Help me design the new coop for next spring! Be creative, all you builder folks!

[Tanichca]

I've built three coops in the past eight years of owning chickens, each one a little better than the last, and I've always loved getting help from the knowledgeable folks here! My latest coop is two years old, and it has a few problems (not tall enough to accommodate my 5'11" frame, a bit drafty, built over a hidden mudhole that gets real nasty during the monsoon season.) I'll be building a much bigger barn-like coop in the spring (April, when I'm on Spring Break) but I need ideas and tips. A few criteria before y'all start chipping in:

1) the area where I'm building is about 20 feet wide by 25 wide, so nothing too huge.
2) I'll also be buying some goats in the spring for milk and meat- I'd like a space that could accommodate both the goats and the birds.
3) Coyote proof! Big one- those things find every minute weakness and exploit it!

4) Not too fancy, though... I'm a student who doesn't have much in the way of funds, I got laid off a few months ago, and though I'll hopefully have a new job by then, it never hurts to be frugal.

Get your creative juices flowing! I'm going to draw up a few plans, and submit them to my co-builder/father in the next few weeks so we have a concrete plan when the time comes. We have access to a lot of wood shipping pallets, branches and "raw" wood, and a large labor force of my eight brothers. Weather here in the Empirita Mountains in Arizona ranges from 15 degrees in the winter to 105 in the summer, so ventilation without drafts is key! Thanks for everyone's help! Let's have some fun!

 

[yogifink]

I've built three coops in the past eight years of owning chickens, each one a little better than the last, and I've always loved getting help from the knowledgeable folks here! My latest coop is two years old, and it has a few problems (not tall enough to accommodate my 5'11" frame, a bit drafty, built over a hidden mudhole that gets real nasty during the monsoon season.) I'll be building a much bigger barn-like coop in the spring (April, when I'm on Spring Break) but I need ideas and tips. A few criteria before y'all start chipping in:

1) the area where I'm building is about 20 feet wide by 25 wide, so nothing too huge.
2) I'll also be buying some goats in the spring for milk and meat- I'd like a space that could accommodate both the goats and the birds.
3) Coyote proof! Big one- those things find every minute weakness and exploit it!

4) Not too fancy, though... I'm a student who doesn't have much in the way of funds, I got laid off a few months ago, and though I'll hopefully have a new job by then, it never hurts to be frugal.

Get your creative juices flowing! I'm going to draw up a few plans, and submit them to my co-builder/father in the next few weeks so we have a concrete plan when the time comes. We have access to a lot of wood shipping pallets, branches and "raw" wood, and a large labor force of my eight brothers. Weather here in the Empirita Mountains in Arizona ranges from 15 degrees in the winter to 105 in the summer, so ventilation without drafts is key! Thanks for everyone's help! Let's have some fun!

If I had that much space I would love to build a barn style coop just for my girls. I like these plans on Ana Whites blog. Although they are for a green house, I would modify as needed for a coop by making some size adjustments and using different material on the sides/roof. - The current dimensions of these plans would allow you to use wood from standard 48x40 pallets for the majority of the frame work greatly reducing the cost of the build.

Considering you have a low budget, the least expensive, besides the above, to build a barn style coop would be IMO to build a pole barn style enclosure. Cost is greatly reduced in pole structures because of the reduced frame work - especially if you can forage for the 'poles' using free timber that you take the time to harvest.

Although I don't have any experience with protecting from canine, I think most would argue the most effective way to help protect your flock would be some electric wire around the parameter of your coop and run. However, in either of the above, if you were to use metal siding material, digging down a foot or two around the parameter and sliding the siding into the trench before you attach it to the structure would be effective too. As would a wood plank floor.