New to Chickens working on a coop design ...please give advise...

[anthonyjames]

Wondering if this could be reposted with pics? All of them are gone.

 

[pigeon-posthens]

Quote:
I'm going to teach them to wipe there feet at the door .....

No really considering sand and good drainage for a medium in the run area .....

No really, the reason I asked was because recently we have had so much rain and the girls have been covered in mud,and its every where the straw is mud as well...
I had had enough of all this mud, so I went out and bought bags of bark-chip and covered the floor of their run. This morning when I let them out they raced to the feeders and water, later when I checked on them they seemed as happy as ever. Hopefully I have done the right thing, if not could anyone say the best way to combat this situation
many thanks

 

[Momo]

My two cents' worth is: go with the covered run. I LOVE mine and am so glad I went the extra mile with it. With a roofed run the chickens always have a nice dry outside area, which means it won't be slimy and stinky. When the girls go in to lay their eggs they won't have gooey icky stuff all over their feet and the eggs will stay clean. When it's raining hard or there's lots of snow on the ground, your chickens will have a nice protected outside area, which will make them so much happier. (If it's windy you can add plastic sheeting to part of the run which makes things quite nice for them.) Also, if it's roofed you won't have to worry about snow load the way you do when you have wire on the top of the run - even a large mesh will hold the snow to a surprising degree, and collapse. If you start with the smaller roofed run you can always enlarge it later when you can afford more roofing. (And once you do that you'll probably be glad to have two sections; it's great to have the option of separating your flock into various sorts of groups for one reason or another.)

 

[Freeholder]

Did I read correctly and your run is going to be four feet high? I had a couple of chicken tractors that were four feet high, and they were a pain when I had to go inside for any reason (and I frequently did!). Unless you're VERY short, you'll be moving around bent over -- not the best for chasing chickens who need to be caught, or for carrying heavy containers full of feed or water....

Otherwise, I like your design. Maybe in the future you might want to add another run or two with their own pop-doors so you can rotate the chickens and let a worn-out run rest and recover for a while.

Kathleen

 

[ChickenfeedR]

Nice design, JFWIW I use a 5 gallon bucket stacked with two watering nipples for my flock. The water stays clean and I only have to clean and refill the bucket every 2-3 weeks. My girls jump on the buckets and then perch 3 feet high in the right side of their run, so keep in mind that they can jump and fly pretty high when they want to. My coop on the left was designed around this skylight that that I found at Lowes for 10 dollars.

--Larry

 

[Momo]

Freeholder, looks like the lowest part of the run is 6' high, so should be no problems there.

 

[Old Crow]

Quote:
Yep ... slanted it would be a 8 to 6 foot grade ..... and the single height was set to 6 foot to allow for head clearence .....and the use of 2 50 ft rolls of 2x2 pet wire ..

 

[pigeon-posthens]

I have a larger roof now. But, I have a problem with vermin now more than before

it is mild and still very wet, so I have to resort to traps.. has anyone got this problem and perhaps more ideas ..

 

[gsim]

Welcome to BYC old crow.
Really well thought out design. I would not be too concerned about the occasional bird poop that will drain into the catch barrel. Unless your roof is under a tree and just really gets way more than it's share of poop, it is likely not to matter. An ounce or two of clorox would take care of any worries that way if you think it is a problem. Chickens eat off of the ground after all, and how nasty is that? You will want to cover the barrel to lessen chance of algae and mosquitoes. When you do this be sure to run both power and water to the site. You will not regret that. Do a linoleum floor and install that as soon as the floor decking is nailed down. Easy to disinfect and clean and does not retain odors. Far easier than fitting it inside later. Use poop planks 24" wide with roosts 12" from walls min. Put linoleum on those too for ease of scraping. Scrape them daily when you go out in AM and leave windows open afterwards if possible to quickly exchange air. Your litter will last a year easily that way since 90% of the poop inside is under roosts. use hardware cloth mesh for window screens and all around perimeter of run at bottom two feet to keep chooks heads in and coons from reaching thru to dismember them. Use welded wire for the rest. 4 sq ft/bird for coop, 10 sq ft/bird min for outside run. Choose an area that is not low nor prone to flooding. Extending the run is a good idea. You cannot have too large of a run, and it does not have to be covered 100% either. Mine routinely go out in the rain to do their thing and scratch around, etc.