My 1st Coop Build

[BF2014]

Emma Miriam, thanks for taking the time in your post!

I have a design setup for a DIY automatic door using a utility battery, solar panel and misc parts..... To start, I'm going to just open and close the door daily so that the new gals get used to us and this will give me some more time to work out the door design.

A dropping board I'm not familiar with but would love to have more info on this.
I'm at the point in the build that I don't think I can come up with more square footage than the 3x5ft foot-print.

This build, even though it may not be the ideal coop thus far, has a story behind it which I failed to explain earlier. I have not spent a single penny on the coop yet... pallets donated, misc wood salvaged, right down to reusing the rusty bent nails my boy and I painstakingly removed from pallets & hammered out straight to reuse. All this done to show my young boy that it's not how much money you have, not what we could just go out and buy but making due with what u have on hand & being proud of what you can do with your own bare hands

 

[Folly's place]

Good work! If you find more birds in your future, it will work for a broody or chicks too. mary

 

[Emma Miriam]

Oh, wonderful! I didn't realize that. Good for you!! In that case, I'd say 3-4 large fowl or 5 bantams could fit comfortably in that coop.

I also realized I missed a question of yours earlier: how much room chickens need on the perch. I'm not certain if you're asking about linear room or headroom, so I'll answer both. Rule of thumb is 8-12 inches of linear roosting space per chicken, and since you live in a warm climate and your hens will want to spread out, I'd say 12 inches minimum. If I were you, I'd just put one roosting pole along the 5 foot side of your coop, which would give the hens ample roosting space. As for headroom, ideally you want the perch at least two feet below the ventilation at the top of the coop. And if you can, put the roost at least 12 inches away from the wall, or the chickens will poop on the wall.

Droppings boards are so nice! They're basically a board (often plywood) a few inches underneath the roost. When the hens poop during the night, all those droppings will fall on the droppings board instead of on the floor. Now, there are two different kinds of droppings boards. One is just a flat piece of plywood, often covered with linoleum. There's no bedding on the board, and every 1-2 days, you just use a taping knife or paint scraper to scrape the droppings off the linoleum into a bucket. The other type of droppings board looks like this (picture by BYCer Hokum Coco...I'm jealous!):

You fill that with a couple inches of sand or Sweet PDZ (great product that dries out poop and masks odor), and use a kitty litter scraper to clean it out a couple times a week. Both ways work: it depends on how often you want to clean it off and which setup you prefer.

Specifically, a droppings board is usually 12-18 inches long, centered under the roost, and is usually at least 3.5 inches below the roost.

Here's a great article I found on the benefits of droppings boards:
http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/04/droppings-boards-because-poop-happens.html

Hope that helps! By the way, how tall are you thinking of making your coop?

 

[ChickenCanoe]

... Whichever breed we go with, I must end up with hens... Even though we have over 5 acres, I don't think my neighbors would appreciate an early morning alarm clock lol

...

I think the fear of an outdoor alarm clock is overhyped. I usually keep 5 or fewer roosters but right now I have more than 10. I'm on about an acre in the suburbs. I can't hear the roosters crow if I'm in the house. Until I let them out in the morning, they aren't even very loud when I'm standing outside. There are 2 other people on my street with roosters. We all live on the side of the road that is zoned for minimum 1 acre lots. The other side of the road are all subdivisions. There have been zero complaints.
My closest neighbor's house (an African American family) is less than 100 feet from my closest coop. I went to help them when they got their truck stuck in the mud at the edge of their driveway. I asked the son if he could hear the roosters. He said, "yes'. I asked if they bothered him. He said, "oh no". When his mother came out, I assumed they had discussed the roosters and I asked her if they bothered her. She asked, "You have chickens?" She didn't know I had them till I told her.
My next closest neighbor is an elderly couple across the street from my house. They didn't know I had them till I told them.
My theory is that if you have paper thin walls, single pane windows and no insulation, which may be the case in Florida, they may be a nuisance. They just aren't that loud.
Lawn mowers, weed eaters, boom boxes, barking dogs and train whistles are all louder than roosters.
When sitting at my computer right next to a window, I can't hear roosters, no matter how many are crowing. Sitting at the same computer at 4 AM, I can hear the train whistle 4 miles away.
I had to install baby monitors in the coops so I'd be alerted to problems.
Roosters do crow with first light and may be louder in an open sided coop but still not that loud if not right next to a house.
A couple of our richest suburban cities allow roosters. A friend of mine in Clayton, one of the richest cities in MO has had roosters for at least 5 years and they're right next to her neighbor's house. Granted most of us have old brick homes that shield a lot of noise.

