Please confirm my ideas

[paprikash]

I'm new to this and I would love for someone to poke holes in my plan and tell me what I should or shouldn't do. This weekend is build weekend for the coop and run. I am using an existing 6x6 shed that's elevated about 6". Plan on building 12 nesting boxes that I can access from outside and 2 6' roosts inside. The man door will be hardware cloth with a cover for winter. I also plan a few vents as I go along so the birds don't cook. The rub will be 12 x 12 with a slanted corrugated tin roof and a man door. 2x6 framing and bottom edge will all be covered with standard chicken wire. We have 12 hens of about 10 varieties from Americana to leghorn. We live in a residential neighborhood in south nj.
Should I be doing anything different and why?

 

[Farmer Pete]

I don't think you need all 12 nesting boxes, unless you are planning on chicken math kicking in quickly. I have 2 nesting boxes open for my flock, and they only use one of them. That's 3 chickens and 2 ducks sharing the same nesting box. Also if you have not had chickens before, you might close off the nesting boxes until they are old enough to lay, otherwise they will sleep and poop in them. Other than that it sounds like a great coop!

 

[Irishhenman]

You don't need the 12 nest boxes you would be fine with 2-3 and even at that most of the hens will lay in the one box. Other than that your plans are good.

 

[paprikash]

Nice tip on the nests. I think I will still tend to error on the side of to many, but it sounds like 1 row of 5-6 will be more than enough. How high from the coop floor should they be?
I have been reading about the deep litter method and also the poop board. Is the poop board as it sounds? A 8-10" wide board placed right under the roosts? If so should I make it from uhmwpe (plastic) so that it can be removed and rinsed easily? How high should roosts be and how far below that should the poop board be?

 

[Irishhenman]

I find that waist height is good but any height is fine for nests as long as the roosts are higher than them by at least a foot. Plastic would be ideal as long as it is strong enough. Put them around 6"-1' under the roosts. Make the roosts as high as you can, a ladder type roosts are good with the first bar around 2-3' from the floor and the next roost at 3-4' off the ground and 1-2 feet back from the first then the next 4-5' off the ground and 1-2' back from the last and carry on in that fashion until you are about 18" from the ceiling

 

[Ridgerunner]

For 12 hens three nests are enough, but if you want more fine. The only possible problem I see is that they may take up room inside the coop, depending on how you build them, and your coop has the potential to be a little small for 12 hens to start with. You’ll probably need to look at your management techniques and in addition to roofing the run close in an area on a side to for a pocket with the coop, roof, and side to keep snow and wind out so they have better access out there in the winter. You can follow the link in my signature for some thoughts on space.

It sounds like you are planning on making nests 12” square. That’s the minimum size I’d suggest for your hens, but I made mine bigger, 16” x 16” x 16”, and I’m glad I did. I don’t know what your shed looks like or how it is framed, but maybe look at your wall studs and use those to help size your nests, especially if you are opening them from outside. You don’t want studs in your way opening the nests.

I let broodies hatch with the flock. I find the bigger nests help with that. But more for your case, it is pretty normal for two or three hens to lay in the same nest at the same time. If the nests are 12” square they lay on top of each other instead of next to each other.

Be generous on putting in permanent year-around vents up high. It’s not good for them to breathe bad air and they can handle cold extremely well. Don’t worry about them getting cold and freezing to death. The real risk is from frostbite. Frostbite is more likely in an enclosed coop where the moisture from their poop and breathing can’t get out. What you want in winter is openings above their heads so the bad air can escape but any breezes are above their heads when roosting.

The chicken wire on the run is a concern. A big raccoon, dog, or some other larger predators can tear chicken wire. What I suggest is that you use 2” x 4” welded wire for the strength of your run against those bigger animals. Then line the inside lower 18” to 24” of the run with the chicken wire to help prevent a raccoon from reaching in and dragging a chicken out piece by piece.

The nests can go any height you are comfortable with. Some people just fill a cardboard box with bedding and put that in a corner on the bedding. Others hang them high enough so they can reach in there without bending, especially if they have a bad back. People care a lot more about nest height than the chickens do.

The roosts need to be higher than anything you don’t want them sleeping on but as low as reasonably possible. The higher you build them the bigger clear landing area they need to hop down. The pop door needs to be raised above the top of the bedding a bit, maybe even a foot, to keep bedding from getting scratched out of it. It’s more like my adults step up that high to get out more than jump.

The way I set the height of things is to determine how high the bedding will go. Be a little generous in this. It will be higher than you think is some areas because of their scratching. Then position the nests. Then make the roosts noticeably higher, say 12”, yet so they are sleeping below your permanent ventilation up top.

With two roosts, the one next to the wall needs to be about 12” away from the wall and the next one with 12” horizontal separation.

I do recommend a droppings board. One of your issues with 12 hens in that coop is going to be poop management. They poop a lot at night while on the roosts. There are all kinds of different ways to do a droppings board or something similar. You need to cover the area beneath the roosts and extend about a foot further out. With two roosts, that means yours will be 3’ wide.

I have a flat piece of plywood (actually the top of a permanent brooder I built in my coop) that I scrape with a broken handled garden hoe when I need to. For me that’s about every two to three weeks, depending on how humid the weather is and how many chickens I have. My goal is to keep it from building up enough to stink. Some people put vinyl on top of paint it and scrape it every day. Some people build a tray and put wood shavings, sand, or something else in there to absorb the moisture. I’ve used plastic bins from Walmart to just set under there so they are easy to empty. You have all kind of options, but yes, I recommend some type of poop management under the roosts. In a residential neighborhood you certainly don’t want it stinking. You don’t anyway because it’s not healthy but especially in a residential area.

I’d block off the 6” under the coop (or rip out the floor and let the coop floor be dirt but still blocking it off from the outside.) The chickens can get in that 6” space and just may decide to lay eggs under there. How would you retrieve those eggs or an injured chicken that did not want to be retrieved? If there is not enough space for chickens to get under there, it is a great place for Mama Mouse or Mama Rat to raise a family. Am egg-eating snake could set up residence under there, or just hunt that area looking for mice or rats. There is a lot of personal preference in this, but if the building is raised, I’d want it raised enough so I can see under there.

If you do rip the floor out, I’d consider filling it with a few inches of clay dirt before I considered any bedding to keep water from running in from the outside. I put in a swale just above mine and put a few inches of dirt in my coop. It stays very dry inside.

 

[paprikash]

Ridgerunner, thank you so much for all the info. I will follow the link you provided. You answered all of the so called gray areas I had.

I didn't mention that the coop is located outside of the yard so chickens getting under the coop is not an issue. But the vermin issue is something we experienced years ago with a pet duck. I don't want to relive the trouble of trying to get rid of the rats. I am going to explore the idea of raising it enough that it will be easy to clean underneath. 18" or so should work. Maybe I will incorporate into the yard so that the chickens have an extra 36 sqft of shaded area.

 

[LindaB220]

Ridgerunner, thank you so much for all the info. I will follow the link you provided. You answered all of the so called gray areas I had.

I didn't mention that the coop is located outside of the yard so chickens getting under the coop is not an issue. But the vermin issue is something we experienced years ago with a pet duck. I don't want to relive the trouble of trying to get rid of the rats. I am going to explore the idea of raising it enough that it will be easy to clean underneath. 18" or so should work. Maybe I will incorporate into the yard so that the chickens have an extra 36 sqft of shaded area.

Look at the top of the page and search for Deep Litter. No smell, easy and much healthier for your birds. Ask questions on the thread and they will help you. Just a thought.

And