Input on this Coop plan

[we3ernes]

Very nice plans! I'm not in Texas so don't know for sure, but with a metal roof, will it be hot on the roosts? We used to have a large steel horse trailer that we sectioned off a camping area in and in certain weather conditions, it would "rain" inside... the condensation would be so bad.

It is very hot in Texas, but a metal roof is actually better in a hot climate as it is more reflective. This isn’t a pole barn style metal roof on purlins but a house style metal roof on plywood with house wrap so condensation shouldn’t be an issue.

The other thing I saw is that you mentioned having up to 16 chickens in there. My "coop" is a 10x10' horse stall, so basically the same size and I had 15 in it for a little while... it seemed pretty crowded, even tho I have boards at all different levels for them - a regular jungle gym. Most of them are pretty big birds. Now there are 9 (others went to new homes) in it and it seems fine.

I guess I’ll have to wait and see, most of the guidelines I've read indicate 4 sq.ft. per bird indoors and 10 sq.ft. outdoors. With 80 sq.ft. I should be able to fit 20 birds. However I’ve chosen to use the more conservative 5 sq.ft. per bird. Since the climate here IS so nice (it was 75 today!) the birds should spend most of their time outdoors. Anyway, that is why I’m starting with a lower number, so I can better judge what we will need and what the land will bear.

Another hint... since it sounds like your coop won't be too far from the house... check out wireless cameras... it can be relaxing watching "chick tv". LOL (I had a chuckle when I caught one of my young hens trying to crow! Esp when she had never been around a roo')

That is on next year's Christmas wishlist! This year was a weather monitor so I can keep an eye on the temperature/humidity in the coop and the max winds.

 

[Kat2141]

that roof sounds good... I was thinking you meant it was just steel, but you're right, from what you describe, it should work very well.

 

[we3ernes]

Thoughts on run for brooder area.
I have a separate run off my brooding area and I really like it for several reasons.
Gives the chicks more space.
Teaches them to navigate a ramp and go in and out of the coop....
...before they have to do so while also navigating the adult birds after integration.
Gives more space to the whole flock once I take down brooder partition wall.

Looking at your plan, you could flip the whole scenario, having the brooder on the side where the run will be. The pop door would be under the roost board.

Oh, and, also wanted to suggest you make your roosts/boards in 2 separate units, mounting the roosts the the boards. Worked very well for me when I had to remove the whole shootinmatch to repair the longer board...and when I had to remove the shorter board to repair poop door rope. I didn't really plan the two separate units to begin with, but added the shorter one later and it has worked out well. I like to make stuff easy to remove.

Oh, andand, door to run. My run access door(also a dutch door) is not out of the coop, just wouldn't work, but it's close to door into coop and has worked out just fine.

Sorry, rambling this morning.

So would having a completely separate (small) run for the brooder work for this? I ask because I CAN put a small run on the left side of the coop, just not one big enough for 8 chickens, much less 16, but probably big enough for 8 chicks. What if, instead of collapsing the brooder when it isn't needed, I keep that space (and small run) open to the coop? That would add 12 sq.ft. of coop space and maybe 40 sq.ft. of run.

I do have the roosts and boards planned as two separate units as I figured anything larger would be too heavy for me to handle.

I'm having trouble visualizing flipping the coop as well. Having the pvc feeders on the opposite wall would mean the chickens couldn't access them?

 

[aart]

I'm having trouble visualizing flipping the coop as well. Having the pvc feeders on the opposite wall would mean the chickens couldn't access them?

Hmm...well the PVC feeders are in the storage area anyway so ....I guess I never thought they could access them anyway? Hadn't given much thought to them, was just looking at the overall in relation to the run.\
Was mostly thinking it would be better if the chick run as adjacent to the main run,
or a split off section of the main run.
Dang if that was a cadd drawing you could flip it easy.....
...oh did it in photoshop, kinda rough quick and dirty(labels are all funky now) but might help just for a gross visualization:

 

[we3ernes]

Hmm...well the PVC feeders are in the storage area anyway so ....I guess I never thought they could access them anyway? Hadn't given much thought to them, was just looking at the overall in relation to the run.\
Was mostly thinking it would be better if the chick run as adjacent to the main run,
or a split off section of the main run.
Dang if that was a cadd drawing you could flip it easy.....
...oh did it in photoshop, kinda rough quick and dirty(labels are all funky now) but might help just for a gross visualization:
View attachment 1605037

Yep, that was my original drawing, but I realized there was no way to fill the feeders without going inside the coop or run. Since the two people most likely to watch our house/animals in the event of a vacation are my father and my mother-in-law I need to provide for the unsteadiness of one and the fear of animals on the other. That was the main idea behind having everything accessible from the storage area - nesting boxes, feeders, waterer.

