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

[teach1rusl]

First off, the design looks great! It looks very solid and secure! The first question that popped into my head though, was "Why are the coop and the run the same size?" Coop space "recommendations" is around 4 sq. ft. per bird, while run space is 10 sq. feet (unless free ranging is used amply). BUT, with your cold winters, having lots of indoor coop space will be great for your birds, in case there are days when they are inside all day.

 

[Overeasyplz]

I like it! With the snow here and winter lasting 50% of the year this is a great coop!

 

[Old Crow]

Quote:
Well uuuhmmm ..... Plead ignorance .... first and foremost .....

I hope to let them range in the pasture ..... as well there is a pop door next to the run entrance door... the size was more about the use of materials but the run could be extended as well my initial thought is under a doz birds to get my feet wet ....

 

[Barred Rocker]

Wow, I love the water collection idea. I designed and built a self feeder and was wondering how to do the same thing with water. I may have to borrow your idea.

 

[Old Crow]

Quote:
Well after some further study of the advice and available material utilization I came up with a better run it will be 8' by 16' with a 8'x 8' coop ....
Moved away from the covered run though .....it would currently be cost prohibitive for the additional roofing .... although roof panels can be laid in as acquired in the future

Let me know what ya think ..... Current materials list for the run and structure is about 425.00 Still trying to get it down a bit ......

 

[chookchick]

Nice work Old Crow!, looks like you have put a lot of thought into the design. I actually liked the first design better--it would be a great setup for winter for six chickens. The covered run area is really nice for them to have during the winter. Then you could add on more run space later that was not covered (and more chickens). I like the looks of the first one also. I ran the roofing over the nest box area on mine, so that I could stay dry while collecting eggs, but that might not be an issue in your climate.

 

[Old Crow]

Quote:
Well there were a few things leading to the changes ...one trying to optimize the coop to run ratio ...... I was also pricing roofing materials and the
poly carbonate roofing panels are about 20 bucks a piece and it takes min of 4 per 8' roof section so I pared it back and elected for 2 ... 50 foot rolls of 2"x 2" to give me the extra run space at half the cost.

This still seemed cheaper then other roof alternatives .... and I will net some extra roofing material .... as the panels are 12'

I then shortened the run height to a uniform 6 foot to further optimize the fence ...... I hope to make the panels as individual sections and secure them together .... this will allow for future roofing and transition of roof run panels to be used for run extension panels giving me my optimum 8'x20' run for an 8'x 8' coop

I'm thinking of ripping the 2"x4"'s on the table saw for the Run building the individual frames and then sandwiching the fencing ..... any one have any experience with this

 

[alicefelldown]

Where are you designing your coop? A website or software?

 

[Old Crow]

Quote:
I'm using Goggle sketch up its a FREE 3d program of sorts I can spin and rotate and take screen shots of the coop from multiple angles .... its pretty cool if ya get into it ......

http://sketchup.google.com/download/

If you choose to try it let me know and I can email you the file and it will give you some thing to mess with ......

My model is fairly dimensional correct but I use it more for visualization and materials for mental calculations

 

[gsim]

Looks like a sound design. You might consider extending roof over egg-collection boxes for those rainy days when you go to get eggs. Many times no one considers it until it happens to them. Mine is big enough that I just go in for them, and do not mind it because I feel that several inspections a day are the right way to take care of chooks anyway. Regarding rain collector, a good idea for sure. Do you have a float valve planned for down below at waterer? I have gutters and downspouts so can collect easily but have not made plans to for fear of giving mosquitoes a place to breed. Am sure that plastic window screen over collector is good, but it has to flow out to where it is available for the chooks, so there is a place for it to stand. Chooks would keep it draining and filling tho. Maybe a float valve in actual drinking container to control flow from collector.