I need help with my Purina plan coop design please!

[ILikeChicken]

Thank you thank you thank you!

AppalachianLawn, do you have a pic of yours? And I'd love to see how you did your PVC feeder too! My egg boxes will be on the left. I wanted the biggest part to be my opening to clean. Also, what size is yours?

ILikeChicken, I love your pic. I have since got 3 walls on mine but snow storm today so can't take new pics. Thank you for replying! Mine is going to be just like that except they will have access to under the coop too.

How much did you all spend? I didn't think it would cost so much!

Still would love more replies too!! The more the merrier!

regarding access to under the coop, I have put hardware cloth around mine, but one thing to consider, I've had to get under there a few times, and I'm glad I deviated from the original plans that only allowed 17" space under the coop, mine has 30"

 

[aart]

I wanted to see this pic so I saved and double lightened it...figured I might as well post it.

 

[mountainlover]

AppalachianLawn,
Oh hey! That's a cool feeder! Thanks for posting it! I might have to try something like that too! I am in the same boat with distance to things, so we just bought all new materials as well. I think ours is going to be about $500 too! How many chickens do you keep in yours?

ILikeChicken,
That's a good point! I will have to measure mine because I'm not sure how high it is. I asked for it to be higher so I wouldn't have to stoop so much and so the chickens could get under it but I'm not sure it's much higher than the plans said. Right now it's buried under a May 1st snow of almost 8 inches so I'm not going out!

Apart, thanks for fixing that pic!!!

 

[mountainlover]

I'd still love to have some ideas on space needed between roost and ceiling, and if anyone has a set up with poop board in front of clean out door (is that hard to clean under). Thank you all so much!

 

[TheCrazyChick]

I'd still love to have some ideas on space needed between roost and ceiling, and if anyone has a set up with poop board in front of clean out door (is that hard to clean under). Thank you all so much!

I have changed my roost 3 times now, adjusting to their preferences. Changing again today to make the second roost the same height as the other one. There isn't really a "low man on the totem pole" scenario in my coop, so both roosts will be okay at the same height. I use those metal brackets that allow the roost to easily slide in and out of to clean, and it easier to adjust repeatedly with those.

Regarding poop board ... I don't use one. They are pain to clean, always in the way, and it's so much easier to reach in every morning and simply pick up a couple of big dry globs of poo if needed. I use the deep littler method, so it requires the poo to turn into dirt. I have only changed the litter once since December and it has no smell in there except for the pine shavings.

With that being said, I'm sure many find the poop board and sand method works perfectly for them. In that case, my advice regarding underneath the poop board would be to get an adjustable handle metal rake to use. It helps with my stooping chores immensely.

Here is a pic of my modified Purina Coop. (Before it was completely finished.) The front opens up to both left and right. Plexi-glass inserts can be removed from the 2 front windows. Underneath is about 22 inches I think. And I need every inch of that when I have to crawl under there (like I did yesterday to turn it into a grow out pen for 6 seven week olds!) Pop door is on the left side. Nest boxes on right. The entire back wall is a window I got on CL for twelve bucks. let's a lot of light in and allows me to take a peek at them.

There is also a second pop door in the floor of the coop, that leads down to the space under the coop. They used this space all winter (3 sides I erected plastic for wind protection), before the big run was complete. This effectively doubled my coop space in the winter when they tend to stay inside more.

 

[mountainlover]

Thank you TheCrazyChick!! I absolutely LOVE the window!! I am going to star scanning Craigslist for one now! But I have no idea how to install one,and actually it might not fit as my walls are not very thick? They are made out of sort of plywood with the outside that looks like siding? I'm not sure what its called. I wonder if I could install a window on that. There would be no point in putting one on the back wall since its against that fence there, but maybe a small one over my egg boxes would be neat!

Do you have a picture of what brackets you used for the roost? I'm planning a 2x4 with the wide side for them to stand on. I'm going to be getting that this week. I love your coop, I think I will do the double doors on the front too, that looks great! And I had never thought of a pop door in the floor, that's a great idea for winter, then they could go under the coop and not have to walk in snow. How does that work? I mean, how do you keep the door from being covered in all the junk?

Does it really NOT SMELL?? I am so sensitive to smells! I already have pine shavings on hand as we have a rabbit, but I was going to do sand because it seems like I'd go through an awful lot of pine shavings! How much do you have to put on top and how often do you add more?

 

[TheCrazyChick]

Got them at ReHome for like fifty cents or something like that.

