How Do You Decide on a Coop Design?

[humboldtpeeps]

The Garden Coop is a great coop! I recommend it highly.
The instructions are easy to follow and make a great coop and they are also very easy to customize. With all of the modifications we made we strayed from the plan before we actually began building

We made the coop itself a little bigger, added an external nest box and moved the pop door from the floor to a wall to create more space. We changed the roof to protect the run from slanted rains, and we put doors so an entire side of the coop opens up so we can park a wheelbarrow under it and rake out the litter.

We had never used power tools or built anything before- and with our modifications we no longer had a plan to follow so it felt like it took us forever and I wish in some ways that we had stayed true to the plan... then it probably wouldn't have taken us 2 months to build! (it was a big learning curve and i totally know how to run all power tools now

) we are very happy with the result though- It looks a little rough but its working great for us.
Anyway, my point is, you can make it wider- longer- taller if you'd like. its a simple design. If you do customize it- I recommend just adding another 3 foot segment and keeping all the other measurements the same if you go that route- don't do what we did - we had the most awkward cuts of wood and dimensions- total rookies!

The main things to think about when you are looking at designs is what will help you care for them the best, what your weather is like, how are the chickens going to be using it and their space and ventilation needs.

We have five chickens in it now and they are enjoying it greatly. The only time they are in the coop itself is at night because with a roof over their run they stay dry and happy and would much rather be down there scratching around where the action is.

So i can see how 7 could possibly fit- just given they way the chickens are using the space-Its like the whole thing is their coop if that makes sense.
By the way, one of our girls got sick the other day and it was so easy to reach in and get her out of the coop. We then decided to completely clean it just in case she had something infectious and we were able to do so with great ease.
Here is a pic of it we took as we were finishing up the build:

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I think you could go with either design and it would work fine for 4 chickens. I kind of prefer the garden coop. It has more run space, is easy to modify and I think it looks better. Really, it's whatever you like. I don't know how the construction costs compare or how much of an issue that is for you.

I would be concerned about winter drafts in the coop portion while they are roosting in the the garden coop, if you leave the pop door open at night. With the entire top open, where it's covered in wire, the air could come in the pop door, flow through the roosting area and go out anywhere in the wired roof. I would at least cover the portion of the roof over the roost during cold weather. You could close most of the roof for winter and have enough ventilation, just leave some of it open, as the other vents are kind of small on their own.

It's fine for the top to be open in warm weather and will release a lot of heat in summer, which is good. For hot summers, I'd even add a window type opening for summer to the side facing the run, to let even more air flow through.

I didn't look too closely at the other design, but I'd want to make sure it had enough ventilation, especially for summer heat. I don't think it has enough pictures to tell. Ventilation is easy enough to add, though.

 

[latebloomer]

i'm in the process of building a very simple shed building because i am doing all of the work myself

to help myself out, i'm trying to use standard building material sizes, particularly plywood sheets, i seem to be able to make cuts on lumber/studs/rafters better than i do on sheet product.

 

[Nostalchic]

In response to your initial question, I found when trying to decide on coop size, style, and "appointments" that just browsing through the Coop section of this website was absolutely invaluable. So many people put really elaborate descriptions and explanations there, with great pics and "wish I had done this differently" and "this worked out very well" comments. I bought a couple of books about coop building and design, but this site was much more helpful in terms of being able to visualize the good, the bad, the beautiful and the not so.... It takes some time, but it's so enjoyable and so enlightening to look thru all these.

 

[kimmypie]

Quote:
I was already figuring if I went that direction I would have to add more ventilation. So many coops that I've seen have almost no ventilation.

My concern with either of them is what if I want 6 hens instead of 4, they don't seem big enough. The guy from garden coop said he currently has 10 in his which just seems too tight.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Nostalchic gave great advice. Have you clicked on "Coop Designs" up at the very top of the page? It has lots of pictures of coops. If you click on them, it takes you to a page that the coop owner posted and most have a lot of how-to pictures, taken during the various stages of construction. It's really amazing.

If you want more chickens, it's also easy to modify any shed to be a coop. My current big coop is a modified 8x10 shed design. There are lots of books and websites with plans for sheds. I have a book with all the basics for how to do carpentry that also has small building plans. There are also shed kits, although you might have to check on the quality of the building materials when comparing them.

All you add is the ventilation, little chicken door, roost, a couple of nest boxes and you're good to go. Mine has lots of windows added, too. The roost is just a 2x4. The nest box is just a wood box or even a milk crate on the floor. The ventilation openings are holes cut in the wall with some hardware cloth as a cover. You can also make a little plywood cover for vents, if you want some of it opened or closed in certain seasons. The little chicken door can be just a little piece of plywood, too. Then you just add the run, which is much easier to build than a building.

If you wanted to stick with the garden coop, I wonder if you could just extend the housing portion, to give more coop space? Looking at pictures of coops during construction and diagrams of how to frame buildings helps give you an idea of how things are put together. Once you get the hang of that, making changes isn't as hard as you may think. I think you could do it.

 

[Gardengirl 2011]

How to find the "perfect" coop for your needs? I wish I had found this place way before getting my girls. I paid someone to build mine because I couldn't handleTHAT part myself. After finding BYC and checking out what everyone else here did (many times with recycled materials!) I had coop envy. Not only MUCH more space, but better designs and prices too.

I do have to agree on the main point though~~~go bigger than what you initially think you need. I wish I had.