My Coop

[DallasChickyMomma]

I am having a hard time with figuring out how to complete this coop with the necessary chicky stuff, the biggest problem being ventilation.

Our coop is a little on the short side, about 4ft tall without the roof on as of yet. (Need it to not be seen over the 6ft privacy fence.) The next box/roost area is 2 ft tall and 4 ft long. The squares on the back of it are coming off as we are planning on putting the boxes inside. The roost will be placed long ways across the nest box/roost area. As of right now, the flooring is only 2 feet in, but I believe the intention is to extend half of it length wise to make way for me to be able to get into the coop, and also for a removable ladder for the chicks to get in and out of the roost.

Like I mentioned, we are having problems with knowing what kind of ventilation to make in this coop for the summers, and how to keep it warm in the winter, and it gets pretty windy here, so another thing is keeping drafts out during the winter as well. It seems like out weak point wind wise is going to be the door/ladder area.

We are in the north part of the Dallas, Texas area. This past winter we had about 1 1/2 feet of snow, and the summers here are pretty humid and generally in the high 90's low 100 degree mark.

Clear as mud right?

 

[Guitartists]

You could make a screened part along the top of the coop with a wood door/cover that is hinged and can be opened, all or some or none, depending on the weather. But I'm no expert....hopefully some more folks will offer up their ideas

 

[sattoritx]

Being a TX native myself although about an hour south of you (we only got 4" of snow last winter) Your design is very similar to mine, and for ventilation we plan on making the side of the coop that opens to the run swing up and eye hook into the frame of the run.
We will have an opening on the opposite wall as well.
we are using our natural cross winds of the field next door to move air through our coop in the summer.

 

[DallasChickyMomma]

These are both great ideas!

We have 3 hawks that fly around here, so I was a bit nervous about opening up the roof, but I think the wire over the ceiling, then the roof on hinges will be perfect!

The door is supposed to be like a screen door, but the top half of the door was going to have a wood covering... now I am thinking I should cover the whole thing with the hardware cloth, and place the wood covering on hinges as well for even more ventilation and in the winter we can close the cover to keep drafts as low as possible. Thanks to both of you, these are both great suggestions!

 

[DallasChickyMomma]

I was reading through the threads and couldn't really find a good answer so thought I would ask.

I am concerned about the roost and run being too short height wise.

The run area is 2 ft tall. The roost area is about 2 feet tall.. the roost it's self is about 1 ft from where the roof will be but that can be easily adjusted.

I think I am cutting this too short, some advice please?

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

how many chickies are going in?

 

[sattoritx]

I think it wouldn't be a bad size for 2 chickens, maybe more if they were a smaller breed. Since you said you had hawks in the area I guess free range of any kind is out.

 

[nancypo]

Mine's small and I addded a slatted floor, and a roof that opens, and a side vent. I can open it during the day, when they're in the portable run/tractor and air it out.

 

[DallasChickyMomma]

I have 5 chicks right now, 3 more than I originally anticipated. 2 australorps, 2 amerucanas and 1 rhode island red.

The thought is since I am a stay at home, during the day they will have the run of the yard under my supervision. If need be I can widen it, but I cant really make it taller... I live in a pretty strict residential HOA, so we can't have it seen from over the fence which is a 6 ft privacy fence.

The dimensions right now are as follows:

Run: 2ft H x 8 ft L x 3ft W
Nest box/ Roost: 2ft H x 4ft L x 3ft W
The roost is 1 ft from the "roof" but can be heightened easily by making a peaked roof instead of a flat roof by probably about a foot.

If I HAVE to, I can widen the coop and run area by maybe another 2 feet.. but that would be a heck of a chore.

 

[sattoritx]

Thats like us we anticipated 4 but ended up with 8, we were only planning on making a coop big enough to house 6 (so the 4 would have plenty of room) now its either expand another 2 ft or get rid of 2 birds (of course the kids have already named them)
I'm just glad we we're in the pre-building stage before my mom bought 8. Plus I had her promise to cover some feed and building material costs. Good deal right?

I say go for the free range if at all possible, keep their flight wings clipped though so they cant get over the fence.

in this post it has pics of a run being made with trampoline legs...
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=297739