Our first chcken coop progress

[saf101]

Well we have been lurking for sometime now and we are firstime chicken owners ad new to this site has been a lot of help and a weath of knowledge whle researching. Becuase of not knowing too much about coops we spent hours looking at coop designs on the forum until we found something that we like and would look nice on our property and be functional. We are looking at 8 to 10 chickens and really liked what Coop DeLisle so thank you for posting you coop. so we have 80sq feet that will give us room to grow becuase I have heard that chickens are addictive. So we started to build alot was prebuild in our garage becuase the weather was not nice on the east coast. This weekend was very nice so it was time to assemble the coop in its new home, the inside of the coop is 10' X 8' with a 4' front porch. We have include two large windows on the side walls inside the coop that will be 30" wide and 50" long that can be opened for ventilation. We also included a 3' by 1' on the back wall close to the joist for added ventilation. All ventilation opening willl be covered in hardware cloth. Our goal was to get the platform, walls, joist and sheeting for the roof as well as the siding. We will come back and cut the windows and nesting box from the siding when we get the windows made. I will update this on our progress

Here is the progress after the weekend

We live in PA so we plan on insulating the interior of the coop so before we attached the exterior siding we wrap the entire wall studs with 4mm plastic to help on drafts we will then using paperback batting insulation on the interior wall another 4mm plastic then 5/8 smooth underlayment that will then be painted for easy cleaning.

questions
1) Ventilation I think we have enough for the Spring and Summer but the side widows will be closed for the late fall into winter so how can I get ventilation during this time? I was planning on enclosing the roof and cutting some ventholes and adding vents to the gables? Will this be enough?
2) Roost height have read about 4' high is this correct would like to have two and people suggest 18" from the wall are these correct?
3) Nesting box will be 6 nesting box 2 high 3 wide each nest 12X12 each with egg access from the outside becuase of only have 8 to 10 chickens for now overkill.
4) What size does the chicken door need to be?

Anything else that you may see wrong with the coop please let us know and will update our progress and thank you for you advice in advace

Thank you

 

[pacetruckguy]

Darn, that's a nice coop. I think you might be able to rent that out to a college student. I think you should put your roosts toward the top of the building. Chickens like to roost high. I have 8 hens, and three nest boxes. Most of the hens use the same box. I always get at least 4 eggs in that box, and one or two in the others. If your only going to have 8 hens, three boxes will be more than enough. 12X12 is the right size. Keep your nest boxes low. Nice job!

 

[UGAchick]

I agree with the advice given so far.

Your coop is so nice that I would like to live there...

Also, I like the square foot garden in the pic. I am making one of those this year, too!

 

[saf101]

Thank you very much for your information right now the nesting boxes where going to be 18" off the floor I think I read that someplace should it be lower?

We love square foot gardening never go back to the old way

 

[captainmoose]

If you insulate as mentioned in your post you will trap moisture in the insulation. You will be putting a vapor barrier on the outside of the studs, the insulation has a vapor barrier, and the plastic over that will be another vapor barrier. That is not a good idea, you don't need any of the plastic. Your coop looks very solid, I don't see where there will be any problem with drafts. You have a nice looking coop, I would hate to see it sweat and get moldy.

 

[journey11]

Hi saf101 and

I agree that you do not need to insulate so thoroughly. You don't want it drafty, but even in winter the coop needs to be able to breathe. Moist, stale air will make them sick and also the build up of ammonia odors from their poo will be oppressive if it can't air out and they will be more likely to pick and fight while on the roost because of the discomfort.

You are in PA right? Not too terribly cold there in the winter. My coop is a converted small barn with rough cut wood siding and furring strips over the gaps between the rough cut. It certainly breathes very easily. For warmth in the winter I use a very large sheet of cardboard to cover the wall on the side of the prevailing winds and I use a red heat bulb over the roosts. Also, having an adequate number of chickens in the space helps as they can keep each other warm. You won't need it airtight to keep it cosy--there are other strategies without sacrificing ventilation. I would worry about condensation on your wood too.

On your roost height, depending on what kind of chickens you have, you may want it a little lower than 4'. Big heavy breeds will have trouble jumping that high. I have both of mine at 2 1/2' or my brahmas would never make it up there. You could also do one pole slightly lower in front so they can get a step up (just make sure you have room on the higher pole for all of them so nobody feels demoted!

) You can have the pole closest to the wall out by 12", but make sure the second roost pole is 18" out from the other. This is so they can't easily reach over and peck at each other.

With 8-10 chickens you'd be fine on 3 nestboxes, although it's not going to hurt anything to have 6--maybe you'll want more chickens someday.

Door size--when I first built mine, it was too big and let in too much wind. I reduced mine to about 1 foot high and 9 inches wide. Mine are standard size chickens.

Overall it is a beautiful and fine looking coop, very well built! I love your little porch! Such a nice spot it will be to sit and relax and watch the girls as they are out foraging in the yard.

 

[gallina man]

very nice coop

 

[CityChook]

Quote:
First,

from MN!

Your coop is lovely. Really nice job!

I have ridgecap and soffet ventilation as well as two 10x10 gable vents. It's pretty cold here in MN, and the windows are all closed for from Oct. - April. This amount of ventilation has worked very well for us. I only have 4 chickens, so take that into consideration.

Roost height will be determined by the type of chicken that you have. Some like to go as high as possible (including up into the trees/rafters) but some like it low. I have Buff Orps and they are big bootie girls, so my roost is only 36 inches off the ground. That way they don't hurt their legs when they jump down -- THUMP. Remember to make your roost higher than your nest boxes to discourage sleeping in the boxes (resulting in dirty eggs). Your plan of 18 inches off the floor should be perfect.

Do you really need that many nest boxes? They'll probably all want to crowd into one or two favorites anyways. Consider closing them off until your girls are close to laying age. Golf balls in the nestboxes will help teach them to lay eggs there. My DH calls them "training wheels."

Chicken door can be 12x12 to 15x15. Don't put it on the side of the house that gets most of your weather to discourage rain/snow/cold from blowing in. Mine is on the North side under the covered run.

I'm excited to see the progress on this coop. Lovely work.

 

[saf101]

Thank you for your comments yes I'm in PA. I guess it the engineer in me coming out tend to over do things sometime. This was to be a small coop at first

I will not add the second vapor barrier to the inside that make a lot of sense about the moisture problem. Would you you put vents in the gables I was hope to enclose the ceiling? becuase the large windows will be closed in the cold months or am I worry to much here the chickens will be astrolopes, silver laced wyndotts and white rocks

thank you everyone for your feedback

 

[CityChook]

Explain the ceiling.
The gables are the best spot for your ventilation. Again, not on your weather side to reduce rain/snow from entering the coop. You want the vents to be at the highest spot, where the hot/moist air will get trapped. You have to give it a chance to escape. But if you put a ceiling in, moisture/air will get trapped in the coop section. I've seen a few coops with a cut out in the ceiling to allow for some air flow, but it seems like it would turn into a dust farm up there. Maybe someone with a ceiling can chime in. I left my rafters exposed. Definitely insulate the ceiling if you can - I think it's more important than the walls. I did not line the insulation in the ceiling with plywood as my BO girls are not fliers and they stay out of the rafters.

You'll still need to put something over your insulation to keep the chookies from eating it. They're not so smart that way.