The plan was to use a through wall pvc feeder like the ones I’ve shown here (from https://www.littlehouseliving.com/diy-chicken-feeder.html)



So the fill portion is inside the storage area of coop and the chicken access is in the run. I guess, with some ingenuity and a whole lotta pvc fittings, I could still have the fill area on that wall above the brooder and they could go out through the wall, make a right angle turn to the left (while angling down of course) and end up inside the run. I’m thinking that might make them difficult to get at while using the brooder though.

 

[cmom]

The poop doors are removed for easy clean out. I have wire under the roosts that let the poop drop through, but then I have a lot of birds.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I think it will work if you pretty much stick with the original layout. That way the feeders work. The more bends you put in them the more likely you are going to create a bottleneck. Do not overdesign it to a point that fails.

Leaving the brooder where it is will work. My main interest in a run associated with the brooder and next to the main run was integration or a place for an injured chicken. Having the edge that faces into the main coop a wire door will let them get used to each other, that should be enough. I'm always in favor of more room and more flexibility but unless that brooder run is next to the main run or in it I wouldn't do it. It would be a "nice to have" but I don't see that many benefits to having a new place to clean and maintain.

Cmom's photo got me excited for a bit. Why not hang the brooder outside so you could put the feeders under it so they are out of the rain. But the more I thought about it the more issues I saw. How do you get a wire wall between the brooder and the main coop so the chicks are essentially raised with the flock? I think that is very important. With the brooder profile outside the profile of the coop, extend it down further and have the wire door inside. You could do that. If you put a wire floor on the brooder and put a sloped cover higher up over the feeders to keep the poop out or just make the brooder floor solid to keep poop out of the feed that part could work. But by building a chick run in the main run in that area I think you would destroy accessibility to those feeders and that area under the hanging brooder. How do you clean the area under the brooder. How do you pull maintenance on the feeders if you need to, and you probably will. Stuff happens.

There are a lot of things you could do and you will do some tweaks. But the more information you give (like the elevation at the far corner for a wheelbarrow) the more I like your first basic concept. It is pretty solid.

 

[we3ernes]

Here is a slightly altered version. Instead of a clean-out door I have a people door with the pop-door inside it. I had originally intended for the clean-out door to be outside the run, but by extending the run all the way to the corner of the coop I get more run space but the same drop off for the wheel barrow, I will just have to negotiate the run with the barrow to get it up next to the coop. Since this should only happen a few times a year I think it would be worth the trade-off.

Having a people door there means that people will need to negotiate the 18” step down from the gravel pad to the run. My initial thought is to widen and make more sturdy the chicken ramp so that it can serve people as well. Time will tell if that works better, or a set of removable steps would be better. My original plan was to have the clean out door hinge downward and serve as a chute to the barrow (crossing that 12” section of gravel), but for this scenario I’m having the threshold serve the same purpose. Rather than lift out it will tip down to allow bedding to be pushed smoothly from the coop floor to the barrow.

I’ve shown the largest run I could possibly fit on the left side of the coop - 4’ wide by the depth of the coop. Narrower would probably work better, so it is more likely I would make anything on that side 3’ wide. Height would not be a problem, I can easily put a shed roof on that side of the coop that would be above the windows but below the coop eaves.

I’ve included some windows, but the final sizes and locations will depend on the run construction. We still haven’t decided if we want a gable or a shed roof coming off the coop. Both would have to contend with the eave height (which will be fairly high, at least 8’ above the gravel, so close to 9’6” above the run). A gable roof would (I think) look better, but would interfere with window placement. A shed roof would allow me to put doors/windows where ever I see fit on the side of the coop, but would limit how far out I could go from the coop.

 

[we3ernes]

The poop doors are removed for easy clean out. I have wire under the roosts that let the poop drop through, but then I have a lot of birds.View attachment 1605245

I think if we ever get to more production level of chicken raising that this would be a great set up, but for our current plans and proximity to the house this might be a little too industrial. Will definitely bookmark your coop for down the line though!

 

[cmom]

All of my coops are different but we've built them over many years. All have wire under the roosts and I rake the poop pits out now and then.