Help me have the best setup!

[dbounds10]

Hi peeps! Let me start by saying I had a flock of 18 for 12 years. Most of them died of old age, had a few illnesses and my last 4 were wiped out by predators because we had a tornado rip the roof off our run and due to health issues were not able to get it fixed. We have fox, coyote, raccoons, opossums, stray cats, hawks, owls and rats. So we are now starting over and I want to have the best set up possible. I have major anxiety and all I can think about is how to keep my birds safe and happy. I have attached a video of my set up and would LOVE you experts out there to give me some advice on lay out and improvements you think I could make. If I left out any info, please let me know!

 

[Tonyroo]

Stackable or a traditional long nest box would work below the a/c wall. Based on if you wanted to preserve more space for that wall.

The roost is fine the way it is.

No food or water in there coop, helps to eliminate vermin and mold.

It's handy to have 3 feeder and 3 water setup away from each other in your run. It's for the purpose of some lower ranked hens being prevented from eating and drinking due to bullying. This way they can still eat and drink.

Add a tree stump, logs, branches, and some multi level roost in the run. It creates places of interest for chickens. Don't lay the wood material in an organized way. Just spread it out laying on top of each other.

I don't know how hot your summers are but you might consider adding a vent on the highest arch above your outside door. Heat rises to the ceiling and gets trapped if there's no opening at that level.

Do you have sufficient shade for the run when summer rolls around?

As for the door with rot on the bottom of it, remove the door and inspect how bad the rot is, if it's just at the bottom cut that part of and rebuild that portion.

 

[dbounds10]

Stackable or a traditional long nest box would work below the a/c wall. Based on if you wanted to preserve more space for that wall.

The roost is fine the way it is.

No food or water in there coop, helps to eliminate vermin and mold.

It's handy to have 3 feeder and 3 water setup away from each other in your run. It's for the purpose of some lower ranked hens being prevented from eating and drinking due to bullying. This way they can still eat and drink.

Add a tree stump, logs, branches, and some multi level roost in the run. It creates places of interest for chickens. Don't lay the wood material in an organized way. Just spread it out laying on top of each other.

I don't know how hot your summers are but you might consider adding a vent on the highest arch above your outside door. Heat rises to the ceiling and gets trapped if there's no opening at that level.

Do you have sufficient shade for the run when summer rolls around?

As for the door with rot on the bottom of it, remove the door and inspect how bad the rot is, if it's just at the bottom cut that part of and rebuild that portion.

Thanks for the reply! The house does have a ridge vent, so hopefully that helps. I had a long wooden nest box system last time that was on the floor along that wall but we had egg eaters and sand as bedding so it’s really not usable anymore ans I want some roll away boxes this time. I will have several jungle gym activities in the run. It does get shade but not enough. Thinking of putting shade cloth on the roof. Not real sure how I would go about cutting the bottom of the door out and fixing it.

 

[The Birb King]

Hi peeps! Let me start by saying I had a flock of 18 for 12 years. Most of them died of old age, had a few illnesses and my last 4 were wiped out by predators because we had a tornado rip the roof off our run and due to health issues were not able to get it fixed. We have fox, coyote, raccoons, opossums, stray cats, hawks, owls and rats. So we are now starting over and I want to have the best set up possible. I have major anxiety and all I can think about is how to keep my birds safe and happy. I have attached a video of my set up and would LOVE you experts out there to give me some advice on lay out and improvements you think I could make. If I left out any info, please let me know!

I did the pretty much same thing I made my Serama coop out of double dog kennels with chicken wire around it and then just built the coop in there.

 

[dbounds10]

@nuthatched @rosemarythyme any suggestions? (See video in original post) I’m really stuck with the building I have and just want to make it the best I can with what I have. The wall with the air conditioner on it is west facing and that is where all our weather comes from so I’m reluctant to cut more holes for ventilation but can if I really need to. And the other wall has the roosts. I had 18 chickens for 12 years that went back and forth between the 2 coops so I guess it can’t be that bad lol

 

[nuthatched]

@nuthatched @rosemarythyme any suggestions? (See video in original post) I’m really stuck with the building I have and just want to make it the best I can with what I have. The wall with the air conditioner on it is west facing and that is where all our weather comes from so I’m reluctant to cut more holes for ventilation but can if I really need to. And the other wall has the roosts. I had 18 chickens for 12 years that went back and forth between the 2 coops so I guess it can’t be that bad lol

The thing is that heat rises and cold air sinks, you also need ventilation to let out amonnia fumes, moisture and dander that will hurt your birds and your ac unit. I didn't see the roof and eaves well in your video.
More ventilation will aid your ac and keep your birds healthy. I know you've likely already considered this but I wouldn't keep the temp in there lower than 80

 

[dbounds10]

The thing is that heat rises and cold air sinks, you also need ventilation to let out amonnia fumes, moisture and dander that will hurt your birds and your ac unit. I didn't see the roof and eaves well in your video.
More ventilation will aid your ac and keep your birds healthy. I know you've likely already considered this but I wouldn't keep the temp in there lower than 80

The AC is dead and not sure we will replace it. The dust and dander kills them. So that hole will likely turn into a window of sorts that can close when weather comes in. If we did get a new unit, I would only use the fan setting because it would get way below 80. Without the hole where the AC is we have 7 sq ft of ventilation plus the ridge vent. I am in Texas and it gets Uber hot and humid in the summer.

 

[nuthatched]

The AC is dead and not sure we will replace it. The dust and dander kills them. So that hole will likely turn into a window of sorts that can close when weather comes in. If we did get a new unit, I would only use the fan setting because it would get way below 80. Without the hole where the AC is we have 7 sq ft of ventilation plus the ridge vent. I am in Texas and it gets Uber hot and humid in the summer.

You could cut out under the roof peak, the more ventilation, the better. Or add one if those chef hat spinning roof vents to vacuum the heat out.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Run looks fine, could use some clutter just to keep the birds occupied (especially if you aren't free ranging) but that's stuff you can add over time.

I have food in and out (all removed at night). Yes we get an occasional rat but they're more looking for shelter than food. With all hardware cloth, provided you've closed up all gaps larger than 1/2", you shouldn't have an issue

AC really isn't something that should be in a coop, so there's no reason to replace it. You do need a lot more ventilation in the coop to compensate for your climate... like that door with the rotting bottom, maybe you can just remove it and leave it off? Or replace it with an all wire mesh door with storm panels, depending on your storm/wind directions?

I don't have rollaway boxes so not sure how wide those get. I built my boxes around the space I did have (they're fully internal, so I didn't have to cut holes anywhere). I'd probably put nest boxes between the short wall next to the back human access door and the AC location as your roosts don't look too high, so landing shouldn't be an issue, and that puts the nests closer to your access door, though you might have to spin things around a bit to see what fits.

Pop door 8" up should be fine, if that height has been working to keep the bedding in so far.

 

[Tonyroo]

Thanks for the reply! The house does have a ridge vent, so hopefully that helps. I had a long wooden nest box system last time that was on the floor along that wall but we had egg eaters and sand as bedding so it’s really not usable anymore ans I want some roll away boxes this time. I will have several jungle gym activities in the run. It does get shade but not enough. Thinking of putting shade cloth on the roof. Not real sure how I would go about cutting the bottom of the door out and fixing it.

Unscrew the hinge plates on the door it will come off.