House came with a different looking coop

[Coffeegirl0700]

Hi everyone!

Not yet a chicken owner here but I am hoping to be next month! I just bought a house that came with a chicken coop, but it definitely doesn’t look like any I have seen in my research. It just looks like a chicken run with some roosting boxes that I can transition into a coop and I would like some advice to make sure this is a good environment for my girls. I’m attaching some pictures. With the areas that have chicken wire, there are also pieces of wood that I can attach to the structure to block cover up those openings. The second picture I took is what I believe is the feeder, but this area only allows up to 3 chickens and that seems pretty high up and big for 3 chickens. What do you think about this?

 

[rosemarythyme]

First photo has PVC feeders and a nipple waterer that's hung up very high.

Third is nest boxes and the nipple waterer right below. Very strange waterer placement. You'd need to put something below the waterer to allow them to reach it. Maybe those boards in the corner were part of some sort of elevated bench or something to let them reach the water?

Also FYI there's no such thing as "roosting boxes" - a roost is a bar they use to sit on and sleep on at night. The nests are where they lay their eggs and raise chicks, you do NOT want your chickens in there otherwise.

 

[Coffeegirl0700]

First photo has PVC feeders and a nipple waterer that's hung up very high.

Third is nest boxes and the nipple waterer right below. Very strange waterer placement. You'd need to put something below the waterer to allow them to reach it. Maybe those boards in the corner were part of some sort of elevated bench or something to let them reach the water?

Also FYI there's no such thing as "roosting boxes" - a roost is a bar they use to sit on and sleep on at night. The nests are where they lay their eggs and raise chicks, you do NOT want your chickens in there otherwise.

Thanks so much for that correction!

 

[rosemarythyme]

I think this could be used as an open air sort of coop, especially if you live in a hotter climate. It is a little oddball but coops don't have a set layout. You will want to add roosts somewhere, unless you have breeds that don't tend to roost (i.e. Silkies).

 

[Mellowmalt]

The water nipples are very high so I thought maybe for a bigger bird like geese or turkeys.
The feeder is absolutely enormous. I could probably fit 2 years of food into that. It has 7 PVC feeders attached to a huge container which I presume gets filled with food so I'm thinking the previous owner must have been keeping a big high consuming feed bird.
I think the coop looks great and I see a door hatch on the right so the birds could free range. Like this you could fit a lot of birds into that coop, far more than just 3

 

[Coffeegirl0700]

Thank you Mellowmalt and Rosemarythyme for your thoughts! I definitely feel better that there doesn’t seem to be a concern with them not having a traditional coop and run setup. The main things that it seems I should update is making the water accessible, getting a smaller feed vessel, adding roosts, and someone on my introduction thread mentioned cleaning the structure with bleach water. Does there need to be a ramp or something for them to get to the nesting boxes or would they be able to reach those themselves?

 

[RojoMarz]

Depending upon what type chickens you get, yes, you may need a ramp to the nest boxes.

 

[RobertaD1]

Where are you located???? You definitely have some ventilation going. What direction is that coop facing? Not much protection from blowing weather.... unless you HAVE NO blowing weather....
I would change out that Chicken Wire for hardware cloth. Chicken wire isnt much protection from predators.

 

[Coffeegirl0700]

Where are you located???? You definitely have some ventilation going. What direction is that coop facing? Not much protection from blowing weather.... unless you HAVE NO blowing weather....
I would change out that Chicken Wire for hardware cloth. Chicken wire isnt much protection from predators.

I live in Utah! The openings are facing the west, which is also where the house is in conjunction to the coop. I was thinking that the house might block any extreme wind but the coop is pretty far from the house so that doesn’t seem right. I’m also wondering how long it will take before I get tired of boarding up the openings every day and night LOL and thank you for the hardwire suggestion!

 

[RobertaD1]

You could use a shutter system where the shutters have open but slanted louvers where they would block any weather but still allow for ventilation. That way you could close them in rotten weather with just a latch. Maybe add a roof overhang to help shield the windows. I would definitely wait to get chickens to see how the weather affects the coop.