New Coop Plans

[aart]

Staying with standard lumber sizes (8x8x8, 8x16x8, etc), multiples of 4 and 8, is a good idea.
Roof plane sizes will not match up to standard tho so spacing of rafters needs to be taken into consideration. Look up how to do 'fly rafters' for gable end overhangs, go 12-18" there too, it's attractive and functional to protect gable vents, windows, and walls......or maybe your architect/drafter will convert your concepts into the these types of details? I'm not sure of your building experience.

Nests that are outside coop wall can be lower as they do not take up floor space.
Lower nests lead to lower roosts leads to more head space under ventilation.
Did you save my 'coop stack up' notes?

Roosts are best not located in the 'traffic pattern' between pop door and nests,
so they don't walk thru night poops on floor on their way into nests and tracking poop into nests and onto eggs. Poop boards eliminates this issue, but I don't think you can specify poop boards in your plans, half the folks won't want to use them.

Gotta go move more snow.

 

[nychick83]

Staying with standard lumber sizes (8x8x8, 8x16x8, etc), multiples of 4 and 8, is a good idea.
Roof plane sizes will not match up to standard tho so spacing of rafters needs to be taken into consideration. Look up how to do 'fly rafters' for gable end overhangs, go 12-18" there too, it's attractive and functional to protect gable vents, windows, and walls......or maybe your architect/drafter will convert your concepts into the these types of details? I'm not sure of your building experience.

Nests that are outside coop wall can be lower as they do not take up floor space.
Lower nests lead to lower roosts leads to more head space under ventilation.
Did you save my 'coop stack up' notes?

Roosts are best not located in the 'traffic pattern' between pop door and nests,
so they don't walk thru night poops on floor on their way into nests and tracking poop into nests and onto eggs. Poop boards eliminates this issue, but I don't think you can specify poop boards in your plans, half the folks won't want to use them.

Gotta go move more snow.

All great points! Love the "traffic pattern" notion. Yes, I remember your coop stack up notes, and the overhead room above roosts. I am going to modify as follows:

- Nest boxes 8 inches off floor (lower than my original 20 inches but high enough for deep bedding)

- Roosts: make them 6 feet long, coming off the wall opposite the nest boxes. Make them 2 feet off the floor. By using an 8 ft 2x4, you can cut 2 feet off and use it as a post that will support the one end of the roost that is close to the nest boxes. This will accomplish multiple things; leave TONS of room above the birds' heads while still keeping roosts above nest boxes, create a path for optimal "traffic pattern" so the birds wont trek through their own poo, AND humans can much more easily access the entire coop for maintenance and cleaning. The original roosts I had that span the coop width would have made it difficult for us humans to get around the coop, this way is much more efficient.

See the updated floorplan. There are 4 green doors which represent the pop doors - these are simply optional placements. Customer can place where it works best for them. Red door is the human door