Large Coop off Ground?

[Teila]

Thank you TeenageRooster'sDad I will pass that along to hubby.

I dug out some pictures of a similar design we used at our previous home but smaller version. This one is also quite high and I have better pictures of access without the floor ....

 

[aart]

Welcome to BYC!

Basically build a large shed, walk-in coop is the way to go, it can be elevated(great shade place for birds) but make it high enough to get under there if needed. I actually fenced off part of under the coop so I could reach them if needed without crawling too far.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/aarts-coop-page.65912/

 

[lazy gardener]

I suggest a walk in coop. You will need to plan AT LEAST 4 s.f. per bird in the coop, and will need ventilation year round to = 10% of your floor space or 1 s.f. of ventilation per bird. You might consider building the Woods Open Air style coop. This is an excellent plan for all climates. You can build it with a wood floor, or put a good buried skirt down and do a soil floor which works well for deep litter management. If you do a wood floor, you might want to put hardware cloth between floor joists and your ply wood.

My 10 x 12 coop can be seen in my interview in my signature. You will have to paste the site into a search bar to open it up. It is set on concrete footer blocks which are set on a layer of pea stone.

 

[Ohmyheart]

I love my off the ground coop. It's 4x16, 4 feet off the ground.

 

[Teila]

I love my off the ground coop. It's 4x16, 4 feet off the ground.

Nice one!

 

[Ohmyheart]

Nice one!

Thank you.

 

[Ruralhideaway]

I love my off the ground coop. It's 4x16, 4 feet off the ground.

That's way higher than average. Seems your underneath space would be pretty useful. Plus you can reach 4ft. Managing 8ft deep would be tough.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Here's all the coop ideas you need.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/chicken-coops.12/

 

[Chickie7]

Wow thanks everyone for the replies! Sorry it's taken me a while to get back on here. It's been a crazy busy week at work. I'm definitely taking all of your ideas and comments into consideration. My husband was ready to start breaking ground on the new coop a few days ago, but I held him off so we could sit down and really talk about how we're going to do this so we don't end up regretting part of it. Now my biggest issue seems to be the chicken dander in the house. My 5 year old daughter is waking up with a horrible cough which could be allergies or a cold, but from what I'm learning about respiratory issues that can come from chickens, I'm nervous that her cough may have something to do with being around the chicken dander (even though we're cleaning out these huge totes several times a day).

 

[Ruralhideaway]

Could be. Not kind on the lungs at all. Do you have anywhere else to stash them for a bit?