Alright, so talked with my dad and he said I should create a plan or sketch or something of my new coop because he wants to start working on it this winter. My previous coop is pretty small and overall has some issues.
1. Space per chicken
I tried looking this up. The only information I found was 1m² per chicken. The issue is the rule applies to big farms with over 300 chickens and is mean for standard sized chickens. I keep bantams. I have no plans to have any standards in the near future. I want to separate the coop into 2 parts and devide the run into 2 parts so I could keep my breeds separate. I'll keep about 10 bantams on each side. So really it's like 2 seperate coops for 10 chickens but connected by a wire wall in the middle. Please if you comment anything about space keep the measurements in m² or cm².
2. Ventilation
I want a coop that'll keep my chickens comfortable in both 30°C summers and -10°C winters. From my understanding you should have the ventilation by the roof. I usually have my coop door open all day to allow to walk in and out at will.
3. Laying boxes
Currently I have 4 laying boxes. They were made out of wooden potato boxes divided in half. They're a bit bulky and take up some space in the coop. In the new coop would it be a better idea to make laying boxes on the outside of the coop with a liftable lid for easier egg collecting? How many laying boxes would about 10 hens need? I have 8 hens currently and only 1 or 2 of the laying boxes get used.
3. Coop door and cleaning
I have a big enough door that I can walk inside my current coop. For bedding I use a mixture of straw and wood shavings. Now for the winter I also did a layer of sand at the bottom. I want to make the door big enough to be able to comfortably clean the coop. I'd also want easy access to the inside if I ever need to catch my chickens for any reason or take them off the perches.
That's about all I can think of currently. I'll let you know the space that I have to work with for both coop and run later when I measure it. I want at least half of the space to be the run, since that's where my chickens spend most of their day. It would also be great if you had any suggestions for layout of the coop and run. I'm going to make it along a wall.
1. Space per chicken
I tried looking this up. The only information I found was 1m² per chicken. The issue is the rule applies to big farms with over 300 chickens and is mean for standard sized chickens. I keep bantams. I have no plans to have any standards in the near future. I want to separate the coop into 2 parts and devide the run into 2 parts so I could keep my breeds separate. I'll keep about 10 bantams on each side. So really it's like 2 seperate coops for 10 chickens but connected by a wire wall in the middle. Please if you comment anything about space keep the measurements in m² or cm².
2. Ventilation
I want a coop that'll keep my chickens comfortable in both 30°C summers and -10°C winters. From my understanding you should have the ventilation by the roof. I usually have my coop door open all day to allow to walk in and out at will.
3. Laying boxes
Currently I have 4 laying boxes. They were made out of wooden potato boxes divided in half. They're a bit bulky and take up some space in the coop. In the new coop would it be a better idea to make laying boxes on the outside of the coop with a liftable lid for easier egg collecting? How many laying boxes would about 10 hens need? I have 8 hens currently and only 1 or 2 of the laying boxes get used.
3. Coop door and cleaning
I have a big enough door that I can walk inside my current coop. For bedding I use a mixture of straw and wood shavings. Now for the winter I also did a layer of sand at the bottom. I want to make the door big enough to be able to comfortably clean the coop. I'd also want easy access to the inside if I ever need to catch my chickens for any reason or take them off the perches.
That's about all I can think of currently. I'll let you know the space that I have to work with for both coop and run later when I measure it. I want at least half of the space to be the run, since that's where my chickens spend most of their day. It would also be great if you had any suggestions for layout of the coop and run. I'm going to make it along a wall.