New coop!! Ideas? Suggestions?

[GambaDawn]

 

[Judy Todd]

Ok, thank you all so much for helping me with this! I have a good idea of how we’re going to build it now!
What feeders/waterers would you recommend? We need new ones.

I just use the plastic feeders and watering , keep the water one at 3 gallons, just because it is heavy when needing to clean and refill. easy to sanitize and have been used for over 10 years, replaced the water one once, because of the top not sealing correctly, wet floor, not fun. I keep a large black horse pan in the run, near to runoff from the roof, so it fills all rainly season, just clean it out every week or so.
Remember the advise, you need only 1 nest box for every 4 or 5 hens, even then, mine use only 2 or 3, they need. Ialso, the first time, did not make the door big enough for my wheelbarrow, dumb, dumb, so re-designed that 2 years ago.

 

[Judy Todd]

I'm uncertain that you can. However, you can build those roosts (assuming the hen house design permits it) as a "ladder", which will save some horizontal space. As is, the space closest to the walls often isn't used (chickens don't like to roost with one side up against the wall in my experience), so a series of short roosts is actually functionally worse than several long ones.

I'll see if I can't get a photo of what I did in my second coop. It works pretty well, but I short changed one dimension - I'll make sure I get it in the photo, for illustrative purposes, so your dad doesn't need to repeat my mistake.

OK, these are terrible pictures, sorry. Basically, I have a 10' wide "coop". One one side of it, I mounted 2x4s at an angle (you can see the one at right, behind the shovel) that I partially nothced out, then mounted 2x4s as perches (almost 10' long) that run from one side of the coop to the other. That gives me perch space for 30 birds, in theory. Usually, there's a smaller number, but in theory, 30 birds).

The tops of those perches ar 21", 24" , and 27" off the ground - plenty of room to get a rake or shovel underneath, not so high that a perched bird (I have medium and large breeds) has its head in the draft that starts at about 48" in height. None of the birds have trouble jumping up, no evidence of foot injuries jumping down. (Straw and leaf litter on the ground, but the goats walk thru constantly, so its not thickly padded).

Those are the things I did right.

View attachment 3010170


Here's what I did wrong. The bar closest to the wall is too close, and birds seated on it end up, effectively, pooping on the bottom of the wall and the 2x4 wall framing - which will eventually damage the building. That distance is 10". The other two board are each spaced about 15" and 10" (respectively) from one another horizontally (plus 3" in vertical height), I don't have those issues.

When I rebuild it, I'll move the board currently closest to the wall out about 6" so the poop goes in the hay and the leaves where it belongs, instead of down the wall first. and I'll index the other boards off the first, at the same spacing (approx 12" O/C).

Hope that helps.

View attachment 3010172

Great advise, just a bit to add. I put the 2by4-s down flat, so that the hens could sit on their feet, when it is very cold. I know it makes more work for me, cleaning off these every month or so, but we get some cold and wet winter weather here. I just wash them down , kitchen dish soap on a sunny day.
I, also put the back row too close to the wall, cannot change that now, so clean and seal the wall every few years. When I added more roosts, my number of hens had jumped to 27, don't know how that happened, I made sure the roost was far enough from the wall this time. You lives and learns!!!

 

[Swannie]

This is the coop I made for my 10 bantams and it’s on wheels so you can move it around. In this country you can’t let any wild birds mix with your chickens at the moment due to avian influenza and I’m only 10 miles away from an outbreak. I use Herras fencing wrapped with smaller gauge wire and a layer of wire on top for a roof, this also stops any predators as we have a few red kites that like to have a look. It’s a very cheap way of making big pens and you can add as many panels as you need.

 

[Swannie]

This is the coop I made for my 10 bantams and it’s on wheels so you can move it around. In this country you can’t let any wild birds mix with your chickens at the moment due to avian influenza and I’m only 10 miles away from an outbreak. I use Herras fencing wrapped with smaller gauge wire and a layer of wire on top for a roof, this also stops any predators as we have a few red kites that like to have a look. It’s a very cheap way of making big pens and you can add as many panels as you need.

Meant to say that I use galvanised feeders and drinkers.

 

[Dragonfly Farm]

Hey y’all dad and I will be building a new chicken coop very soon and I’d like all the help with ideas and suggestions I can get! I want to know everything! What kind of coop? What building materials? How many roosts and nest boxes, and where should I put them? Where should I put feeders, waterers? What bedding material?
I want it to be able to house 20-25 chooks. Any helpful information is MORE than welcome!
Thanks in advance!!

All I can say is make it much bigger than you want to or think you need. It is much more pleasant to walk into a coop that has plenty of head room and space to walk around. Our hen house was already there when we moved to our current property and it is fabulous but I wish it was bigger. The house is probably 10x12, the run is about 10x20. I have 5 boxes, the roost is a platform. I hang a waterer from the rafters. There is a built in metal feeder which they empty the minute I fill it so I have given up on that! An auto door is a lovely addition. Windows with screens are key. I would rat wire the outside of the floor boards and drop rat wire at least a foot into the ground all the way around the whole structure. 6 chickens are comfortable in this set up. Have fun!

 

[Dragonfly Farm]

Hey y’all dad and I will be building a new chicken coop very soon and I’d like all the help with ideas and suggestions I can get! I want to know everything! What kind of coop? What building materials? How many roosts and nest boxes, and where should I put them? Where should I put feeders, waterers? What bedding material?
I want it to be able to house 20-25 chooks. Any helpful information is MORE than welcome!
Thanks in advance!!

 

[Chicken mob]

When yoh put in your roost, attach it to the wall with hinges so you can lift it out ofvthe way!

Hey y’all dad and I will be building a new chicken coop very soon and I’d like all the help with ideas and suggestions I can get! I want to know everything! What kind of coop? What building materials? How many roosts and nest boxes, and where should I put them? Where should I put feeders, waterers? What bedding material?
I want it to be able to house 20-25 chooks. Any helpful information is MORE than welcome!
Thanks in advance!!

C

 

[Bakbuk]

So guys- about roost bars:

I’m planning on having two eight-foot-long roosting bars in the coop. The lowest one (front one) should be how far off the ground? I forget. Also, the second bar (back one), how much heigher than/farther away from the first bar should it be?

 

[rosemarythyme]

So guys- about roost bars:

I’m planning on having two eight-foot-long roosting bars in the coop. The lowest one (front one) should be how far off the ground? I forget. Also, the second bar (back one), how much heigher than/farther away from the first bar should it be?

Roost bars only really need to be higher than nest boxes, so a couple feet up is fine.

Bars should be at least 14-16" away from each other, and at least 12" away from the wall.