Massive coop upgrade!

[Raubkatze]

Well, we are now up to 12 chickens, and have sadly outgrown our Nestera. I got to build the coop that I had wanted to build from the start, but that my husband had thought would be overkill. I started with a Keter shed as a base, and then added ventilation and roosting bars. Next step will be to add the nesting boxes. I am holding off for a bit yet as the "adult" girls were sleeping in the nesting boxes in the Nestera. Every time I tried to block them off, they just broke down the blockades and went back to sleeping in them. So, we will wait to add nesting boxes until they are closer to laying age.

These pallets were given to us by a guy that works at a Pepsi bottling plant, and they have proven to be so helpful, we used them to make a hard, level base:

Shed itself went up in an afternoon. It definitely wasn't fun, but it wasn't an impossible task either:

Added the roosting bars:

Added extra ventilation, we ended up deciding to run the plug connection for the door along the inside to protect it from weather:

Adding the auto door and securing the hardware cloth of the run to the coop so there are no gaps:

And, now that the Nestera coop isn't in the run, the girls have so much more room for activities! I need to figure out what I am going to fill their extra space with:

All of the girls immediately went into their new coop to check it out. I am hoping the transition to sleeping in there tonight will be a smooth one.

 

[ChaosMom]

Well, we are now up to 12 chickens, and have sadly outgrown our Nestera. I got to build the coop that I had wanted to build from the start, but that my husband had thought would be overkill. I started with a Keter shed as a base, and then added ventilation and roosting bars. Next step will be to add the nesting boxes. I am holding off for a bit yet as the "adult" girls were sleeping in the nesting boxes in the Nestera. Every time I tried to block them off, they just broke down the blockades and went back to sleeping in them. So, we will wait to add nesting boxes until they are closer to laying age.

These pallets were given to us by a guy that works at a Pepsi bottling plant, and they have proven to be so helpful, we used them to make a hard, level base:

View attachment 4137098

Shed itself went up in an afternoon. It definitely wasn't fun, but it wasn't an impossible task either:
View attachment 4137099

Added the roosting bars:
View attachment 4137100

Added extra ventilation, we ended up deciding to run the plug connection for the door along the inside to protect it from weather:
View attachment 4137101

Adding the auto door and securing the hardware cloth of the run to the coop so there are no gaps:
View attachment 4137102

And, now that the Nestera coop isn't in the run, the girls have so much more room for activities! I need to figure out what I am going to fill their extra space with:
View attachment 4137110

All of the girls immediately went into their new coop to check it out. I am hoping the transition to sleeping in there tonight will be a smooth one.

What’s your total square footage of ventilation in the coop?

And are you going to keep the Nestera as a broody, quarantine, integration etc. coop?

 

[Penpal]

The roosting bars should all be at the same height. I'm not sorry they will like those bars. If not then replace them with 2 x 4

 

[Raubkatze]

What’s your total square footage of ventilation in the coop?

And are you going to keep the Nestera as a broody, quarantine, integration etc. coop?

I'm not sure, its definitely more than the Nestera had, which was one of my goals with this build. After the night I was running back and forth in the middle of a thunderstorm that was producing tornados because my chickens were overheating, I knew I had to do something different.

Right now the Nestera is for sale, but no bites yet. I have multiple options available for quarantine and introduction thanks to raising babies.

 

[Raubkatze]

Well, I am sticking my foot in my mouth. A couple of the girls started, uh, squatting this morning when I went to pick them up after they got out the coop door. So, nesting boxes will be added to the coop tomorrow!

 

[Raubkatze]

The roosting bars should all be at the same height. I'm not sorry they will like those bars. If not then replace them with 2 x 4

They seem to be doing just fine.

 

[Folly's place]

If your nest boxes are set maybe 20" to 24" above the floor, that gives the birds more floor space. The roosts should all be above the top of the nest boxes, because they will want to roost as high as possible, and the best roost bars are 2" to 4" diameter, not smooth. We use saplings or thick branches, bark on.
Chickens were jungle animals and roosted in trees! Silkies can't fly up to anything, but birds with normal feathering have no issues.
And how big is this coop, and how much ventilation?
Hope your run hardware cloth is secured better than that one picture too.
Mary