Rebuilding Coop

[AussieGirl]

So ive gotten started (finally)on the rebuilding of my old chicken coop. Its small and wont have enough space for the amount of chickens I want. MY long term goal is 20 chickens. Heres the coop thats been in my backyard and has been a storage shed for the last several years.

This is the back side of it facing my dog yard

And heres a veiw from another side

And the view from the front

Heres the idea of how i want it to look sorry if the image is a little small

The orginal measurements on the old coop are 3ft10x7ft10x6f6 at the shortest and 8ft2 at its tallest I want to extend it to 13ft10x7ft10x8ft2 if i did my math correctly the old coop is 21 square feet and I want to add an additional 72feet to it so that according to the rule of 4ft per chicken thatll ought to give me enough room. Also keep in mind that these will be free ranging chickens and will only be put up at night. I want my coop to be able to protect them from the many predators around my place as we do have cats,owls,hawks,snakes roaming around the place. I will be putting laying boxes in as well but not sure on the exact setup Im thinking close to the bottom so no eggs or baby chicks fall out. Im also going to extend the door I already have so messes are easier to clean up. Also the coop is going to be wood panneling all around too. I cant think of anything else I might need to add any ideas? Is the coop too small?Any suggestions are welcomed.

 

[alliandme]

If it gets as hot in summer as up here in North Queensland,You might want to add a solar panneled fan or if you have electricity, a normal one.
Plant some trees and shrubs a few weeks before you start, so the chooks will have some shade when your finished. or in the meantime, rig up some shade cloth. Add a "Float system" waterer. You'll only have to pressure wash it or scrub it out every other week. Have the nesting boxes sticking out the side with a lift-up roof for easy egg collection, but close to the ground. If you put a fan in, make sure its facing the nesting boxes or revolves around so it keeps the broody hens/laying hens cool. Plant some mustard plants or some silver beet (NOT RHUEBARB!! POISON!!) and put a tall, wide holed mesh so they can peck at the leaves poking through, but not dig it up.

That's all I can think of at the moment. All of theese ideas are what I want to do with my coop.

Good luck!

 

[AussieGirl]

Quote:
Hmm didnt think about the heat it can get on the warmest day around 105 but stays more in the upper in the 90's in the late spring to Fall. I wouldnt mind just building a wood base and the rest (and I think they make some)snake proof fencing?That would keep it cooler the only thing im worried about would be in the winter when it can actually get quite cold.

 

[alliandme]

You could try putting hot water bottles in nesting boxes, or have a heating system.

 

[Psalge]

i just use lamps for when it gets cold, it works fine

 

[cmom]

Looks like you have thought this out well. It does look like there are some trees next to the old coop.

 

[AussieGirl]

Quote:
Yea well I wanted to be sure I had everything right for the chickies. Also there are trees on both sides of the coop and behind it. The two that are on its side are around 10 feet if memory serves from the coop. The one on the other side facing my house is even closer like 5ft and the one behind it is 7 or 8. I think they are white oak trees we have tones of them and during fall the ground is liitered with their leaves.Do you think the trees will be a problem, we've only had the occasional small twigs fall though we do have one massive one that covers alot of the back and its had some pretty good size limbs fall over the years but wever done alot of trimming on most of the trees some time ago.