Indispensable Features?

[RiddleMe]

One of the best things I did.  My coop and my garden are side by side, separated by a 3' walkway.  I planned to, and it has worked very well, connect the two in the fall by making the gates (I have 2 gates on opposite sides of the run) open in opposite directions.  The garden gate opens and latches to the run, one of the run gates opens and latches to the garden fence, making a 3' entry from run to garden.  The girls will have the run of the garden from fall til spring.  Happy poopy chickens in my garden.

I also have two gates, one on either end of the run. Works great, I can run chicken wire to divide the run, add a dog house as temporary shelter and I have an integration/broody/hospital pen any time I need one, then roll the wire back up when I don't need it. Since the divider is internal I don't need anything heavy duty, takes about 5 minutes to set up/take down using zip ties.

 

[KathyJB]

I really like my automatic chicken door.

And the storage on half of my 8x16 coop.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Wow, am sure subscribing to this thread! So exciting for you!! I am always able to find something new on here, I just love BYC. My meaties finish in 1-2 weeks, and i am converting the 8x8 "shed" they live in into my main coop. Have started planning design ideas, and i see a huge amount of great ideas already!. It is a barn style post construction, metal walls and dirt floor.. Plan to insulate, add ventilation and some screened but removable Plexiglas windows. already has electric ran to it. The ducks and geese will keep the other "coop" 12x14? (really need to measure it lol) and all my supplies. (taking the roosts/nest boxes that's in there!) They are getting a new shelters this spring, next to the small pond we put in, and better designed for waterfowl. My goal is to separate the chicken and guinea from the ducks and make all the birds more comfortable. This will open the big coop for turkeys in the spring (hehehe) thats my story and i'm stickin to it!

 

[chick-n-pigs]

A design that utilizes passive solar concepts is essential for me. Depending on where you live, you will also likely benefit from such a design.

Here is a picture of my work in progress. It is oriented south,south, east, which allows for additional late afternoon sun in the side window for that last solar "bump" before the sun goes down. Note the windows up high ( in this photo, the windows are boarded up because I was waiting on glass). The windows are covered with an eave. In the summer, when the sun is high in the horizon, the windows are shaded during the day. The same goes for most of the front facade, due to the large eave on the front (which also doubles as weather protection for the point of access).





Plenty of resources available online to walk you through the passive solar design process.
Here is a passive solar diagram that is almost identical to the concept that I utilized:




For my "heat absorbing panels" I will be locating my water tank for the automatic watering system at that location. 65 gallons of water makes one great solar reservoir.

Another "heat reservoir" is soap stone. I found a pile of remnants on craigslist for $25 dollars. The nice thing about soap stone is that you can work it with normal hand tools. I bought a 15 dollar circular saw blade at home depot for my skill saw. Seams are easy to make (which is common when using materials sourced from craigslist) - you just need to use epoxy to fill a crack between the two slabs. Here is a couple of photos of the installation in my coop. The countertops are directly below the west, south west window I was talking about above. The countertops hold heat well. You can walk into the coop a couple of hours after the sun has gone down and feel the warmth of the countertop with your hands. All about building the "solar charge" of the structure during the day to support the night.

 

[bruceha2000]

Bruce, do you have any pictures of your watering system?

YES! Finally. And I am today in the process of changing the bucket. No problems last night but it was below freezing. Mother Nature is telling me to get on that insulated bucket replacement. The Ace bucket will magically transform into an orange Home Depot insulated water jug later today (I HOPE!!!). I need to go to the hardware store for a longer connecting pipe (inside cooler to outside) as the cooler has about an inch of insulation and I don't have the proper length piece.

I used clear tubing simply because I wanted flexibility in where things were positioned. You could glue it up entirely of PVC pipe and fittings if you are certain of your layout. It would cost less since PVC fittings are much cheaper than threaded barbed tube fittings. You can't see real well, but on the right side below the bucket is the tube the little pump connects to. It goes into the bucket up near the top on the right side above the water. I don't have it installed at the moment and didn't think to take a picture inside the bucket.

For the replacement, I am putting the pump connected low (replacing the cooler's push button valve) and the gravity feed will come out the bottom. It is a REALLY small pump, meant for reptile tank waterfalls and struggles to get water to the top of the bucket if it isn't mostly full. I'll have a second shutoff since you can't really mess with the nipples on the pipe if there is water in the bucket and no way to keep it there

. BTW, if you do the saddle nipples, and I am QUITE happy with them, ignore the instructions that say you don't need teflon tape. You MAY not need it but if the hole isn't just perfect, they can drip. Teflon tape is cheap and it sure isn't going to hurt even if the hole is perfect. 3 of my 5 leaked (at the pipe, not the nipple parts) and I thought the holes were good.



Inside the coop. The gravity feed comes in on the right. There is a Tee with a plug in case I ever need more nipples. I can throw a 90 fitting and more 3/4" pipe on that end. Won't get the circulating water though unless I moved the tube to the end of the new pipe. On the left is the drain and the tube that connects to the pump. When the pump is running, the water will run left to right. The girls have been good about not pecking the clear tube. You can see water stains on the wall. Clearly they favor the left side

It is THEORETICALLY level but I had to unscrew one side to pull the plywood away from the studs (rodent control work) and maybe I didn't get the screw back in the hole. Or, as there is a slope back (left) to front (right), it could be level in this picture. The trough underneath is, I believe, an old chicken feeder. It had 'legs', I found it in the barn along with a whole lot of other stuff, some useable, some trash.




Bruce

 

[clucky3255]

A design that utilizes passive solar concepts is essential for me. Depending on where you live, you will also likely benefit from such a design.

