Need Ideas on Upgrading a Historic Coop!

[KaseySnow]

I do.
In looking at the layout of the current coop you have to work with, I would remove the nest boxes from the wall, put an L-shaped poop board and roost in that corner and then mount the nest boxes under the poop board up near the front so that it's easy to collect the eggs.

Oh, I guess I just misunderstood your first reply. I thought you were saying to make a 2' wide vertical poop board and line the roosting bars up along the center.

So put the nesting boxes under the roost with a horizontal poop board? I guess we'd have to put the roost pretty high then, we have a lot of older volunteers who wouldn't like having to bend over too far to get eggs. For that matter, what is the nesting box to bird ratio? There's so much I don't know about coop design.

I guess the only thing I like about the current roost is how it can accommodate lots of birds. Building them into the wall would limit our flock capacity, wouldn't it? Or could you do a double decker of roosts? Though that would be trickier to clean, maybe. I will show your coop setup to the park director and see what they think.

 

[KaseySnow]

I was going to suggest a poop board, but not sure if that would fit into the 'historic' aspect.

We do have a poop board, haha. A lot of replies seem to indicate it doesn't look like a poop board to many folks though. It's that slanted piece of wood behind the roosts. Poop drops onto it and either falls to the floor or we scrape it once every week or two and scoop up the dirty litter and take it out.

 

[3KillerBs]

For that matter, what is the nesting box to bird ratio?

Approximately 1 box for ever 4 hens.

Though they'll probably all lay in the same box anyway.

 

[aart]

Building them into the wall would limit our flock capacity, wouldn't it?

Yep, but might not be a bad idea, eh?

We do have a poop board, haha. A lot of replies seem to indicate it doesn't look like a poop board to many folks though. It's that slanted piece of wood behind the roosts. Poop drops onto it and either falls to the floor or we scrape it once every week or two and scoop up the dirty litter and take it out.

I did notice the 'poop slide'.
Probably kind of hard to clean?
What is the surface......and is it 'historically appropriate'?

What you have now seems to be fine, not sure what you could do to 'upgrade'.

 

[KaseySnow]

Yep, but might not be a bad idea, eh?

I dunno, I'm feeling the power of chicken math calling my name...

I guess it just seems like a good idea to maximize our capacity just in case. Never know what the future holds and it's better to have too much space as opposed to not enough, right? I just don't want to limit the park in any way with the redesign. But if a built in roosting shelf is the best answer, I'm certainly for it! I'm just asking questions cause I'm new to this and don't know what I don't know.

I did notice the 'poop slide'.

Bahahaha, poop slide!! I'm totally calling it that from now on.

Probably kind of hard to clean?
What is the surface......and is it 'historically appropriate'?

What you have now seems to be fine, not sure what you could do to 'upgrade'.

I dunno, is it hard to clean? All the poop collects at the base and I just scoop it into a trash bag a couple times a month. Other than scraping the board down when poop gets too built up on it, that's pretty much all I do. I've never cleaned any other droppings board so I have nothing to compare it to.
It's just a big piece of plywood.

The keeping it historical part really applies more to the coop building itself. We can't make any big structural changes to the coop such as cutting out new windows or something. But the current roost and nesting box setup are not original to the building, so we are free to innovate and design something a little more functional.

 

[DobieLover]

So put the nesting boxes under the roost with a horizontal poop board?

No. Under the poop board.

Look through the door. That arrangement of poop boards with the ramp is what I'm suggesting for the coop you are working with. Picture the nest boxes hanging underneath the poop boards.

 

[Boise-girls]

Boy, that looks so clean!

 

[RogerChicken]

Seeing all that daylight between the wallboards makes me a bit nervous about drafts. I would suspect they had some method to chink them with something.