Our coop rebuild, need a rework on the interior

[ThunderHillChick]

We completely gutted and rebuilt an 8x10 shed on the property and put a decent sized fence around it. I think I put my nest boxes too high, the chickens roost in the rafters. But some sleep in the nest boxes and there’s poo everywhere. If I lower the nests, and put in more roosts will this alleviate the poop boxes?? I have the cats in a 3’deep by 3’high box under the nest boxes. Any ideas on how to change up this floorplan to be more useful would be greatly appreciated.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Nest boxes look good in relation to roosts, however you may have birds that are struggling to get that high, roost bullying issues where lower ranked birds are being forced off or not allowed on, or birds that have developed the bad habit of preferring the boxes. Or some combo of multiple items going on.

A lower bar somewhere might help. For the time being I'd also cover the nest boxes in the evening to discourage them from sleeping in there (you can either uncover in the morning, if you're up pretty early, or go back late in the same evening and uncover).

 

[aart]

Am confused, what is this 'box'(that the chicken is standing on)
That's for cats?
and the framing below/next to it?

Wish you had posted at this stage:

So I could have suggested this:

Because I see no ventilation in your coop.

 

[ThunderHillChick]

Am confused, what is this 'box'(that the chicken is standing on)
That's for cats?
and the framing below/next to it?

View attachment 2008078

Wish you had posted at this stage:

So I could have suggested this:
View attachment 2008081
Because I see no ventilation in your coop.

there is a 12 x12 vent in the roof, the entire coop is not airtight, but not drafty.
The chicken is indeed standing on the cat enclosed space, the lid flips up and there is space for my cat and chicken food storage, as well as a safe place for the cats to do cat things. The frame you are seeing is a lower roost, I was thinking I could move the nest boxes along the side wall lower down, build more roosts along that back wall after shrinking the cat space. And introduce some ramps so the chickens dont need to be Quite so acrobatic. I didn’t know about this forum when we were doing the rebuild. The next Coop will be incorporating a lot more of the very awesome ideas I have seen while browsing through the coop pages. I do have some bullies, but every night the vast majority of the chickens are in the rafters, except for my one rooster who likes to poop in the boxes. I know it can be set up better, maybe a poop board on top of the cat box and a roost over that would be a lot better, I likely don’t need 10 next boxes for 12 chickens.. etc

 

[aart]

How do the cat(s?) get into the 'box'?
Do they need that much space...to sleep... or???
I'd rethink where your feed storage is.
Pics of inside that box, please?

Have some ideas but am too tired to lay them all out now.
But here some thoughts on the height of things to peruse:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/coop-stack-up-how-high-stuff-works-well.73427/

 

[ThunderHillChick]

How do the cat(s?) get into the 'box'?
Do they need that much space...to sleep... or???
I'd rethink where your feed storage is.
Pics of inside that box, please?

Have some ideas but am too tired to lay them all out now.
But here some thoughts on the height of things to peruse:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/coop-stack-up-how-high-stuff-works-well.73427/

oh they have a tiny door to outside, and one to inside so I don’t have to run two water heaters. I tried the two water set up and they would just climb the fence,
Go in the chicken house and drink from the chickens regardless. No they don’t need that much space, I just had boards already that size, and I’m a girl so if I don’t Need to use the saw, I don’t especially when I am doing a project before my husband gets home and says NO.

I have since removed the straw from the cat side and put in a large pillow bed.

 

[rosemarythyme]

there is a 12 x12 vent in the roof, the entire coop is not airtight, but not drafty.

Definitely do consider adding more ventilation. The recommended minimum on here is 1 sq ft per chicken or 10% of floor space, whichever is greater. What you do have going for you is a lot of overall air volume but a 1' square isn't going to cut it, especially since roof vents can get blocked up by snow or ice build up. Possibly those plexi panels can be reworked so they're hinged to open up, something like that?

 

[aart]

Huh, kinda clever for the cats....keeps the chickens from eating their food.
That heat lamp in there makes me cringe....get rid of it and add more bedding for them.
Might add a cat door for the exterior egress to keep cold wind from blowing in.
Get 'em all fixed? Cat math can be worse than chicken math.

I'd move the nests down to the floor and the roosts above the 'cat box'
(I hope they don't pee and poo in there).
You could put poop trays under the roost for ease of cleaning up chicken poop.
Put chicken wire attached to underside of rafters to keep the birds from roosting up there.
9-12" of roost length per bird and 12" away from wall.
1 nest of every 3-5 birds.
Learn to use the saw.

 

[ThunderHillChick]

Definitely do consider adding more ventilation. The recommended minimum on here is 1 sq ft per chicken or 10% of floor space, whichever is greater. What you do have going for you is a lot of overall air volume but a 1' square isn't going to cut it, especially since roof vents can get blocked up by snow or ice build up. Possibly those plexi panels can be reworked so they're hinged to open up, something like that?

Oh! Yes, actually, that shouldn’t be too hard. Unscrew them, make a frame hinge it and away we go. The wind tends to blow here A LOT frequently 40-70mph and never the same direction, we were concerned about parts ripping off the shed.

We are planning a walled covered area next to the current building, at which point that panel on the side can be replaced with chicken wire which would grant a lot more ventilation without elements getting inside I think. I’ll have to take photos of the coop on the other farm, it’s a nicer set up with that indoor/outdoor buildings and a large pen, but an hour away so the chickens are here in the winter and there in the summer when we move for the season. The nest boxes are a lot nicer too (probably because I didn’t girl engineer them )

 

[rosemarythyme]

We are planning a walled covered area next to the current building, at which point that panel on the side can be replaced with chicken wire which would grant a lot more ventilation without elements getting inside I think.

Chicken wire is not predator proof. Unless you're planning to run hot wire I'd definitely go with at least hardware cloth or welded wire, or layer the two. No openings larger than 1/2".