Ok, food inside-

, Water inside-

, Electric net fencing for perimeter protection (soon to be

)
Thanks and appreciate everyone for the info and continue to look for suggestions!

Advantages of food inside is they can start eating when they awaken and the wild birds won't steal as much.
Water inside for the former reason.

...

As for breeds, it sounds like you're looking for three things: heat tolerant, friendly, and pretty good egg layers. Some breeds to consider: Australorp, Orpington, Easter Egger, Sussex, Brahma, Welsummer...and, if you want a SUPER FRIENDLY yet not amazing egg layer, a Silkie. Easter Eggers (blue/green) and Welsummers (chocolate brown) will add color to your egg basket. Orpingtons are said to rival Silkies in their potential for being a lap chicken, and Australorps are excellent egg layers who are also friendly. I personally have a Brahma, Sussex, and Easter Egger, and my Brahma is extremely friendly (she jumps up on my lap), with my Sussex a close second. Speckled Sussex are BEAUTIFUL birds. ...

...

Those are good friendly breeds with good qualities but it's a tough call. I usually recommend people start with a short list of breeds that can handle their climate before they start whittling the list further for birds that match their wants and needs. Having birds suited to one's climate can make chicken keeping so much less of a hassle.
For Florida, I wouldn't recommend the cold hardy breeds like Brahma and even Welsummer, Orpington and Aorps, can suffer in a long hot summer. I know others in Fla, have them but a welsummer was the only chicken I've ever lost to heat.
Brahmas are very heavy feathered and tend to go broody as do orps, aorps and silkies.
As a general rule, big combed breeds handle heat better. Most American, Continental. English and some Asiatic class breeds are bred for cold hardiness.
I realize that Mediterranean breeds tend to be less friendly but I'd rather have birds that can take the heat. Even skittish breeds can be tamed if handled often as they grow.
Mediterranean class birds tend to lay better, are better foragers and avoid predation better.
In that group are Anconas, Catalanas, Minorcas, White Face Black Spanish, Leghorns, Blue Andalusians. Most of those aren't common except Leghorns.

Emma Miriam, thanks for taking the time in your post!

I have a design setup for a DIY automatic door using a utility battery, solar panel and misc parts..... To start, I'm going to just open and close the door daily so that the new gals get used to us and this will give me some more time to work out the door design.

A dropping board I'm not familiar with but would love to have more info on this.
I'm at the point in the build that I don't think I can come up with more square footage than the 3x5ft foot-print.

This build, even though it may not be the ideal coop thus far, has a story behind it which I failed to explain earlier. I have not spent a single penny on the coop yet... pallets donated, misc wood salvaged, right down to reusing the rusty bent nails my boy and I painstakingly removed from pallets & hammered out straight to reuse. All this done to show my young boy that it's not how much money you have, not what we could just go out and buy but making due with what u have on hand & being proud of what you can do with your own bare hands

sounds good on the auto door and the excellent recycling.
Get more pallets and free stuff on craigslist to make a free larger coop.

 

[BF2014]

Again thanks to everyone for all this help!

Emma Miriam, at the peak of roof, the coop will be approx 44" tall. Today I added roof peak ventilation on each end of coop with chicken wire and also built a wooden framed wire door for one end of the coop to give easy access inside the coop and allow additional ventilation. I built the ramp leading into and out of the coop and started a front porch overhang.
I've decided to cut the # of nesting boxes down from 4 to 3 and where the 4th box would have been; that's where I will set up the auto feeder and watering system.
The dropping board, I think I'll try to design it into my coop...but..... space is very precious in this small coop so I must be careful

& I'm always looking to craigslist for supplies!

 

[BF2014]

I'm also searching local CL ads for people selling birds. I want to make sure the coop is complete & fencing is up and going before I purchase anything but taking in all the offered advice on different breeds.