I'm planning a 2x4 with the wide side for them to stand on. (I use 2 x 2's. A little cheaper and perfectly fine.) I'm going to be getting that this week. I love your coop, I think I will do the double doors on the front too, that looks great! And I had never thought of a pop door in the floor, that's a great idea for winter, then they could go under the coop and not have to walk in snow. How does that work? I mean, how do you keep the door from being covered in all the junk? (I inserted a little bit of a lip all the way around, plus a knob for me to pull it up and open it. I keep a small brush right there and simply brush away any errant litter before opening it. The good thing is that it really doesn't matter if litter falls down the hole, since you need litter down there anyway!) Here is a pic that sort of shows it ... I did end up cutting that lip down much further once it was actually put into use.






Does it really NOT SMELL?? (IT REALLY DOES NOT SMELL!) I am so sensitive to smells! I already have pine shavings on hand as we have a rabbit, but I was going to do sand because it seems like I'd go through an awful lot of pine shavings! How much do you have to put on top and how often do you add more? (I started with a good 6 inches of pine shavings, sprinkled in PDZ, which is a horse stall drying agent, sprinkled in some potting soil, not much though, and sprinkled in some DE. Then about once a week or two, I take my little rake and give it a toss, IF the chickens haven't already done that. Then when every I start to even catch a WHIFF of anything, I throw in some handfuls of pine shavings again, leaving what is already in there. Even when I did a full coop clean out about after about 5 months, I still left about 2-4 inches in there, to give it a good composting base of organisms. A couple of times I also threw in some paper shreddings from my office and some dry leaves. Organic stuff, y'know?)

See bolded and underlined answers above. Hope this helps.

 

[mountainlover]

Thank you again, TheCrazyChick! I will definitely plan to add a window over the nesting boxes, after all, part of having chickens is the fun of looking to see what they're doing! They are also going to have ventilation as there is a space all around the top under the roof to let air in and out, along with a few more ventilation openings we are going to put in the walls. Thank you for the picture of the brackets too, now I know what to look for! Did your chickens need a ladder to get out the door in the bottom or can they just hop out? I think I like that idea, so I might do that! And I have to admit, you are making the deep litter method sound a lot more my style at the moment. I dislike any chores involving poop. Plus, I have access to all the things you mentioned including shredded paper, my dad has horses so he gets pdz often, we are planting a garden so I have the soil too. The DE is the only thing I don't have. I'm not sure if I read that DE is dangerous to breathe in and will make me need a lung transplant?? LOL, or am I mixing that up with something else. I definitely don't want that around as I have 5 kids. How often do you clean the entire thing out? But you always leave a little bit on the bottom right? Thank you again!!

 

[mountainlover]

Oh, and what about flies???

 

[TheCrazyChick]

Thank you again, TheCrazyChick! I will definitely plan to add a window over the nesting boxes, after all, part of having chickens is the fun of looking to see what they're doing! They are also going to have ventilation as there is a space all around the top under the roof to let air in and out, along with a few more ventilation openings we are going to put in the walls. Thank you for the picture of the brackets too, now I know what to look for! Did your chickens need a ladder to get out the door in the bottom or can they just hop out? I think I like that idea, so I might do that! And I have to admit, you are making the deep litter method sound a lot more my style at the moment. I dislike any chores involving poop. Plus, I have access to all the things you mentioned including shredded paper, my dad has horses so he gets pdz often, we are planting a garden so I have the soil too. The DE is the only thing I don't have. I'm not sure if I read that DE is dangerous to breathe in and will make me need a lung transplant?? LOL, or am I mixing that up with something else. I definitely don't want that around as I have 5 kids. How often do you clean the entire thing out? But you always leave a little bit on the bottom right? Thank you again!!

So far flies are not a problem, but this will be my first summer. I plan on planting repellent plants in the garden bed in front of the run, such as rosemary, lemon balm, silver mound artemesia, and others.

Yes, there is a ladder under the inside pop door. You can sort of see that hanging in the pic above. DE should not be directly breathed in, but you just need to use it with care. And sparingly. It's more to help control mites and lice than anything else. It won't kill the chickens, so it won't kill you either. IMHO. One word on using shredded paper ... don't use it as your major amount of litter, as it has a tendency to stick to their feet and to the eggs. I use it in small amounts to extend the use of my pine shavings and help with the composting. I get HUGE bags of compressed pine shavings at Tractor Supply for $4.99 I think. One on those bags is TOO MUCH for my coop at one time. It goes a long way once you start taking it out of the bag. Plus I add in yard waste such as leaves and dandelions. If you want the chickens to toss everything around so you don't have to rake as much, just toss in some BOSS or scratch grains. They will toss it around while having fun.