Kitting out the inside of my henhouse... suggestions?

[Gypsy07]

I'm in the middle of building a new henhouse and run. I've got myself an 8' x 6' shed and I'm building an 8' x 8' x 5' high run alongside it. The plan is to have a tin roof over the run and a deep litter flooring of bark chips on top of gravel, for decent drainage. I'm not too worried about sorting out the run, as my hens are allowed out to free-range all day, almost every day. But I am wondering how best to kit out the inside of the shed. I have eight hens at the moment, and four chicks who will be moving in with them in due course. And hopefully another four at some future point.

So I need sufficient roosting space for at least 12 birds, and maybe 16. I'd like advice on what total length of perching space I should provide for them, and what height off the ground they would prefer it to be. Should I plan to put their food and water inside the shed, or out in the run? Or both? Would it be worthwhile setting up some of those gravity fed watering systems with a tank and drinking cups instead of one big drinker? Would that save a lot of spilled water, mess and cleaning up? Would they like a dust bath box inside their shed, or out in the run? I'm giving them three nesting boxes which should be enough at the moment, with another three planned for the future. Is there anything else I should be thinking of?

Sorry for all the questions, but I've never done this before. Obviously. LOL!

 

[Chieftain]

Welcome aboard! Do you have any pictures? That always helps sort these things out...

I also recommend that you go up on Amazon, and buy a copy of "Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens" by Gail Damerow. It's even available on Kindle now. It's the best primer on all aspects of raising chickens that I have seen yet, and I cannot recommend it strongly enough. Once you get it, I guarantee you'll read it cover to cover, and probably have all kinds of highlighted pages (like mine...).

Press On!

 

[Gypsy07]

Hi Chieftain. I'll post a pic of my set-up today. Thanks for the tip-off on the Storey's book but I already have quite a few 'Chickens 101' type books. The Storey's Guides ARE great - I've got the meat goats one - but a lot of their information and addresses aren't relevant to me as I'm over in Scotland. Like, all the advice on ordering chicks from hatcheries is interesting and all, but we can't send live animals through the post over here. I've actually had chickens for a few months now and they're all doing fine. I meant more that I was new to coop building etc.

Up till now my chickens have been living in a spare stable, with their feeder and drinker inside. My neighbour has a big mesh run out in a field, with the feeder and water out in the run and a small henhouse that just has a perch and nesting boxes in it. That's why I was asking about inside or outside for the food and water. I thought they'd need access to water all the time but a lot of the henhouses I see online, there's no room for water inside so the chickens are shut up at night without it. I was wondering if that was better...

 

[Doopy]

Hi Gypsy - I certainly not a pro at this stuff but here are my suggestions . . .
1. Plan on providing about .33 sq. meters (3.5 sq. ft.) per bird of floor space.
2. Try to provide 300mm (12") per bird of roosting.
3. Sometimes the birds like to have two different levels of roosting perch. I would suggest one perch at approximately 0.6m (2 ft.) and one at approximately 0.9m (3 ft.). Try to install the perches so that one is not directly above the other. They will poop on the lower birds. Uck!
4. I never have water inside the coop unless the snow is very deep or the temperature is well below freezing. Water in the coop begs to be spilled. Messy.
5. Provide lots of ventilation. Winter and summer.
I hope others will jump in here and offer their ideas.
Good luck.