If you had it to do over again, what would you change about your coop/run?

[rosemarythyme]

If I could redo it I would've had the entire run covered from the start (the fencing company asked if I wanted it and I said no without even getting a quote), and I would've done the entire thing in one height (I did one half of the run with 6', the other with 4'. I think I also would've paid extra for black fencing - it's a matter of aesthetics, but it would be nice to have the run be less glaringly obvious in front of the house.

 

[JMotuzick]

We inherited our coop when we moved in 8x12 is a bit to small now! It was bare sticks for roosts no No nest boxes should have done the poop tray first with the boxes lower, just kept adding on....

Covered run!
More run!
A solid base. The PO had just sunk 4x4’s into the dirt should have used sono tubes....

 

[aart]

What I would change, as great as I think the coop he built is, would be to also have a full-height coop that I could easily enter

How tall is it?

The only thing I would change is to have a covered run for winter.
Well, and more space to have multiple pens inside and runs outside,
instead of the just the 2 I have.

 

[Chicken Strut]

How tall is it?

About 5' at the highest point to 4' at the lowest -- the coop is slanted to shed snow in the wintertime. The entire roof can be lifted up and propped open for cleaning.

The run is covered and has a slight slant from front to back but it does require raking off after a heavy snowfall.

I'm getting SO MANY good ideas from everyone's postings here. I think the #1 idea is to always go BIGGER than you think you need at the outset.

 

[Blooie]

Thinking bigger is always good. We were in our 60s and both of us had some disabilities, so when we built ours we also thought about what we’d do if and when the day came when we’d have get out of the chicken game. I’m glad, because almost a year ago we had to do just that. But not one cent of our build was wasted - the run is a perfect greenhouse, the coop functions as a garden shed, and aside from a clean out there were no modifications that had to be made. Far easier to repurpose than try to figure out what to do with an old chicken coop for us.

 

[centrarchid]

Water and electricity run to poultry area.

 

[KentuckyRooster]

The nesting and roosting setup in my main one could be better. I repurposed a huge shelf from the barn. Overall it works though. The bottom one's blocked off I don't remember why anymore but it makes a nesting area for mice that I need to get rid of. I like being able to walk in it.

Having cement floor is a pain especially during winter (poop slime) but it has perks too- no predators can dig in.

 

[Robert G]

My first coop was a complete experiment. I've learned so much from it and one main thing I would have changed would be the height. I keep banging my head when I'm checking the nest boxes in the rear.

 

[Brahma Chicken5000]

I actually recently built a new coop for my new flock. It’s pretty much the same as my old coop except that I added double doors on the henhouse for ease of cleaning.

I also added a Dutch door and the walls are more panelized than my last coop.

 

[sirrobyn0]

My first coop was not a great coop. We built it using pallets for the frame, and sided it with garage siding. Now I didn't scrap the pallets and just use the wood, I used the pallets as they were for the walls. Fortunately I had some tall pallets at the time which made the wall height 5 feet tall, and then I build a peaked roof. The first section was 16 feet long and 4 feet wide, so narrow. But that's pallets. Once we out grew that I added 12 X 12 section behind that, this time with a flat roof. The coop had a dirt floor and it was pretty much impossible to rodents from getting in. It was cheap, and the coop despite the issues served us well. I guess if I had to say anything about that coop I learned what did and didn't work so well. Since then I have opened the long end of the wall and the old coop is now used for storage.

When we "built" the new coop we actually converted a two old pig sheds into the new coops. I should take some pictures. So one building is 15 X 10, the other second one is slightly smaller. The main things that had to happen is enclosing the walls of the sheds, putting in roosts and nesting boxes and building a run. I'd have to measure the run, but it's pretty big. This is a good solid setup that we are very happy with. The only thing I would do differently is back when I built these originally for pig sheds I did not put very much slope on the roofs. The current composition 2X4 frame, chip board, felt for a vapor barrier and then metal roofing on top of that. The problem is I have trouble with the seems wanting to leak because there is not enough slope. I've considered removing the metal roofing and going to a tar paper roof, but it's under heavy trees and I'm afraid winter storms would be pretty hard on tap paper. So I just seal seams as needed on the metal roof. The worst of the two I've coated with product made by Gardener for sealing metal roofs. It appears to be working pretty well but it's going to make removing the metal roof a real pain if I ever need to do that. Other than having to keep after the roof from time to time it's a really excellent coop. By the way it has a cement floor.