Michigan Thread - all are welcome!

[Fun Chicken]

Sorry, gonna be blunt......
.....I think it would be a nightmare to have a coop under there, but I'm old and can't crawl around on the ground very well anymore.

Agrees with Raz about the flake board/OSB...and yochikiemomma about the deck being a waterproof 'roof' for the coop.

Access would be difficult to say the least, especially after the snow piles up, it's maybe about 4 foot from ground to deck joists?
Am guessing it's on the north side of the house, judging by algae growth on house siding, would be dark and damp.....rife for for mold growth.

I totally understand about the crawlling, trust me. I'm not planning on crawling either though. I want to be able to open up at least one side (probably by the stairs) to be able to clean with a looong handle broom and maybe a hose when it needs it. The nest boxes will have access from outside for me so hopefully, Lord willing, I wont have to get in there, lol. This is the SE but mostly E. But I think what you thought was algae is some other type of plant, maybe moss? We are at the edge of a forest. Thanks for all your input. I love this!

 

[Folly's place]

Raz and aart are right, and I'll add that you WILL be crawling in there, to get eggs and birds that want to be in inconvenient places. Also, the flake board floor will not live long, but the rodents and other critters will love that space! Using the dirt floor with a dig proof perimeter is a much better choice! You may rot out your deck boards, and that won't be good either. There will be times when the coop may smell a bit like a chicken coop, as in those warm summer evenings when you want to use the deck. Sorry to be so negative, but I'm also not a fan of crawling around in coop litter. Mary

 

[bigmrg74]

This is the view from my backyard. We have Kiwi growing on the opposite side of the stairs and a Russian vine on the side of the stairs. Between the two, they pretty much cover up the whole porch and stairs, lol.

This is the begginings of the coop. We put insulation in the ceiling so that it would not leak.

I was originally going to leave the rest of this under the porch for them to be in undercover and for a dust bath, but I think I'm going to extend the coop to the next posts (right after the stairs) and just leave the very tip for those purposes.

Yeah, a coop in under there is going to a big pain in the butt. I would think that you would be better off building a separate coop that you can actually stand up in to clean it out, and just close in the under porch area to use it as a run area. You'll still want to access in under the porch, but having your egg collection somewhere were you can stand up at will be a lot more convenient.

 

[1muttsfan]

From what I read most folks that locate the coop against their house or garage usually end up unhappy. Birds are very dusty and it gets everywhere. My main concern is the roof, if you do not have a solid waterproof cover then you will have moisture problems, very bad for birds.

 

[Fun Chicken]

I hear all your concerns, and I'll probably will end up having to move them later. My problem is that they are in a 4'×4'brooder, and there's 23 very unhappy chickies crammed in there. They try to get out every single time I go to feed them. So, I have to hurry up and get that coop built! Well built, of course, but as fast as humanly possible; and we're already halfway or better done. If I were to start someplace else, it would take that much longer, not to mentioned more $$$$!!! So, there you have it. I will take into consideration all your thoughts and ideas, and try my best to make it as safe for my girls, as well as eazy on me. As far as the dust, we don't use the back porch anymore except for plants in the summer, since my kids can't go back there. I thank you all for all your input. I really, really appreciate it. Many of these things we would never have thought of. I will make sure and post a picture when it's all done. Maybe you'll have some more ideas I can incorporate.

 

[Folly's place]

Mary

 

[snowflake]

I totally understand about the crawlling, trust me. I'm not planning on crawling either though. I want to be able to open up at least one side (probably by the stairs) to be able to clean with a looong handle broom and maybe a hose when it needs it. The nest boxes will have access from outside for me so hopefully, Lord willing, I wont have to get in there, lol. This is the SE but mostly E. Bout I think what you thought was algae is some other type of plant, maybe moss? We are at the edge of a forest. Thanks for all your input. I love this!

your deck looks similar to ours but ours is second story deck and we have so much water because of the clay, and our outer posts are rising, (AGAIN)..we have graded,put in drain tiles, ect, ours is on the NE side.
ANY HOW, you plan should do well for the winter, and if you have to put on an extra tarp over the top you could. an open side will work well, and outside egg boxs can work very well,;;;;; You may want to build something farther away from the house next spring, chickens can get smelly

If you can have a run with food and water outside the coop, it will stay cleaner inside, besides you will have to shovel less with the coop so close to the house........ Son just came to show me the winter outlook,,,,, colder then normal. more snow then normal ...... So when it gets here it may be nasty. so if you can cover your run area, they will come out and eat easily, there are directions for making outside nest boxs, on the coop sight, they should be insulated unless you can check for eggs often so they don't freeze, good luck, good thing your almost done, as winter is on its way,
I have some 4x4 coops that I use for baby chicks, I clean from the side opening, put a tarp down and pull out dirty bedding then hall the tarp out to were I can dump.

 

[RaZ]

From what I read most folks that locate the coop against their house or garage usually end up unhappy. Birds are very dusty and it gets everywhere. My main concern is the roof, if you do not have a solid waterproof cover then you will have moisture problems, very bad for birds.

This is the issue I have with people claiming that the Deep Litter Method (DLM) provides heat in the winter. IF that litter is composting to the extent that it is producing heat then it is far too moist in the coop for the health of the birds.

 

[aart]

This is the issue I have with people claiming that the Deep Litter Method (DLM) provides heat in the winter. IF that litter is composting to the extent that it is producing heat then it is far too moist in the coop for the health of the birds.

I concur........but it's like getting sip of water out of a firehose.

 

[yochickiemomma]

Fun I think what you have going will be ok for a first coop. I learned a lot and changed a few things along the way w my first coop which is still in use. Mine are both walk in coops but with a bad knee it was a must for me.