Please critique my coop

[Chickendilly]

Love the short roosting bar, my silkies tend to line up on the edge of the PDZ filled tray under the main roost bar. So that is great that you have that tiny one!

Thank you!! I hope they'll use it. I have a feeling they roost on the board that serves as the stop to the droppings tray.

 

[Chickendilly]

I would start at night and put them on the roost the first night. Then let them into the run for food and water the next morning.

Enjoy the adventure

Thank you! I think I'll try to get the run finished tomorrow so they can hang out there during the day tomorrow and then I'll put them in the coop on the roost tomorrow night and nervously watch on the Blink camera all night!

 

[FrostRanger]

Thank you for the advice. I think we will end up with five, since we think one of the silkies is a roo. I think I'll try to finish up the run tomorrow and put them in and then coax them into the coop tomorrow night.

We can get them out from under the coop pretty easily. I want them to have that shade because summer in central Texas is no joke!

Even with 5 the coop is only big enough for 3

You said you plan on adding shadecloth, I would also advise having an overhang on the sunniest side (usually the southern side) to further block the worst of the sun

 

[Debbie292d]

Thank you! I think I'll try to get the run finished tomorrow so they can hang out there during the day tomorrow and then I'll put them in the coop on the roost tomorrow night and nervously watch on the Blink camera all night!

You could always just put them in the run, then put a battery lantern inside the chicken door. They may just go in there on their own. 50/50 chance I'd guess.

That works well when we're moving chickens from a growout pen to the coop for their first time. We have this down to a science. It takes 4 days on average. The smarter ones get it down in 3 days. The frustrating ones take 5, but more often than not, 4 days.

 

[Chickendilly]

Even with 5 the coop is only big enough for 3

You said you plan on adding shadecloth, I would also advise having an overhang on the sunniest side (usually the southern side) to further block the worst of the sun

Well, I'm not sure what I can do about the coop size at this point.

The run is under a very big tree, so most of it is shaded, at least at the hottest part of the day. I do have a large patio umbrella that I can use to shade any hot spots. And I have a box fan set up on the outside of the run and a portable fan on the coop's roof.

 

[Chickendilly]

You could always just put them in the run, then put a battery lantern inside the chicken door. They may just go in there on their own. 50/50 chance I'd guess.

That works well when we're moving chickens from a growout pen to the coop for their first time. We have this down to a science. It takes 4 days on average. The smarter ones get it down in 3 days. The frustrating ones take 5, but more often than not, 4 days.

Thank you! I do have a cheap remote control light to put in there. I'm assuming I turn it off once they are all in? Let's hope they figure it out quickly!

 

[D Uccle Uncle]

Well, I'm not sure what I can do about the coop size at this point.

The run is under a very big tree, so most of it is shaded, at least at the hottest part of the day. I do have a large patio umbrella that I can use to shade any hot spots. And I have a box fan set up on the outside of the run and a portable fan on the coop's roof.

The coop appears more than 4 foot wide. If interior space is a problem, you could remove the nesting boxes, add another roosting bar, and find an external egg nest solution. I have one of these on the outside of the henhouse:

Regarding shade, the more the better. As others stated above, I would at least cover the entire run, withstanding the fact that there is already tree cover. Shade cloth is the best bang-for-your-buck, relatively maintenance free thing you can do to keep the birds cooler. Ideally the cloth would cover your entire setup, not simply draped over the arch cross-members but instead hang horizontal. Aesthetics aside, this can be easily accomplished by fixing tall posts to the existing vertical fence posts, fixing the cloth/cloths to the extended uprights.

I would not enclose the area under the house, at least not at first. I'm in a hot environment and my elevated hen house sits underneath a large mesquite tree. The hen house roof blocks 100% of visible sun. The chickens park underneath the hen house between about 11a and 2pm, when another spot becomes more favorable.

When you have free time, I'd replace the zip-ties with wire.

I do like the design of the house...it has a real 1970's feel.

 

[Chickendilly]

The coop appears more than 4 foot wide. If interior space is a problem, you could remove the nesting boxes, add another roosting bar, and find an external egg nest solution. I have one of these on the outside of the henhouse:
View attachment 4164572
Regarding shade, the more the better. As others stated above, I would at least cover the entire run, withstanding the fact that there is already tree cover. Shade cloth is the best bang-for-your-buck, relatively maintenance free thing you can do to keep the birds cooler. Ideally the cloth would cover your entire setup, not simply draped over the arch cross-members but instead hang horizontal. Aesthetics aside, this can be easily accomplished by fixing tall posts to the existing vertical fence posts, fixing the cloth/cloths to the extended uprights.

I would not enclose the area under the house, at least not at first. I'm in a hot environment and my elevated hen house sits underneath a large mesquite tree. The hen house roof blocks 100% of visible sun. The chickens park underneath the hen house between about 11a and 2pm, when another spot becomes more favorable.

When you have free time, I'd replace the zip-ties with wire.

I do like the design of the house...it has a real 1970's feel.

Thank you so much for this! I will keep a close eye on them to make sure they aren't overcrowded. And, I can move their nesting boxes out if I need to. None of them are very big breeds and two are bantams.

I just ordered some shade cloth to go over the whole run. Thank you for the suggestion.

Most of the zip ties are metal and the plastic ones are mostly holders that we'll replace with the metal ones. We have some wire and will go around and secure any suspect spots.

Thank you so much!!

 

[springvalley123]

The run looks great! Any chance you could remove one or two entire walls from the coop? If you were worried about predators, you could put hardware cloth on the removed walls, as they're 3-4 feet long by about that tall. Just figure out where the winter wind comes from, you'll have to either re-close that wall, or leave it up and take down a different wall.

Any time I put chicks outside I put them out first thing in the morning, or at least sometime in the morning, to get them acclimated to their new surroundings, but it sounds like you've done that already, I assume in the same coop. How old are they? I wouldn't force them onto a roost, with my luck they would injure themselves jumping down and finding the only goathead spike or pebble I overlooked. They'll eventually roost on their own schedule.

 

[Chickendilly]

The run looks great! Any chance you could remove one or two entire walls from the coop? If you were worried about predators, you could put hardware cloth on the removed walls, as they're 3-4 feet long by about that tall. Just figure out where the winter wind comes from, you'll have to either re-close that wall, or leave it up and take down a different wall.

Any time I put chicks outside I put them out first thing in the morning, or at least sometime in the morning, to get them acclimated to their new surroundings, but it sounds like you've done that already, I assume in the same coop. How old are they? I wouldn't force them onto a roost, with my luck they would injure themselves jumping down and finding the only goathead spike or pebble I overlooked. They'll eventually roost on their own schedule.

I could probably remove a wall, or a section of it, and cover it with hardcloth. Is that for more ventilation? I am in Austin, TX, and a winter wind rarely comes. We have maybe 5 cold days a winter.

They were outside in the run for a while today and then it started to rain so I moved them into the coop and put them on the roost. I watched on the camera as they one by one figured out how to use the ramp to get down, where I put a bowl of fruit. By the time the rain ended after a few hours, they were all going up and down the ramp.

Tomorrow is their official move-in, assuming I can finish securing the coop door.

Thanks for the input and advice!!