'I wish I'd known...'?

[doublejfarm]

Definitely make the coop and run big enough to stand up in. I also wish I wouldn't have put in so many nest boxes. I have three for eight hens and they only use two. And possabily a storage area for feed.

 

[TDM]

Quote:
Mobile hen houses are the way to go.

 

[homesteadmomma]

Things I love:

The size of our coops. They are both big enough for 40 chickens each.
One has a removable wall that can separate new flock members so they can see each other, but cannot fight. I can move it myself.
Our rain barrel with a hose run into the coop for easy water fill ups.
The outside entrance to the run.
The new sand (so far).
The screen door outside of the regular door. It faces west and gets a nice breeze nearly all day long.

Things I wish I would have done differently:

I hate our feed and watering system. They poop in both all of the time, so I'm constantly cleaning them out. I'm working on a different plan now and switching to pvc feeders, it just takes a lot of the ones that I have, and I'm trying to figure out a way to feed more at one time. If my chickens would figure out the nipple waterers, I would switch to them, but so far, none have figured out the rabbit waterer, so I hate to try to make the switch in 90 degree weather.
I do not like the exposed braces. They roost all over, instead of using their nice roosts, this puts them right up against the hardware cloth windows, and I don't really like that. It's going to get covered in plywood one of these days I hope, so they will be forced to roost where I want them to. We are also thinking of putting an attic fan in to draw out heat and moisture and make for better circulation in the coop on these hot, muggy days.
I would have made a closet or storage area for their feed, meds, etc. Right now they just sit in corner.
I do wish I would have made the initial run bigger. We spend every weekend increasing the size because I want there to be grass in there at all times. They do get to free range, but only when I'm home and both coops share the same run. After a raccon issue I had to shrink the run down so I could cover the entire thing securely. I ran out of panels so now I'm trying new ideas and don't like any of them.
I wish the chicken door to the run was better thought out. Right now the ramp pulls up and wedges behind the edge of a panel, and lifting a panel that weighs over 100 lbs is just no fun.

 

[chicmom]

I wish my coop was twice as large. And I wish my small A-frame coop didn't have that space underneath where the chicks hide from me, so I have to crawl on my hands and knees to reach them.......

 

[Kyle241]

What I have taken away from 'lessons learned' by many is:

- tall enough to stand in
- easy to clean
- plenty of ventilation
- well positioned poop boards (under roost!)
- windows and more windows if you can
- secure
- large enough for extra chickens or easily expandable (don't plan for just the number of chickens you have now, plan for 2-3 yrs from now)
- a large covered run (either solid cover or wire/mesh) so your chickens have plenty of room and are also secure from predators
- plan, write it down, then plan again, write it down again until you have everything on paper, it makes it easier when planning for materials and during building so you don't forget things

Other nice to have's:

- automatic chicken door
- water nipples (if you climate can handle it)

You will always see someone's coop and go, why didn't I do that??? Just try to be flexible when you build if you can. Not everyone has the property size or money to do everything at once.

 

[R.M. Hens]

I wish my nest boxes were closer to the ground and not higher than my roosts.

I also wish I had a better watering and feeding system, but that is in the works as we speak!

 

[Judy]

I imagine what is said most often is about making it larger. For snow climates, I cringe when I see people building small coops they can't walk in; crowded for the chickens and very difficult to ventilate in a cold climate. Room for two metal garbage cans and a lawn chair are a necessity in my mind, even in the south; I've ridden out a thunderstorm in there more than once. For non-snow areas, I feel a four sided structure is never needed, and would hate mine if it didn't have about 1/3 of the "walls" open air. It gets enough breeze that they go into it during the midday heat of summer because it's cooler.

Sooner or later a chicken keeper is likely to need a separate pen for chicks, growing out, a broody, a new mature bird who's been through quarantine, or an injured bird. A coop large enough to add this inside is very handy. So often I see people talking about using their original small coop for one of these purposes.

 

[chickmashnoon]

I wish I'd made it closer to the water spout so it would be easier to fill the waterer. I wish I'd made the poop boards a little easier to remove, clean and replace. I wish I'd made a storage place for food/supplies either in the cop or next to it. But hindsight is always 20/20 and i'm glad it keeps them safe. The wishful thinking is all stuff I can suffer thru or fix as long as I have a safe flock.

 

[enggass]

Ventilation and bigger... Cover at least a portion of your run...

 

[colebarnhart]

Quote:
X2, me too!!!! I built way too many nest boxes that come off of the coop that I now just block off and use for storage, so it's not so bad. However, I wish I had avoided using chicken wire and just went with the hardware wire in the beginning, but I didn't know until raccoons & possiums killed 3, before I learned and then got up the better wire.

I also built an elevated coop because I wanted a dropping floor for easy cleaning and wanted to give the chickens more shaded run space. However, it sucks to have to crawl under there to do something or get a bird.

So, needless to say my 2nd coop will be big enough to stand up in and not elevated with fewer nest boxes and no chicken wire.