My first chickens, my first coop, I have questions

[bigstack]

On the opposit side of the coop is gonna be the access door. The ends will be coverd in plywood( open to allow access to work inside) . The roost is shorter on the other end. The pic is without the ends coverd. The end you are looking at is going to have two ramp doors. One on each side. Then the person door will be centered on the opposite end. The nest boxes are accessed through a fold down door. One door for each 2 nests. I didn't want to have 1 long door. I would have to open 4 nests to access 1. With the doors split intoo I can access 1 nest and only open 2. does that make any sense? LOL basically instead of just 2 long doors per side (1 top & 1 bottom) I have 4 shorter doors. (2 top & 2 Bottom) I will post more pics but I am kinda busy so it may take a while. LOL I just moved the birds out into the temp coop ( the one with the suspiscious holes in the floor). The bottom of the new coop is sarounded under the coop so they can get under it in bad weather or to get out of the sun. The rusty looking pile to the right of the pic is the metal i was talking about. It works great! I was able to dig down and bury the extra length for added security. Then I hust screwed it to the coop with big washers covering the gaps in the metal. As for the rat poison, i didn't use it. I thought about it and remembered a trap we had in a cabinet. Its one of those fancy 1's that they walk into and the lil door shuts and locks them in. I figure that would be best. The birds cant get in it and the mice ( if any) can't get out. LOL So far all are doing good. There is a lil pecking and fighting but nothing serious. I mixed 3 different groups together when I moved them. They are re-establishing pecking order. I am keeping an eye on them for any real fighting. so far nothing bad. I did add some stuff to provide areas for the smaller ones to hide in if needed. aswell as 2 waterers and feeders. Just incase of someone not being allowed to eat or drink at 1 they can get to the other.

Good Luck and God Bless!

I'll keep ya posted, it might be a lil bit. LOL

 

[Gypsi]

ok, new going to try this again. Same basic plan - only the center 12 inches of my floor is the 1 inch chicken wire, and it has 1/2 inch gaps between the 1 x 2's (green bars) laid across it. Why? Flood cleaning, so I can wash the thing down now and then and get the water back out easily. I spend enough time with a shop vac without adding a new project that the long tube won't maneuver in. Openings in hardware cloth are totally too small. Just the 1x2's might work, they are so close together, the wire is almost optional.

Added a wing with 2 nest boxes, the 3rd nest box will have 1/4 inch or 3/8 inch holes drilled in the floor. I want to be able to change their inside water easily, and I want spilled water to hit the ground, not flood the coop.

Blue rectangles - hardware cloth window/vents, can have plexiglass screwed over them in winter - top of all 4 sides.
Back door for cleanup.
Longer roof overhang to keep rain out of vents.
Roof composition will depend on my ability to get corrugated metal cut to size - could end up being plywood with shingles but I'm hating the weight on that option. Would prefer corrugated and I'll find some way to make the edges safe for humans.
Inside coop bucket feeder should reduce rodent issues. I feed them outside when I am home, but that way they always have food.
Inside water a small one, will do the 5 gal waterer outside, but when they are in for whatever reason they should have clean water. Drawing is quite primitive.

Their present ramp up is a plant tray, guess I could do something sturdier on the new house. But the whole run needs work too.
Chicken wire under gravel under hardware cloth under sand sounds best.

Gypsi