Help needed! 100 hen coop?

[Backyard Bob]

I have had chickens for over a year now, and have 5 different coops. I got a contract with a local store and I need to order 100 hens to fulfill it.

I'm having trouble deciding on a coop. They will have more than plenty of pasture space and will free range often. We live in southern Oklahoma. I am thinking about 3 sided coop with the south wall hardware cloth. How does that sound?

And recommendations on sizing? There will be 100 Black Australorp hens.
They will be fed fermented feed outside in troughs.
Also, I plan on nipple waters in the coops and trough waterers in the pasture. Any tips on how to set those up?
I am going to plant buckwheat, cowpeas, sorghum, and millet in this spring. Any others things I could plant for them?

Would 26 nesting boxes be enough?
How many feet of roosts? I am going to add a poop board with sweet PDZ for ease of cleaning.

Any other tips for flocks this big would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Wade

 

[Judy]

I personally think a 3 sided coop is about a necessity in this climate. They need a good breeze all summer (there is really no such thing as a "draft" on them on a hot night.) Shade is needed, too, natural or from a roof. I have an oversize coop, partly made of hardware cloth, that is so breezy it is like a wind tunnel in there, picking up the prevailing winds. It works well enough that the girls go in the coop in the midday sun, even though it
s not in the shade, because it's cooler inthere with that breeze than in their ard under som very good sized bushes. I also run a box fan all summer, just for when the wind lays.

I'll link a thread for you about the sort of design you are thinking of, though of course the scale of at least most of them will be smaller.

26 nests would be plenty. I'll be very surprised if they use them all. You might consider using convenient items you already have, such as 5 gallon buckets on their side, to see whether they prefer open top or open end. Some may also prefer a community style nest, one that is 2' or 3' wide so more than one can lay at once. Old plastic bins and recycled kitty litter boxes (esp. the covered kind) ore often good nest boxes. You can even use cardboard boxes. You might want to try things out before you tackle a major carpentry project like 26 nest boxes. I used to have two rows of 3 or 4 nests each. They would only se certain ones and generally would use only the top layer or the lower layer.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/163417/please-show-me-your-hot-weather-coops/0_20

Also, if you do decide to make a good sized rack of anything like 26 nests, you might consider making at least some of them rollout nests, just in case. We lose an egg fairly often just because they all lay on the same pile, andthe eggs get jostled around.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/287684/new-rollout-nest-design-picture-heavy-edited-1-21/0_20