Here is a picture of my work in progress. It is oriented south,south, east, which allows for additional late afternoon sun in the side window for that last solar "bump" before the sun goes down. Note the windows up high ( in this photo, the windows are boarded up because I was waiting on glass). The windows are covered with an eave. In the summer, when the sun is high in the horizon, the windows are shaded during the day. The same goes for most of the front facade, due to the large eave on the front (which also doubles as weather protection for the point of access).





Plenty of resources available online to walk you through the passive solar design process.
Here is a passive solar diagram that is almost identical to the concept that I utilized:




For my "heat absorbing panels" I will be locating my water tank for the automatic watering system at that location. 65 gallons of water makes one great solar reservoir.

Another "heat reservoir" is soap stone. I found a pile of remnants on craigslist for $25 dollars. The nice thing about soap stone is that you can work it with normal hand tools. I bought a 15 dollar circular saw blade at home depot for my skill saw. Seams are easy to make (which is common when using materials sourced from craigslist) - you just need to use epoxy to fill a crack between the two slabs. Here is a couple of photos of the installation in my coop. The countertops are directly below the west, south west window I was talking about above. The countertops hold heat well. You can walk into the coop a couple of hours after the sun has gone down and feel the warmth of the countertop with your hands. All about building the "solar charge" of the structure during the day to support the night.

i like ur coop!!!!

 

[bruceha2000]

YES! Finally. And I am today in the process of changing the bucket. No problems last night but it was below freezing. Mother Nature is telling me to get on that insulated bucket replacement. The Ace bucket will magically transform into an orange Home Depot insulated water jug later today (I HOPE!!!). I need to go to the hardware store for a longer connecting pipe (inside cooler to outside) as the cooler has about an inch of insulation and I don't have the proper length piece.

Bruce

OK, here it is with the new bucket.

This is the tiny pump, it connects to the shutoff valve I put in where the original cooler valve was installed



The valve on the bottom that is the non-pump gravity feed connection



The valve for the pump line



Bucket installed


.
I haven't put the stock heater in yet, I figure the insulated container will be fine for a few days. I need to put an outlet closer to the bucket. The only one near it is the one you see on the left. It is 4' back of the post next to the bucket. There is a light on a timer plugged in so the chickens can find their roost and no way to put a second timer for the pump at the same time. So, for tonight it is plugged in to an extension cord and is set to run for 1/2 hour every 3 hours. I think I'll get one of those temperature controlled plugs and plug that into the timer so the pump only runs when it is close to freezing.

Why the "find the roost' light? Because it is a lot lighter in the alley and outside the barn as the sun sets than it is in the coop. When they finally decide it is time to go to bed, it is pretty dark in the coop.

And, as everything seems to go, I now can't close the gate because the bucket sticks out just a wee bit too far. ALWAYS something. Here are Peep and Fay (Cubalaya) on the gate. The part that sticks out on the left will have to be cut off. It doesn't serve any particular purpose, I just used an 8' piece of 2x2 I had. You can see how effective a 4' gate is to keep chickens where you want them. EVERY ONE of the twelve can fly up on it, including the 'big girls', Black Astralorps and Easter Eggers.




As you can see, my chickens' home is the antithesis of the OP's planned coop.

Bruce

 

[chateau poulet]

I really like my automatic chicken door.

And the storage on half of my 8x16 coop.

Please tell me more about your automatic chicken door! I've been trying to figure out how to make one, on a tight budget.

 

[Pinx]

I have yet to build my own coop. I just took over my husband's shop . It is in the plans to build one, so I can have separate runs for everyone, have a few extra runs for my Serama, and can get my ducks in their own pen.

I have my inside "coop" separated in half. I especially love this because I can segregate broody hens or young chickens that aren't quite big enough to go with the grown chickens but have outgrown anything else I can put them in. Or I could just leave the gate open and let them all roam where ever they want between the two inside pens. I also use this pens to put chickens in that I have for sale that someone is coming to look at. It makes it much easier to say "Everything in this pen", rather then pointing out 5 chickens out of 30 when most of them have a look alike or two in the run with them.

I wasn't too keen on the idea of using square buckets as nest boxes. I liked the look of the wooden boxes, but now I don't think I will ever get rid of the buckets. If I have a hen sitting on eggs I can just pick the whole bucket up and relocate it with the hen and all in it. Before I did it this way my hens would leave their eggs about half the time, I haven't had a hen yet leave her eggs when I moved the whole bucket. They are also a breeze to clean, just take them outside and use a water hose on them.

Next I am going to mount pens on the unused wall of the coop for broodies. So I can give my chickens as much floor space as possible, while still being able to have my broodies separated in their own pen while they are setting. I have Seramas and to avoid using an incubator as much as possible my main flock is used for broodies and eggs for the kitchen.

One thing I will do when I extend their run is to build boxes to let grass grow through. I will use 2x4s and make a rectangle frame with wire on top, and just sit in on the ground. This way the grass can grow up through the wire and they can still get fresh grass when they kill the rest of the grass around the yard lol. They shouldn't be able to kill the grass under the wire. I will probably put out about 6 of these considering how large their new run will be.

My husband is putting a sink in in the shop as well, I am SO tired of dealing with a water hose in the freezing cold or hauling water when the water hose freezes.

I think that is all I can add that hasn't already been said.

 

[zando]

Hi all,
I am new to the site, but read almost everything chicken coop related.
I built my first one this spring, have it full with 25 girls and waiting to see how they will take their first winter.
you can see pictures here:

http://sinivir.com/chicken_coop.html

I hope it measures up with some of the coops already listed here.
Thanks,
A.