Need input, inspiration, & advice on our 1st coop/run

[WendyF]

Hi everyone,
New to BYC & never had a flock before. We ordered a mixed flock from mypetchicken.com which will consist of (2) Polish, an Australorp, an Easter Egger, a Buff Orpington, a Wyandotte, and a Barred Plymouth Rock. All hens. We have 3 children ranging from 17 to 11 who would love friendly, cute hens who enjoy human attention. My husband and I want to take a stand against the disgusting practices of large scale poultry farming, and have much more nutritious eggs to eat. I will let the ladies out when I get home from work for probably an hour on the weekdays & for extended hours on the weekends to 'free range' while I am gardening in the back yard with them.

I would really like to construct this coop & run for them (which I hope the designer doesn't mind me stealing : https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/my-mid-life-crisis-coop. My idea is to have a run on both sides of the coop, though. I have read that the Polish & Orpington can end up being picked on by the rest of the flock, and I am thinking the chickens at the bottom of the pecking order may benefit from having another run to escape to if things are too rowdy where the dominant hens are. Any thoughts on this theory? I will also be adding an overhead roof to one of my potential runs, as we can get some pretty nasty weather in winter in my area. The uncovered run would have a hardware cloth cover to keep out the occasional hawk or raccoon we may have wander into town. The designer of this coop mentioned that his Silkies can't navigate the ramp. Do you think any of the breeds I have chosen will have any issues with a raised coop?

I am undecided on whether to go DSM with pine shavings inside the coop or river sand. The runs & coop will be located under our giant pine tree which lets practically no rain/snow through unless it's hard driving, so I don't necessarily know if I will need to put river sand in the runs. Our gals might do just fine on the protected dirt under the ol' pine.

Also, I had an idea to use sheets of plain brown cardboard to catch the poop under the roosts. The cardboard will compost, and I'm thinking it will be easier than scraping a board. Anyone want to chime in on this idea?

I really appreciate having a site like this to learn from.
Wendy

 

[Judy]

I like the cardboard idea, if you are going to clean the coop often!

If you live in a heavy snow area, I would build larger because there will be days they won't want to go out, or not much, even with a roof keeping the snow off the run. If summers get quite warm, a smaller coop like that can be too uncomfortable for them, even at night, and this can even be true in the northern US. They tolerate winter uite well but have trouble with summer most anywhere. I don't know how bad your winters are (you can add your location to your postbit in your profile, which makes answering many questions much simpler) but even toward the northern part of the US, the so-called warm weather setups in the link below will work fine.

Yes, many people find Polish get their crest feathers plucked and do not do well with large fowl breeds. With Orpingtons, while they are calm birds, I think it depends more on the personality of the individuals. At any rate, someone has to be on the low end of the pecking order.

I would not build a smaller reach-in coop like that. I would build something like a simple 8x8 shed with the roof slanting only one way so that it is easy to ventilate with some overhang. A larger coop also gives you a place to store food, etc. to save work --- and with DLM may not need to be raked out more than a few times a year.

Here are some of my favorite links about coop design:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/163417/please-show-me-your-hot-weather-coops/0_20

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...-go-out-there-and-cut-more-holes-in-your-coop (written by a Canadian member)

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/445004/woods-style-house-in-the-winter/0_20 (expensive to build -- but note how open the design is, in this amount of snow)

 

[WendyF]

Thank you, Judy. I have an unending supply of plain brown cardboard at work so I was thinking I'd make it one of my daily chores to put a new one under the roosts each morning.

I do understand how important ventilation is, but I don't have enough back yard for an 8 x 16 coop like in that open air woods style thread. Do you see a problem with a 5' x 8' floor plan, 8' tall coop with the 8" wide vent strips under the roof overhangs on all 4 walls open all year long and windows midway on each wall with a screen entry door to open for summer breezes as suggested in the ventilation thread you gave me?

I am in Spokane, WA. It's zone 5 or 6 depending on which garden site you're reading . We do get some hot summer days, sometimes near 100. That's another reason why I liked the coop under the pine tree idea, mostly shaded and dry. In winter it often gets below 20 and occasionally a deep snow blows in.

 

[Trefoil]

5x 8 at 8' tall sounds like it would work for your area and I love the coop you have picked out if you are able to keep your numbers down (good luck with that, chicken math you know). Also having the room for them under the coop gives them additional protected run area. Having 2 runs is a very good idea as long as they aren't too small. The only problem I can see with your plan is that cardboard is really bad for the chickens to walk on. Its slippery enough to cause leg damage. And be careful about the height of your roosts. They need to be higher than your nest boxes but you have to have at least twice the distance landing room as the height of the roosts for them to be able to get off the roosts safely. As long as your ramp isn't too steep none of the birds you mention should have a problem with it. You do understand that we are going to need pictures of the construction process I hope.

 

[WendyF]

Thanks, Trefoil, for bringing up the slipping issue on cardboard. What do you think if I build a hanging frame like in this thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/534564/poop-hammock-rocks and use cardboard in that? They say in this thread that if it swings the hens won't want to roost on it.

Today I have been told by my boss that I can have all the wooden shipping pallets I want, as well, so I will be constructing my coop with the wood from those. Free is good! I would like to make one wall completely screened with a wooden outer wall removable for the summer time. I will need to do the insulation, and I am now leaning to a coop on the ground to best utilize the DLM with pine shavings. Once I get my hands on some of the materials I will draw up a plan & post for input. And of course there will be pics as I am constructing. I just want the ladies to be as well taken care of as possible.

As far as the 2 runs go, since I will have 7 hens, do you think I should have 70 square feet in each run, or do you think it will be OK to have 35 square feet in each run for a total of 70 square feet? I don't want to keep the gals separated by my design; my intention is to have pop doors on both sides of the coop open during the day so they have free access to whichever run they choose to visit.