Open Coop? Advice Needed

[RollTideChicken]

My plan is to buy a 10x20x6 chainlink kennel. The length will face East and West. I was thinking about walling/covering the West end and also the North and South sides on that end. This would leave the East side of the covered area (or coop) open. The top of the entire kennel will be fenced for predator protection and covered for weather. The temperatures in my area lean towards hot more than cold so that isn't a concern. Provided I painted a decent enough picture of my idea...
1. Would I need to worry about ventilation?
2. Can anyone think of any downsides?

Thanks!
RTC
RTR!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sounds great to me. I don't think you need to worry about ventilation or the cold at all. Some thoughts though.

Rain will blow in from the sides on the open areas. A roof by itself does not stop that. It needs to be where it will drain and not hold water.

How are you providing dig protection? I suggest an apron.

You don't want rain blowing in on your nests or roosts. Your feed needs to say dry. Those should be easily managed.

A roof does not provide full shade either, sunlight can come in from the sides. But your boxed in end should provide plenty of shade.

That's only 6' high. Will you be able to comfortably walk under the roof? Consider support framing and that you probably bounce some when you walk.

 

[RollTideChicken]

Ok if my current deal comes through, I'll actually have a 10x30x6 with an extra kennel panel left over - was thinking about putting the extra gate panel in the middle so I could corral birds if needed.
How would the math work out as far as how many birds this setup could accommodate? Haven't settled how big to make the covered end. This is where they would roost but as there is no East wall it's like one big run.
Also, for dig protection: I have a trench shovel that digs a 5"Wx12"D trench; I'll dig around the entire perimeter. I live near a tombstone carver and they have a literal ton of scrap end. My plan is to back fill the trench with head stone scraps. 12" I think should be deep enough. The spot in my yard where the pen will be is on the higher side so water drainage isn't an issue.
I've made a bucket feeder to keep feed dry.

 

[RollTideChicken]

@Ridgerunner (or anyone else) got any idea how many birds could comfortably fit in the 10x30x6 setup?
And what do you think of the dig protection idea?
Preciate any advice!
Thanks
RTC
RTR!

 

[rosemarythyme]

So is this 10x30 area the coop, the run, or both combined? If it's a flexible combo type space, maybe 20 birds? I do like having a split run space with a gate in the middle, it's very handy for separating birds when needed, or keeping them out of the way while cleaning up.

Not sure how the scrap filled trench would work as far as protection... guess it depends on how big the chunks are. Too big, and small things like mice can probably squeeze through. Too fine, and predators can dig through it.

 

[Ridgerunner]

So is this 10x30 area the coop, the run, or both combined?

It's described in the first post, both combined. A true open air coop.

At 6' high it is likely not high enough. You do not want o be banging your head walking around in there. Most people bounce a little when they walk so it needs to be a little higher than your height.

I don't know how effective trenching and filling it with rock chips will be. It's not just the size of the debris and how tightly the rock chips are packed but the predator also. My 50 pound dog can move some decent sized rocks when she decides to dig a hole, say she is after a critter. Your idea will stop some, maybe a lot. I just don't know which.

I don't know how many chickens you can get in there before they start to eat each other or you have other behavioral problems. Are they all going to be those tiny Seramas or will yo have other bantams or even large-fowl chickens? Will you be integrating other chickens or chicks, eithe broody-raised, brooder-raised, or older chickens. What will your flock make-up be, all hens or some roosters, all the same level of maturity or will you have some less mature mixed in? How hard are you willing to work? The tighter the chicken density the more the poop will build up. You may wind up managing poop in that whole area instead of just under the roosts. The tighter you pack them the less flexibility you have. I like enough room to add a broody buster or something to isolate an injured chicken if I need to. How do you want to manage them? There area lot of different factors that go into how many you could pack in there. Commercial operations have shown that if you clip their beaks so they can't eat each other, are willing to deal with massive amounts of poop, and use other techniques you can squeeze even full-sized fowl into less than 4 square feet per chicken.

I don't know enough about your goals or even why you want chickens to start with. How many do you need to meet your goals? A 10' x 30' is a nice facility. My main run is 12' x 32' so I have a feel for how big it actually is. You could probably get by with 25 to 30 in there, probably more, but your chicken keeping experience may not be all that pleasant. I don't know the right number for you in that area.

 

[Nksg75]

Sounds great to me. I don't think you need to worry about ventilation or the cold at all. Some thoughts though.

Rain will blow in from the sides on the open areas. A roof by itself does not stop that. It needs to be where it will drain and not hold water.

How are you providing dig protection? I suggest an apron.

You don't want rain blowing in on your nests or roosts. Your feed needs to say dry. Those should be easily managed.

A roof does not provide full shade either, sunlight can come in from the sides. But your boxed in end should provide plenty of shade.

That's only 6' high. Will you be able to comfortably walk under the roof? Consider support framing and that you probably bounce some when you walk.

I completely agree with the double checking the height!! I cannot tell you how many times I curse myself for not raising the roof higher when I had a chance to. Everyday without fail, I walk into the coop, and hit my head.
I have only myself to blame of course!!

 

[RollTideChicken]

Lol yea I'm exactly 6' so the ceiling is being considered.
The trench wont be filled with chips. Think granite bricks, I'll post a pic below.
I will have full sizes birds (Bielefelders and the like) in this pen. I think @rosemarythyme is right, 20 birds. At 15sq.ft per bird that shouldn't be too tight for everyone. I just wasn't sure if the math was just add the coop sq.ft to the run sq.ft to get what I needed per bird. I plan on having 1 rooster in this pen. And I'm going to add things for them to get on and under, think chicken aviary.

Man I still haven't gotten any Seramas! And I want some too...

My plan is to start raising and selling chicks and chickens, just want to see if I can do it as a side project. I have a grow-out pen, a coop/run, and another small pen for seperating a bird or two if needed.

I've been dabbling in breed crossings this past year and the birds have come out very pretty and nice...mind you they are all half Bielefelder. The crosses have only been with BO and Australorps, but it's been a fun experience. And I've learned a lot more about incubating and the hatch rates have gotten better each time.

So, now that I've expanded my pen space I'd like to step it up and try more mixes and of course try to sell some.

Thanks for the great advice everyone!

Here's that pic of the stones...

 

[RollTideChicken]

Here's the first batch of those crosses

Ok something happened and the pic doesn't seem to have uploaded...

 

[RollTideChicken]

Odd but anyways there they are.