New Coop layout.

Cooba

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This is my first coop. 8'x10'. What is the best way to lay out the inside for 5 dominiques and 5 australorps? Chicken door is on the east wall and one opening window next to the door on the right of it. One opening window on the rear wall with a 12 x 12" vent on the back wall and one on the front wall. Similar to the picture below but with modifications. Nesting boxes will be inside and not jut out. Thxs .
 

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Very pretty building. Are there any other vents (like in the soffit)?

Layout should be pretty easy with this size. You could probably just run one roost across back wall (I assume that's the 10'). In the future if you decide to add more birds you'll need another roost, that can go parallel to the first or go in a L shape.

If you're doing poop boards nest boxes can go underneath the roost, or you can put them somewhere else if you want them up a bit higher or want the space under the roost for something else like a brooder/isolation area. Only place I wouldn't put them is right next to the pop door, as you'll keep a cleaner nest box if you put it further from pop door so the hens "wipe their feet" on the coop bedding before climbing in.
 
Very pretty building. Are there any other vents (like in the soffit)?

Layout should be pretty easy with this size. You could probably just run one roost across back wall (I assume that's the 10'). In the future if you decide to add more birds you'll need another roost, that can go parallel to the first or go in a L shape.

If you're doing poop boards nest boxes can go underneath the roost, or you can put them somewhere else if you want them up a bit higher or want the space under the roost for something else like a brooder/isolation area. Only place I wouldn't put them is right next to the pop door, as you'll keep a cleaner nest box if you put it further from pop door so the hens "wipe their feet" on the coop bedding before climbing in.
Hello...actually the back and front are 8'. I figure they will put the vent in the front and back peaks....should they be elsewhere. I can always contact them as I’m sure they haven’t started it. I want to put in a dust bath...small pool for them. if I get more chicks next year I will make small brooder area with an X pen that I have for the dogs with hardware cloth around it. I built a similar mama heating pad brooder but with a large cat carrier and zero clearance chicken heater wrapped and a plant pad heater under the shavings in a pillow case. Keeps the inside at 92°. Not hot to the touch. This way I won’t have a light on 24/7.
 
Ah ok, roost across the 10' side wall then. Shouldn't be too hard to expand if you decide to get more birds in the future.

Vents, if possible see if they can open up the soffits or put openings right under the eaves (my under eave vents are approx 4" rounds, 40 in total, immediately under the roof line). Ideal spot for ventilation that's well protected from weather.

vent1.jpg

Gable vents are also good to have so I'd keep those in the plans as well.

Brooder area can go under poop boards if you use those, or you can build one that can be taken apart/folded down for temporary use if that's your preference.
 
Ah ok, roost across the 10' side wall then. Shouldn't be too hard to expand if you decide to get more birds in the future.

Vents, if possible see if they can open up the soffits or put openings right under the eaves (my under eave vents are approx 4" rounds, 40 in total, immediately under the roof line). Ideal spot for ventilation that's well protected from weather.

View attachment 2019290

Gable vents are also good to have so I'd keep those in the plans as well.

Brooder area can go under poop boards if you use those, or you can build one that can be taken apart/folded down for temporary use if that's your preference.
Thanks..I’ll mention the poop boards to my husband. The 4" holes would need hardware cloth. We have snakes big time. Ate my baby blue birds! Twice. I fixed that tho! Also mice can walk up walls...lol. I saw the buggers do it. I put the windows on opposite cross walls so the breeze would blow thru.
 
Yup - any openings larger than 1/2" need some sort of wire mesh to cover. My builder sandwiched 1/4" HWC on all the under eave vents, gable vents and floor vents. I added 1/2" HWC on the windows.
That’s the first thing I’m going to do when I receive my She Shed lol is put hardware cloth on windows and vents. Where are you located?
 
My first rule on laying out a chicken coop is to make it convenient for you. If it is comfortable for you to take care of your chickens you will do a better job of it, enjoy it more, and your chickens will reap the benefits.

Vertically first determine the height of the floor after you put bedding in. Your pop door needs to be high enough so bedding doesn't get scratched out. Then position your nests. Some people like the nests down low, maybe to the point of a milk crate sitting on the coop floor. Others like them high enough they don't have bend over to gather eggs. Bad backs are no fun. Many of us have our personal preferences but it should be what is comfortable and convenient for you, not what I like.

Then put your roosts noticeably higher than the nests. Chickens tend to sleep in the highest spots available. If your roosts are higher than your nests that generally means they do not sleep in your nests and poop there. But try to keep the roosts as low as you reasonably can. In a coop your size this should not be a big problem for you, but the higher the roosts the larger clear landing area they need. You don't want them bumping into feeders, waterers, nests, or walls on the way down.

In the summer a nice warm breeze hitting the chickens on the roosts is comfortable to them. But you are in Ontario. Thanks for providing that info, it helps in a few ways. In winter you will get cold winds, which is bad if they hit the birds. Even in winter you need decent ventilation. My personal preference is to have winter ventilation over their heads when they are on the roosts so any breezes are over their heads. Make sure they put those gable vents as high as reasonable in those peaks. I don't know if that will be enough or not. Since you have overhangs an easy way to provide a lot more ventilation but keep rain and snow out is to leave the top few inches of your side walls open and cover that with hardware cloth against predators. Often the framing up there makes construction easier if you do that. Another option might be soffit vents but those might be more expensive and, depending on how they are screened, maybe vulnerable for predators. You could put a ridge vent up top. That will help in summer but might get blocked by snow in winter.

The door shown opens out so you don't have to worry about bedding building up high enough to block it or keeping the swing open. You still need to be able to step through when you are carrying something so keep that area clear inside.

There are lots of different ways you could lay that out inside. Typically your roosts are a height that you can bump into so you want them on a wall that won't restrict your entering or walking around, especially when gathering eggs or feeding or watering. You don't want to trip over waterers or feeders. It's hard for me to come up with just one "best' layout because there are so many different ones that can work perfectly well.

By saying you might put a brooder in there you imply ten is not the final number you are planning on. Don't plan your coop for ten hens. Plan for the final number you expect. Three nests is plenty for ten hens. Will you need more later? How much roost will you eventually need? Keep in mind that if you integrate you need a lot more room than you need for them after they are integrated. That's not just floor space, that's also roost space.

When you build a coop things never go exactly as you plan. You practically always go back and change or add something. Having extra space gives you the flexibility to address that. This has nothing to do with coop layout, but don't crowd them to the point that you lose all flexibility.

Rosemary mentioned that things can go under dropping boards. Sometime visuals can help or maybe in this case scare you away. I built in a brooder under my roosts and used the top of the brooder as a drippings board.

Brooder Bins.JPG


Then a really scary one, my nests. You can see my brooder off to the right. I started out with the two bottom ones but realized when I kept pullets instead of just my hens that I needed more. That area between the two bottom nests is where I could isolate a chicken if I needed to. That's a waste, I've hardly ever used it. But I thought it was a good idea at the time.

When I started integrating younger chickens I realized I need a juvenile roost to stop them from sleeping in my nests. It's noticeably higher than the nests so that is where they sleep. The top of the nests are my droppings boards It's a horrible design, it would look a lot different if I'd known all this when I started. But maybe this will illustrate what I mean when I say sometimes you have to change things.

Nests.JPG
 
That’s the first thing I’m going to do when I receive my She Shed lol is put hardware cloth on windows and vents. Where are you located?

I'm in WA (guess I should update my location thingy on the side). Nowhere near as cold as you get but we still get a lot of precipitation, so planning out how to maximize ventilation while keeping the inside dry as possible is always fun.
 

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