Please Read I need help

[Brian]

The bottom line is that the chickens need to be protected. A dirt floor will work, but as the rains soak into their house, and you walk into it, do you want to be stepping in the mess?

If you are in a climate that drops below zero in the winter, then the small cost of insulating will allow you to sleep a little easier at night. Generally, chickens tolerate cold well, without adding heat or insulation.

Windows: just make sure that the summer evenings won't be too hot. Put in more than one window that is openable, and use wire mesh on the inside to keep the predators out at night. In the winter, the windows will be closed. Make sure your coop is weather tight and has no drafts. A little air leaking in is fine and will keep the humidity down (which discourages fungus). So...a little air exchange is good, but no drafts!

Other than that, build the coop out of any material you like, just keep it rain tight, draft tight, and predator proof.

Hope this helps you.

Brian

 

[TheMartianChick]

Brian-

Your coop is looks great. Your chickens will be the Jones-es that everyone else is always trying to keep up with!

 

[Smitty's Farm]

I think once you browse the coop design section you will start to get an idea of what will work best for you and your environment. You may want to go to your library and see if there are any chicken books to check out. I bought several books for reasearch before we ordered our chicks.

Take in account how many chicken & what kind of breeds you want to house to make sure you will calculate enough space when planning.

I was only going to have 5-8 chickens, but ended up keeping all 16. SO........WARNING! It's addicting! I wish I would have made my coop bigger, so I could add to the flock and I also wish I had room for a closet inside of the coop to store all my chickens supplies.

We opted for a wood floor, b/c we had no idea where we wanted to place the coop in the yard. We built it on our drive to have a nice flat surface and access to electricity, then drug it with the tractor to it's location in the yard. We elevated it w/ cement blocks.

I wanted it tall enough to walk in without hitting my head. We covered the inside wood floor w/ cheap linoleum. We use pine wood shavings to cover the floor for the litter. We also painted the inside for easier cleaning. We have windows on the side wall that is covered w/ galvanized hardware wire for predator proofing. We placed the nest boxes along the back wall about 2 ft above the ground. Someone on the site recommended double pane window.

You need vents on the opposite walls to help with cross ventilation, but not installed where it will cause a draft over their roost.

Roost should be installed higher than nest boxes to discourage chickens from sleeping in the nest boxes.
We use straw for material inside our boxes, some people use hay and some use pine wood shavings.

Another thing that helped me was going to Home Depot & Lowe's and just looking at the models of building of sheds that they have on display.

Hope this helps! It's a fun process.
Good luck!

Kim

 

[skatcatla]

I agree with Smitty. So much will depend on where you live, how hot or cold it gets, how much it rains, how many chickens, etc.

I have only a few chickens and very little space, so I needed something relatively compact and easy to clean. Since the coop is part of my small back yard, I also wanted something attractive to look at that wouldn't devalue my house.

I spent a lot of time browsing the pages on this site as well as others, and bought a book about Chicken coops to peruse as well. Eventually I figured out what appealed to me and then came up with a simple design. The chickens themselves have very few needs: they need to be dry, have ventilation, have something to roost on, something to lay eggs in and access to food and clean water. Everything else is really for you!

 

[rosyposyosy]

PLEASE don't just have dirt. I have tile, heavy tile, and a mouse, rat or mole or something that size has dug in, and continues to.

 

[AtRendeAcres]

I have cement/concrete:

I could never do deep litter I always wind up cleaning out to soon to me it always smelt!

So,
I got a pick- up of sand & dumped it in!
I sifted it out for a month or so that didn't last though & as long as I mixed it (it didn't smell)

Since then I add my DE & PDZ rake it in I sprinkle corn on floor every nigh and it now looks like rich dirt! (should go well in garden this year)

I know the litter is suppose to keep them warmer but, they are all fine! (all cold hardy)