Need advice on design

[Toothless Willie]

Most of this has been said, so sorry for the repetition.

Clearly not enough ventilation from what I can see. No eave/ridge vents, no gable vents, and no above roost vents. Even in a cold environment you need a lot more than is pictured. Those below the top of the wall should have shutters for cold weather to prevent drafts. All openings except primary doors should be covered with 1/2" hardware cloth.

Yes, placing a ledger at the front of the nest box will help keep the nesting material and eggs in the nest. Nesting material, pine shavings, or straw/hay is not for comfort it is for insulation.

I am a firm believer in external nest boxes unless you have a lot of floor room and few chickens. They are not that hard to construct and frequently can be made out of scrap from your build or recycled materials.

The swivel closure made from a wood block is totally inadequate to prevent predation and depending on use will wear out. We include hasps with padlocks on any exterior opening.

I hate staples except for attaching fencewire to posts. Use nails, screws, anything but staples.

I put my hardware cloth on the inside frame. In the one case I didn't the silly chickens tried using the wondow ledge as a perch. Just something else I must clean poop off.

Opionated ain't I?

 

[tbitt]

I have no advice, but I want to thank you for posting these pictures.

We are converting our garden shed into a duck house and the pictures of these doors are going to help me out a LOT!


Very nice........thanks


Good Luck with your search!

 

[JodyJo]

We turned part of our barn into a coop, the only ventilation they get is through the exit door to the run...I know, I know they should have more, but we cannot cut into the barn roof etc...they free range all day and in the summer, now, are mostly outside on the roosts at night...we leave the coop door open 24/7, and this winter when it drops to -25* etc...we will determine what to do according to the chickens, they are fully feathered out, and handle the cold just fine. I have 19 chickens, and glad they stay outside... btw I live in Southern Colorado, high desert area, NO humidity...not sure where you are, that will determine a lot about what you build...and one day we may have to add vents...but so far, we are all good and no build up of ammonia etc...

Just my input and what we have...you have come to the right place for advice! Good Luck!

 

[catsew]

Thank you. We are going to start actual construction beyond the stand Thur or Fri. Right now we have an open slate minus the 4x8 platform.
So since I like the basic idea of the ones they have, I want to make sure I don't miss anything since we're starting from zero.

Tbitt - I have some more pictures if you need some other view that might help.

 

[fiddlebanshee]

I'm only myself researching ways to modify my shed to a coop and one of the things I decided to do (soon I hope) is to put in a long horizontal panel that opens to access the nest boxes, like in the pic in post #8, but I would let it hinge on the bottom side so that you would not have to hold it up while you collect the eggs. It would just swing down and hang or rest on the ground.

Just one idea.

 

[catsew]

fiddlebanshee - the one in the picture is for the nest box.
The one we are building will have the same type of door but will be for clean out. Ours will have to go up for cleaning to keep the shavings from getting stuck in it.

 

[hencam]

I've been hearing from people who have spent hundreds of dollars on prefab coops, only to realize that there was no ventilation, and seeing their hens near death from heat stroke. Having windows that open in the summer is important. Even more so is to have a functioning cupola. That pulls the damp and the hot air right out. Even a small coop can have a cupola.

Also - most coops are marketed for more chickens than they can handle. Chickens need a minimum of 4 square feet of inside floor space. And they need roosts! Chickens should not be sleeping on the floor. The easiest coop is to buy a prefab garden shed and add a pop door, roosts and nesting boxes. Add a cupola if you need more ventilation. Buy a big enough shed and you can divide it in half and use part for storage. Having a coop that you can walk in is so much better than the ones that are basically covered nesting boxes.

I have a FAQ with a floor plan of my coop here.
http://www.hencam.com/henblog/coop-plans/

 

[catsew]

Thats what I mean. They're asking $900 for those, more for the 2nd ones we saw, and they are sealed up tight. Plus half the nails are missing the boards, and all kinds of other problems we noticed just at glancing. We're hoping to take the basic idea and proper measurements to make our own that is to as close to ideal circumstances as possible.

 

[bryan99705]

You would have to change the latches (spin blocks) Coons would just walk right in.

Depending on where you are, you may need to add more ventilation, especially in the gables

You would have to block it up off the ground as it doesn't look like it has a all weather lumber base where it contacts the ground

Might want to add gutters and paint the interior to help keep it clean and prevent rot / poo absorbtion