 

[Emma Miriam]

Sounds good! And thank you ChickenCanoe for clarifying about breeds. I was also thinking, maybe Red Sex-Linked or RIR? Those are both pretty friendly breeds and great egg layers. Are they heat tolerant?

One quick thing for the OP: you mentioned you used chicken wire for ventilation. Do you mean hardware cloth? On the coop, never use anything but 1/2 inch, 19 gauge hardware cloth. That may have been what you meant, but I just want to make sure.

Hm, 44 inches tall. In that case, I wouldn't put the roost any higher than 18-20 inches off the floor. You probably won't have a full 44 inches to work with due to roof slope and eave ventilation, and the hens need at least 18 inches of headroom. If you do that, make sure your exterior nesting boxes aren't raised too much: 12 inches max. Otherwise your hens may start sleeping in them.

If you put the roost at 20 inches, a droppings board could go at 17.5 inches, and the hens could still walk under it. If you feel it's too squishy, though, no biggie. Droppings boards are great but not necessary.

Keep us updated!

 

[Percheron chick]

RIR can be bullies in mixed flock. There are good ones out there but a first timer doesn't need the potential for drama.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Again thanks to everyone for all this help!

Emma Miriam, at the peak of roof, the coop will be approx 44" tall. Today I added roof peak ventilation on each end of coop with chicken wire and also built a wooden framed wire door for one end of the coop to give easy access inside the coop and allow additional ventilation. I built the ramp leading into and out of the coop and started a front porch overhang.
I've decided to cut the # of nesting boxes down from 4 to 3 and where the 4th box would have been; that's where I will set up the auto feeder and watering system.
The dropping board, I think I'll try to design it into my coop...but..... space is very precious in this small coop so I must be careful

& I'm always looking to craigslist for supplies!

Gable vents are effective.
Chicken wire keeps chickens in but won't keep predators out. A raccoon can tear it to shreds.
I'd cut back to 2 nests. They'll never use more than that.

Good job on recycling but I'd look for more material so you can make it both taller and with more square footage of floor. Have you considered cleaning or access to the birds if it is too small to enter?
https://www.freecycle.org/browse/US/Florida
https://trashnothing.com/groups/united-states/florida/


Another idea is to go with your current design. Then continue to accumulate building materials and either enlarge it later or build a second one. I've never been mad at myself for having multiple coops. Everyone should have at least one additional housing option for quarantining new birds, sick ones, injured birds or broody hens - even if it is just a cage in the garage.

I'm also searching local CL ads for people selling birds. I want to make sure the coop is complete & fencing is up and going before I purchase anything but taking in all the offered advice on different breeds.

Good plan. Some people put the cart before the horse and say, "I have chickens, now what?"

...

One quick thing for the OP: you mentioned you used chicken wire for ventilation. Do you mean hardware cloth? On the coop, never use anything but 1/2 inch, 19 gauge hardware cloth. That may have been what you meant, but I just want to make sure.

...

X2

RIR can be bullies in mixed flock. There are good ones out there but a first timer doesn't need the potential for drama.

X2

 

[TalkALittle]

The bigger the breed, the bigger the droppings board needs to be. I have Barred Rocks and Buff Orpingtons. My board is 24" from front to back with a 2x4 roost centered over it and every once in a while somebody's poop still reaches the edge of it.

My birds tend to all face away from the wall when they roost. If my board had to be narrower due to space limitations I would probably place it so that it was a little off-center and closest to the wall where most of their rear ends end up most of the time. It wouldn't be perfect but it would still catch most of the poop. Not every flock will be as cooperative as mine and you might end up with some backwards facing roost users though.

In a small coop you need to make sure that the birds have an easy path to jump up to the roost. The front edge of the droppings board shouldn't extend so far out into the center of the coop as to prevent the birds from finding a good take-off position.

My girls actually jump to the edge of the droppings board first and then hop up to the roost. If you get heavy breeds make sure your boards can take the weight without bowing.

Some people just place plastic boot trays on the floor under the roost and cover them with a thin layer of shavings. Then they just lift the trays out every couple of days and dump the soiled shavings. It's an easy, no construction alternative.