how can i design a better chicken coop?

[jonbryant]

Hello, my name is Jonathan and i am a nova scotia college of art and design student who has recently been given the task of designing a new chicken coop for an urban backyard. i am relativly new to this and was wondering if anyone might be able to help me understand some of the current design issues and potential problems( ie. cleaning, functionality, size, assembly,) or anything that might help me understand what it is like raising chickens in ones backyard. Any suggestions or ideas you might have would be appreciated. thank you

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Try this for starters: https://www.backyardchickens.com/cgi-bin/faq/mojofaq.cgi?cat=102

 

[AllChookUp]

Hey, jon - For future reference, questions like this belong in the "Coop & Run Desgin and Construction" forum.
Also, check out the Learning Center - There's lot os FAQs. This site is a wealth of information. If it's not here. you probably don't need to know it.

Oh, and

.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Welcome Jon!

Is there any way you can donate / submit your final plans or at least pictures of the design to the BYC community?

If so, I'm sure there will be a deluge of members wiling to provide a ton of feedback and ideas!

 

[flakey chick]

Cost, size, cleaning, ventilation, and "prettyness" are major issues. Take a look and some "modern" designs like the Eglu and Eglu cube . Unfortunately these things are VERY expensive but are the right size for a few urban chickens. They tend to blend in well.

I would like you to consider designing a conversion kit for a dog house (or even a play house). Suncast has a lot of plastic dog houses of various sizes. Economy of scale makes them much cheaper than eglus. They will need nest boxes, more ventilation, and roosts.

 

[Nugget]

Hi Jonathan, one thing to look into is the chicken legality issue in Nova Scotia. Are you going to post pictures of your design at the end?
Good luck,

Fellow NSCAD alumni, 1993