Mine is off the ground because it is at the bottom of a slope and we get a lot of rain.
Is a raised coop better than a...........
- Thread starter Bantimna
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we have a raised coop that has a trap door for easy cleaning. i like it but it's getting a little small for the growing flock.
I have a raised coop for bantams.The pop hole is in the floor, with a ramp going down to the ground. The area under the house increases the ground area by 1/3, and gives shelter from sun and rain. The floor level is at hip level making it easy to clean out. Good luck with you build.
I have a raised coop (on blocks and skids) that is a walk-in which I really like and my little girl loves. The slope of othe ground was greater than I expected (amazing what you realize when you have a level) but I really like the cleaning aspect compared to what I read of a coop on the ground with a ground floor.
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I use a converted rabbit hutch for my coop - it is raised about two feet off the ground. The girls love the shaded dirt area underneath - it's a favorite bathing area.
Raise coop all the way. If it rains water could possibly leak into the coop. You can see my BYC page and look at my coops. I can tell you where to get the plans (they are free).
My first coop was a playhouse style coop, off the ground about 3 feet. After living with that for a year, I decided to build a walk-in, and it is SOO much better. With a walk-in you can go in and "hang" with the chicks on not so nice days. There's plenty of access to clean anything, room to put an isolation or integration area if I choose to do so. You can cutsy it up like a little house. Mine is "raised" in the sense that it is on skids to keep it off soil, but EASY to get into. I would not build a raised coop unless forced to do so by time or money constraints.
Mine is a walk-in that sounds similar to chookchicks. I like it for the same reasons too...we keep a little folding chair in there and will sit with our chicks for a few minutes most evenings when they're in for the night. I like that it looks like a cute little house/shed, and that I can walk right in to do whatever I need to do. Mine has a little covered porch area that extends out 4 feet, so they have a place to "hang" if it's raining and they don't want to venture all the way out...
Ridgerunner had some great questions to consider. Another thing to take into consideration is the type of soil that is under the coop and run area - does it drain well when you have rain/snow? Or is it clay that puddles water (that you won't want your birds standing in). Is it on a slope where water will run under the coop?
We have 12 standard sized birds (Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks, Black Stars, etc.). Our coop is sort of a hybrid - it's a walk-in coop that is slightly raised, the floor level is maybe 18 inches off the ground, with a couple of steps for us to get into it. It's 7 x 12 feet, with a 2.5 x 3.5 foot storage area on one end that is accessed from the outside - we store buckets of extra food, shavings, etc. in there. This gives us a corresponding 2.5 x 3.5 foot area inside that we can fence off for isolating injured or younger birds (sick birds are taken care of in a tractor that we keep near our home's back door). It is tall enough to stand upright in comfortably - the side walls are 5 feet tall, and the center point of the ceiling is probably close to 8 feet high, which gives a nice steep pitch to shed rain and snow. We have a full-sized door on the south gable end, which makes cleaning it out pretty simple - our wheelbarrow can fit inside if we want to. We have an attached 15 x 25 foot run that is partially covered.
We originally built the coop about 8 inches off the ground, but realized that the ladies were actually digging to squeeze under there. So we raised it up enough to deter predators and pests, and so we can see what they're doing in there and access stray eggs or a sick/injured bird if need be. The posts are set on concrete piers (I think 8 or 9), so we could move the coop if we really needed to. Thanks to zoning and neighborhood covenants, if we wanted to put it on a permanent foundation, we'd have to get all kinds of permits - having it raised up makes it not a 'permanant structure.'
We get considerable snow build-up here (Utah), so we're banking the open sides with hay bales - they'll still be able access it from their run, but the hay will keep the wind and snow out. Should help keep the coop warmer, too, since the air underneath won't be as cold.
All that said, we love our coop! It's looks like a nice little shed. I like to walk inside every day and see how they're doing, check food and water, etc. It's easy to clean. It's still not entirely finished, but it's insulated and well ventilated and the chickens love it.
We have 12 standard sized birds (Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks, Black Stars, etc.). Our coop is sort of a hybrid - it's a walk-in coop that is slightly raised, the floor level is maybe 18 inches off the ground, with a couple of steps for us to get into it. It's 7 x 12 feet, with a 2.5 x 3.5 foot storage area on one end that is accessed from the outside - we store buckets of extra food, shavings, etc. in there. This gives us a corresponding 2.5 x 3.5 foot area inside that we can fence off for isolating injured or younger birds (sick birds are taken care of in a tractor that we keep near our home's back door). It is tall enough to stand upright in comfortably - the side walls are 5 feet tall, and the center point of the ceiling is probably close to 8 feet high, which gives a nice steep pitch to shed rain and snow. We have a full-sized door on the south gable end, which makes cleaning it out pretty simple - our wheelbarrow can fit inside if we want to. We have an attached 15 x 25 foot run that is partially covered.
We originally built the coop about 8 inches off the ground, but realized that the ladies were actually digging to squeeze under there. So we raised it up enough to deter predators and pests, and so we can see what they're doing in there and access stray eggs or a sick/injured bird if need be. The posts are set on concrete piers (I think 8 or 9), so we could move the coop if we really needed to. Thanks to zoning and neighborhood covenants, if we wanted to put it on a permanent foundation, we'd have to get all kinds of permits - having it raised up makes it not a 'permanant structure.'
We get considerable snow build-up here (Utah), so we're banking the open sides with hay bales - they'll still be able access it from their run, but the hay will keep the wind and snow out. Should help keep the coop warmer, too, since the air underneath won't be as cold.
All that said, we love our coop! It's looks like a nice little shed. I like to walk inside every day and see how they're doing, check food and water, etc. It's easy to clean. It's still not entirely finished, but it's insulated and well ventilated and the chickens love it.
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Quote:
1. I would like to get bantams
2. I would like to have about 9-11 females and 1 male
3. Yes I do plan on hatching, raising chicks
4. Our hottest this spring was 37 degrees Celsius and Coolest for winter -12 degrees Celsius, when a storm is on its way it gets quite windy. Alot of summer rainfall about 400-500 ml (for summer) in winter its dry and cold.
5. Rural area, but still got clinic,vet
6. It will be father away because of smell
7. In winter they'll run free the whole yard, but in summer restricted pen thats moved to a certain area
8. It depends we have a 7or 9m long area we are working on (getting it level)
1. I would like to get bantams
2. I would like to have about 9-11 females and 1 male
3. Yes I do plan on hatching, raising chicks
4. Our hottest this spring was 37 degrees Celsius and Coolest for winter -12 degrees Celsius, when a storm is on its way it gets quite windy. Alot of summer rainfall about 400-500 ml (for summer) in winter its dry and cold.
5. Rural area, but still got clinic,vet
6. It will be father away because of smell
7. In winter they'll run free the whole yard, but in summer restricted pen thats moved to a certain area
8. It depends we have a 7or 9m long area we are working on (getting it level)
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