human door to coop?

[northerncaliforniachick]

I'm looking at tons of coop designs and am wondering: how important is it to be able to walk inside the coop? I have 5 chicks- (maybe 1 will be a boy and have to leave?) and wonder how big it really needs to be. Space is kind of an issue- but if a human door is important, than I'll make the bigger style...
just would like to hear from you more experienced ones!
Thank You!

 

[briana1975]

We have a people door but our coop is 8'x12'. I wanted it big enough for even my husband to go into if needed. I would think the door wouldn't be as important as a way to get it opened up for a good scrub down a couple times a year. Hinged roof or something.

 

[Chicken03]

If the coop isn't very big then your shouldn't need a human door. Just something so that you can clean the coop when needed.

 

[chookchick]

If you don't have a "human door" then you will want to make your coop no more than 40" deep, otherwise it becomes impossible to reach in and clean. I can tell you from experience it is much nicer being able to walk into both the coop and run. You can't really "hang out" with the chickens unless you can easily get in, and it's much harder to do any work in there, and painful when you bump your head!

 

[lunkerchicken]

My coop is 4 x 8 and I have a door that I can get in and out of, although once inside it becomes a little cramped. My access door was designed mostly with cleaning in mind. I wanted to be able to open the door and with a couple of passes with the broom, sweep everything right out the back! Here is what it looks like (tough to get a size perspective on this photo).

Although tough to see the complete door, you should be able to get the idea of overall size with this photo. The access door is located at the right side of the picture, just under the vent.

Good luck with your decision and keep us posted!

 

[CityChook]

To me, the human door mattered because of our cold temperatures. When it's -20 outside, it's nice to be able to walk into the coop and close the door behind me. Luckily, you don't have to worry about that one. But like Chookchick said, make sure you can reach EVERYTHING from your door so that cleaning is easier. Have fun!

 

[northerncaliforniachick]

thank you so much for the replies! the measurements are especially helpful. I LOVE the miniture homes for chickens, but since I only have 5 and since I live downtown with not a ton of space....my taj mahal will have to be smaller than I was originally day dreaming...
thanks again- I'll keep everyone posted with my pics when my hubby gets around to making it (which has mostly been slowed by me not knowing exactly what I want).