Just another FNG building a chicken coop

[drumstick diva]

I don't believe any cats should be allowed around chickens, same with dogs. Sooner or later they give in to their dark side.

 

[blackdust951]

helloand welcome to Backyard Chickens!we're so happy you've decided to join us hereits great to have you here with us enjoy your time here.

 

[N F C]

When it comes to coops, the bigger the better. And if you can make it tall enough to stand in, that's handiest because sooner or later, someone will need to get in there to retrieve a bird or clean (or repair) areas that can't be reached from outside.

Your wife is going to have a great time with her present this year!

 

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome to BYC We're so happy you've decided to join us

 

[Susannah4040]

G'day and Welcome

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC FNmooseGuy!
The roof line is sweet, needs some overhang tho.
Being able to take it apart in 6 parts would be tricky.
What is your climate?
Adding your location to your profile is immensely helpful.
The nastier your climate, the more coop space the better...
...and a the more a walk-in coop makes sense.
The 4/10 rule is bare minimum IMO.
6 birds might be tight in what I assume is a 4x8 coop.
4' doors may be cumbersome.
Might be a good starter coop tho.
What looks like about a 3' height in coop may not be the greatest.

Here's my theory on the 'stack up' aspect to coop design:
Bottom of pop door is best about 8" above floor so bedding doesn't get dragged out of coop.

Nice to have bottom of nests about 18" above bedding to allow use of that floor space under them(doesn't count if your nests are mounted on outside of coop).

Roosts are best about 12" higher than nests so birds won't roost(sleep) in nests and poop in them, if you use poop boards under roosts it will also 'stretch' your floor space.

Upper venting works best as high as possible above roosts so no strong drafts hit roosts in winter...and hot/moist air and ammonia can rise and exit coop.


And Go Big ...3 separate sections for Main flock, Growout/broody/isolation/hospital, and Feed/supply storage has made my chicken life much easier. Actually wish I had made grow-out area larger(for ease of tending) and had 1 or 2 more sections.

 

[Cryss]

You are a super guy, what a great gift!
I agree with aart on the coop design. I wish I had gotten a TALLER coop! AND bigger! I only have 4 pullets. Coop with attached run is 3.5x7 and 5 ft tall IF I climb in through a 2x4 door.
Larger run is 10x10 with the coop positioned inside which reduces the area from 100sq. ft. to 79 sq ft. According to standard minimal figures that means I could have 8 chooks. No way. As they grow I can see they need more! Ok. So come spring I'm building a big coop and extending the run to 10x30. Lots of extra work but the current coop can serve as a growout/broody/isolation/hospital/etc coop so I'm not too upset. So, yeah, go bigger, taller, and preditor proof both tbe coop and the run. Hawks and owls from above, raccons, fox, weasel types from below AND above (cuz they climb), and below ground from diggers fox, raccoons, snakes.
It's all worth it.

 

[JurassicBawk]

My dad built my chicken house for me and it looks like a smaller version of what you are working on. The house is 4x4, 3 foot tall, and on a 3 foot stand so they have access below/inside/above it. It's inside my 10x10 pen, so I have to walk into the coop to access anything, which works out perfectly fine for me. If I had a standalone standard coop with attached pen, I would have wanted it tall enough for me to walk into, as opening the large access door outward into a non-secure yard would make me nervous about a bird getting out.

Here are a few pics of my chicken house in progress, in case it helps you at all. One pic shows a temp roof we were considering, but we ended up covering it in plywood, tar paper, and leftover roofing shingles from my house. The birds like that better as they sleep up there in nice weather. The door-in-a-door feature is awesome, because it's a screen door for ventilation in hot weather, and the solid door fits right into hinges and becomes one heavy solid door with plexiglass windows for cold weather. The vents are regular house wall vents that can be opened/closed as needed. We made a 'porch' out of a 1x2 board that fits right outside the door with a ramp extending down towards the front to the ground. Then if I ever want to make this a standalone with an attached pen, I can just cover the area underneath and put the pen out to the side for them.

 

[FrankieDoodle]

Welcome to BYC!!!

 

[bjmoose]

I live in the Bay Area of California; our climate is pretty mild. But I have it in mind that we might want to move/retire to South Lake Tahoe in a few years, so being able to disassemble the coop to move it would be cool. Or if we turned out not to want it, it would be easier to sell to someone else if we could move it.

A couple years back we helped some friends move a small chicken coop they bought off of craigslist. We put that one in the back of my truck. So my initial thought was it should be sized to be able to fit in my truck. Hence, the 4' x 6' footprint basic footprint. But then I realized even then, it *still* couldn't fit through our back yard fence gate unless disassembled. And as I planned it out, I also started to realize it would be too heavy to lift unless it was disassembled. So I started to think it should be designed and built to be able to be disassembled.

But it would certainly be easier to build it *NOT* to be disassembled.

So based on all your feedback, I'm starting to think I should just build a coop for here. Then if and when we do end up moving, I'll just build a new one that's suited to the new location. And then I don't have to add any insulation to this one.

Besides, I like building things.

I continue to like the idea of a smaller coop where basically one whole wall opens up as double doors for easy access to clean the whole thing, rather than making a larger coop that a human would have to walk in to in order to clean. Building doors is kinda hard, but I've got some practice at it. And all the links you fine folks point me to seem to suggest that 24 square feet is a large enough coop for six chickens, assuming they have pretty much full-time access to a large outdoor run.

Keep the input coming. I promise to read and consider all of it, even if I don't promise to adopt all of it. I'm kinda stubborn that way.

EDIT: Oh, and the roof definitely needs overhangs. Just didn't show them in my primitive working sketch.