Off the ground coop or walk in coop?

[rosemarythyme]

Link?

Many of us have our coops linked under our profile, i.e.:

 

[suburbanfarmermi]

Elevating a small coop allows for more efficient use of space when you don't have much space to use. It can be very convenient to clean out when you can park a wheelbarrow or garden cart under the door and reach every square inch with your pitchfork.

Larger coops are a problem elevated because you can't reach to clean, to retrieve a misplaced egg, to get to a stubborn chicken, etc. It is possible to elevate a walk-in coop -- where I live it's normal to set sheds up on blocks to deter termites -- but you have that same "can't reach it" problem underneath.

IMO, 4x8 is the maximum for an elevated coop and that's only with a wide access door in the center of the long side.

I agree with 3killerBs, the larger your flock and larger your coop the less practical it would be to have a raised coop. I would agree that it would be much harder to clean and access a raised hen house bigger than 4x8.

We have a small coop that is raised for our 6 chickens. Our township only allows us to have 6 chickens.

Advantages
- The hen house is small enough that we can reach the entire inside from the main access doors.
- We have a small homestead (1/4 Acre suburban lot) and are able to use the space under the hen house to add to our run
- Easy clean out, we can rake our deep litter out directly into a wheel barrow.
- Nesting boxes are easy to reach for adults and children. (no bending over to collect eggs)
- Deep litter will insulate the floor during cold winter weather.
- I have bad allergies so I like the idea of not having to go into the hen house.
- If we go out of town and have someone care for our chickens that is not familiar or comfortable with chickens they can do so without going into the coop/run.

Here is a video tour of our coop.

The one disadvantage is that we do not have an easy way to access the space under the coop. I suppose that I could install a hinged door to that space but so far that has not been a concern for us.

 

[Hermits Garden]

Definitely walk in. Ours is off the ground about a foot on one side and at least a foot & a half on the other, because of the concrete pillars and slope of our land. But I covered the access to that area because I am so not going to crawl up under there to retrieve rotting eggs or an injured chicken.

We have poop boards with roosts about 10" over them, and the open eaves ventilation is at least 4 ft over their heads. I've been in there with the wind screaming outside, and there is no draft at all at roost level.

 

[MACCanadianCoop]

How big are you thinking? One thing to keep in mind is any open space under an elevated coop, you need to be able to access. Can you/will you be able to reach or crawl under the entire coop if needed?

Hi there, maybe a dumb noobie question, but why would you need to get underneath?

 

[3KillerBs]

You

Hi there, maybe a dumb noobie question, but why would you need to get underneath?

You need to be able to get anywhere a chicken can get to.

They'll lay eggs there, get hurt and hide there, even die there.