions you are looking at are out to out, not centerline. I'd rather not mention why I'm pointing that out.

I don't know what your prevailing wind directions are. Instead of spending the money on the gable vents I'd consider taking advantage of your long overhang on both sides by leaving an opening at the very top of the long walls and covering it with Hardware cloth. I'd be concerned with blowing rain coming in on the ends but the overhang on the sides would prevent that. Sort of using Pat's suggestion on the gable vents but where it is more protected by passive means where you don't have to actively close a flap. Or you can do both.