Helpful hints for building coops

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IdyllwildAcres said:
Rule of twos....
Make it twice as big as you think you need, walk in....
Put in twice the amount of ventilation you think you need.
It will cost twice as much as you planned.
It will take twice as long to build as you thought it would.

If this is your first flock build coop first, then get chicks.
Since you built it bigger build in a in coop brooder/chicken jail.
Dirt floor for DLM

Gary
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These are the ones I discovered on my first build last year:

Put in twice the amount of ventilation you think you need.
It will cost twice as much as you planned.
It will take twice as long to build as you thought it would.
 
General advice. Go and buy the prefab if you like it. You’ll probably see what’s wrong. Fix it. A wooden coop is easy to alter. If its not okay for you’re flock, maybe you can use it for a broody or a chicken hospital one day

And just to share my experience with a small coop:
I bought a prefab many years ago. Just a small coop with an attached roofed run. Just right for max 4 tiny bantams in a mild climate (no more than 1 week snow each winter). The run was not sufficient (obvious) and I let the chickens free range.
The next year I started to build a proper run . A moth later I had chicks (natural breeding) and I started to build a roofed extension to the attached run. It had roosts and two sides where mostly wood panels . One side was 100% hwc.
My chickens and chicks loved it. They left the old coop and most of them never went back there for the night. They still go there for the nest boxes.
 
Build the coop with cleaning in mind. If you will be using a wheel barrow, make the door wide enough to get it through. If you can, make the floor out of concrete and set a row of cement block around the perimeter. this will keep the wood walls out of the litter, and it will deter any animals who want to dig in. Also helps when you clean the floor with a shovel. you can ram the shovel against the concrete blocks.
slope the concrete to one side. this will drain any spilled water to the side. I even hosed the floor about once a year.
hang the nests from the wall. avoid having legs from the floor to hold things up. makes cleaning much easier.
I suspended the roosts from wall to wall. no supports on the floor. I put the shorter roost next to the wall and the higher one farther from the wall. I could shovel under them and reach all the way to the wall with my shovel.
I made nests from wall to wall. out of the ten nests and sometimes forty hens, they will used only four of their favorite nests. I once pulled five hens out of one nest while nine nests were empty. go figure.
 
If I was starting out now. I would build one wall with an overhead door in it.
then I could drive my tractor in when i need to clean it.
I would stay away from dirt floor. critters love to dig their way in .
and after awhile the floor will gradually sink from cleaning it.
I would stay away from prefab coops. Most of them are flimsy. Overpriced for what you get.
I am a retired carpenter, so I can put up a large coop within a week.
build your coop on paper, drawings. it will save you time and surprises later on.
 
I plan to be going to the Epps event in Suffolk, Va. Not tomorrow, but the following Saturday. . Not feeling well today, slept nearly all day. At least i got my truck repaired, the brakes and rotors needed replacement.
 
CapricornFarm said:
I plan to be going to the Epps event in Suffolk, Va. Not tomorrow, but the following Saturday. . Not feeling well today, slept nearly all day. At least i got my truck repaired, the brakes and rotors needed replacement.
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Glad you got the truck fixed.
Hoping you feel better soon
 

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