Input on this Coop plan

[we3ernes]

Ooooooh! I just had a mental breakthrough. I can’t imagine I would be brooding or isolating while on vacation (I’m not spontaneous, and tend to plan these things out). So there is really no reason why the brooder needs to be accessible from the storage area. So what if I put the brooder under the poop board along the back wall of the coop? That would give me a 2’x8’ brooder, and access to an exterior run wall. I could easily put a second pop door in the back right corner and then have a temporary fence within the run to give the chicks their own space. I’m sure I’d find use for the extra space in the storage area, maybe even add that area to the coop in some form or fashion?

 

[cmom]

The inside of the coop. All of the coops have auto waterers. Originally they were inside until we had a malfunction in one of the coops and it got flooded. The nest boxes are all accessible from outside of the coops.

 

[cmom]

I spent months planning in the beginning too. Everyone is different with different circumstances so what works for one person may not work out to well for someone else. Good luck and have fun..

 

[we3ernes]

If you put a wire floor on the brooder

You mentioned this before and I kind of skimmed over it.... I thought a wire floor in a brooder was a no-no? Or maybe it is one of those things (like sand vs. deep litter) that have huge followings on both sides.

I’ve read about wire under the perches and how it can end up being MORE difficult to clean as you end up having to scrub the wire. Is it different with chicks? The only time we raised chicks before it was for 4-H and we only had 3 chicks for about 4 weeks. I built a super large terrarium for them with a mesh top and acrylic front panel and we set them on the table so we could watch chick TV.

For that we used paper towels for the first ½ week then pine shavings. But with so few chicks over such a short time we didn’t really need much else.

 

[Ridgerunner]

There can be an issue with wire floors. Due to the manufacturing process some use you can possibly wind up with sharp nibs on it that can tear up chicken feet. That could be from automatic welding but is usually from hot dip galvanizing. But gravity makes all of those sharp nibs go to one side if they are present. So before you install the wire very carefully run your hand along it to see if you have any nibs, then position the wire with the nibs down where the chickens will not walk on them. It's one of those things that if you don't install it right you can have problems.

Another potential issue. I used 1/2" hardware cloth as the bottom of my brooder and grow-out coop. The chicken poop fell straight through, no problems, until they got a little over three months old. After that the poop got so big it did not fall on through. That was not a problem in the brooder, they weren't in there that long. But it was in the grow-out coop. I'd often keep them in there well over that time. I'd use a garden hoe with a short (broken) handle to rake it loose and a dust pan and hand held brush to clean it out. It was a pain.

If I had it to do over again I'd use 1" hardware cloth in that grow-out coop to see how it worked.

 

[aart]

If I had it to do over again I'd use 1" hardware cloth in that grow-out coop to see how it worked.

Have read of some folks using 1x1 to build but laying 1/2" over that until the birds got bigger.

 

[Kat2141]

Ooooooh! I just had a mental breakthrough. I can’t imagine I would be brooding or isolating while on vacation (I’m not spontaneous, and tend to plan these things out). So there is really no reason why the brooder needs to be accessible from the storage area. So what if I put the brooder under the poop board along the back wall of the coop? That would give me a 2’x8’ brooder, and access to an exterior run wall. I could easily put a second pop door in the back right corner and then have a temporary fence within the run to give the chicks their own space. I’m sure I’d find use for the extra space in the storage area, maybe even add that area to the coop in some form or fashion?

Makes sense... and if you framed the divider fence between the main coop and broader area, you could make it removable to utilize that space when not used for brooding or isolation. Also be easier to clean. If you are like most of us, no matter what, you will end up changing something after you've had them a while.

 

[aart]

So what if I put the brooder under the poop board along the back wall of the coop? That would give me a 2’x8’ brooder, and access to an exterior run wall. I could easily put a second pop door in the back right corner and then have a temporary fence within the run to give the chicks their own space. I’m sure I’d find use for the extra space in the storage area, maybe even add that area to the coop in some form or fashion?

Yep, just remember you'll have to get down on the floor to tend to the brooder inhabitants...my knees are shot so I always see this aspect.

You certainly will find use for that extra storage space.
I have thought all along here, why do you need a porch when you could have more coop space? Take at least 2-3 of those 4 porch feet.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Here are shots of my brooder built in the coop. The top is a droppings board and the bottom is 1/2" hardware cloth. When it is empty I use it as a broody buster or to isolate a chicken that needs isolating. In the top photo you can see some adult chicken poop off to the right I hadn't cleaned up. It was dry and hard so I just left it. I did not see that it was doing any harm at all in that dry and hard condition.

Those tree limb roosts are about 5' off the coop floor. The top of the brooder is about 4' high, it just looks like more space between them because of the angle. The bottom of the brooder is about 2' off the coop floor. I made the brooder 3' x 6'. I did not go all the way across as I was concerned I may not be able to reach the far corners easily through the door. I made a net out of a stiff wire and one of those mesh bags you get fruit in so I could catch the chicks. I filled in the gap that was not under the roosts with bins I got from Walmart. It was pretty easy to clean the top. I used a short handled (broken) garden hoe to loosen the stuff and reach the back and a squeegee to scrape it into one of those bins. It would have been even easier if I painted it or put vinyl on top but to me it wasn't worth it. I wanted enough room between the roosts and the brooder top so I had enough room to scrape without removing the roosts.

This shot is when it was in use as a brooder. I put bins under it to catch the poop so cleaning was easy. The plastic was to keep the hens from getting under there and laying eggs. For some reason those bins tempted them. This was spring after danger of really cold (freezing) weather was past. The plastic was up high enough to act as breeze protection, though that probably wasn't really needed inside the coop. When it was still cold I'd wrap the sides all the way to the top with plastic and put in a second heat lamp on the same end as the other and move the water to that area so it stayed thawed. I used a 2x2 to hold the ends of the plastic down. To clean the brooder I removed the 2x2 and slid the bins out. That brooder stayed really dry.

One heat lamp was in that chimney at the left so I could easily raise and lower it without the adults getting to it. Changing out the bulb to a different wattage was a pain. That chimney provided good breeze-free ventilation up high when it was wrapped. In freezing weather that far end sometimes had frost in it but the heated end stayed toasty. It was a little awkward trying to catch the chicks in the far corners but I was hardly ever on my knees. My knees are shot also. I can appreciate where that comment is coming from.

Just what I did to maybe give you something to think about. There are all kinds of different ways to do these things.

 

[Kat2141]

Yep, just remember you'll have to get down on the floor to tend to the brooder inhabitants...my knees are shot so I always see this aspect.

You certainly will find use for that extra storage space.
I have thought all along here, why do you need a porch when you could have more coop space? Take at least 2-3 of those 4 porch feet.

My thought on the porch too but then
I figure it is important to her. It will be cute, I'm sure.