Ramp angles & Lots of other Questions

[Tigerfeet]

how steep is too steep?

I'm working right now on drawing up some brainstorming plans for an indoor 2-story coop and I need a ramp from upstairs to downstairs, how steep is too steep? I don't want them to have to run an obstacle course to get from the upstairs to the downstairs, but I want to save room too.

I'm also planning on a nesting box downstairs with some roosting room upstairs.

Another question, 2 feet wide, 4-6 feet long, with about 5 feet in height. What do you think about these dimensions for 3-4 chickens as long as I partition upstairs/downstairs? These would be winter quarters located inside my garage with access to an outside run via an existing window (hence the height). In the summer I'd like to have them in a tractor.

Ooh, another question (specifically for pat!) Do you have any advice about ventilating and/or insulating a coop that's already inside another building? Being inside the garage I would think it would be more difficult to get good air circulation, but easier to keep warm. (It's a 2-car garage btw)

 

[tdgill]

oh goody, you have generally the same area I am working with.

mine is 9ft x 3 ft. and can be 2 story, its in a shed. i also wondered about these dimensions - being narrow.

I wonder if just going in and out of your garage daily with the car would be circulating enough as it is

... except of course from the exhaust from the car possibly? I suppose thats something you have to consider as well. I told BF I want to roll the lawn tractor out of the chicken shed before we start it. He laughed.

we'll have to compare notes when we get some ideas on design.

 

[scooter147]

35 degree angle should be fine.
In you design make sure the upstairs is not too difficult to clean, you are not going to want to have to get up their on your hands and knees to clean it.

 

[Tigerfeet]

Well, here's what I've got so far. I'm still playing around with which way to face the interior ramp and where to put the window. I do know I want the nesting box (do I need more than one for 3-4 chickens?) on the right-hand side.

I'm thinking about having two one-fold accordian type doors on the bottom because space on that side of the garage is at a premium.

I'm not really worried about exhaust from the cars, they're never on inside the garage long enough for it to matter, (turn car on, back out, THEN idle) You're probably right that opening and closing the garage door every day will be enough to ventilate the whole garage. That also probably means for me that I'll have to build configurable vents so that I can find a 'happy medium of some kind when temperatures really start to drop.

Oh, I'm thinking of a guillotine-style door for the window, I'm even thinking about installing weatherstripping around it with a counter-weight in the wall (oooh aren't I fancy) so that their roost area doesn't get all drafty at night.

 

[scooter147]

I would go with two nest boxes, although they will probably only use one.

 

[Fombellchicks]

Hi,
I am going to sell mine in springtime.
Here is some info with pictures of it that might help you.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=126993

I also did a ramp to go downstairs. Watching my chickens go up and down all summer, I don't think the angle is really important. They seem to mostly hop / fly up. It seemed more to help them that I added some 0.5 inch wooden strips as steps on it. They usually used the one halfway up.
Be sure to put some "fencing" around the opening of the door or they will push any pine chips etc. downstairs.

About ventilation - that is why I left one side "open" as shown in the pics - for ventilation and light.

Feel free to pm me if you have any questions about the one I built.
Good luck.

 

[tdgill]

Quote:
I'm only gonna have a partial enclosure on second level at the end of the coop....so i can walk up to it, get eggs and they can roost up there

I have 3 ft. width and i am still worried that the area is too narrow. if one chicken is in the way, no other ones can pass. and i hate that at the grocery store! i guess bantams are a possiblity

 

[saltnprepper]

I had guinea pigs that we housed in the garage just one winter and they died of carbon monoxide poisoning.