Renovating existing coop-ideas, thoughts appreciated!

[DavidandEm]

I am looking to update/reno our chicken coop. After adding several more hens, (up to 11 now!), we need a bigger coop, and possibly larger 'yard' for them! I am working on a design for a 'detachable' covered yard on wheels that I can connect to the existing yard or hook to my 4wheeler and drag around the farm for the hens to graze more (with a small coop for them to chill out in while it's being moved around!), as well as a new design for a larger, walk in coop with nesting boxes and feed storage, etc.
Any tips, ideas, what you've done with your coops that make life easier?
Are they coops that are large enough to walk in, or just 'chicken sized'?
Would love some pics and ideas for those of y'all who have done 'before' and 'after' stuff in their chicken areas.

The coop we have now is kind of crude, and just old. It needs to be redone. It was made with scraps, but never really 'finished', so we are looking to improve it-and make it a heck of a lot cuter (read: not an eyesore!).

Here are some pics of our set up now with info below:

I will call it our official 'before' shot!

Roof is metal leftover from our house getting built.
There is a covered (with metal roof) area and open area yard, but everything is covered in chicken wire mesh.
The green is a raised coop with access to the nests from outside (there are two 'doors' that swing up for access to the 3 lower and 3 upper nests).
The silver 'rain gutter' above the green (to the left) was a gutter that caught rainwater, which funneled to a watering system with a holding tank/bucket and about 10 little water 'nipples' from the pipe that extends to the left of the coop. It does not work very well and I have buckets for water in the coop that the hens prefer.
Note our roosters 'free-ranging' it out of the hen coop.

 

[HEChicken]

I am looking to update/reno our chicken coop. After adding several more hens, (up to 11 now!), we need a bigger coop, and possibly larger 'yard' for them! I am working on a design for a 'detachable' covered yard on wheels that I can connect to the existing yard or hook to my 4wheeler and drag around the farm for the hens to graze more (with a small coop for them to chill out in while it's being moved around!), as well as a new design for a larger, walk in coop with nesting boxes and feed storage, etc.
Any tips, ideas, what you've done with your coops that make life easier?
Are they coops that are large enough to walk in, or just 'chicken sized'?
Would love some pics and ideas for those of y'all who have done 'before' and 'after' stuff in their chicken areas.

I dunno....I kind of like your existing coop.

Tips, ideas. My coop is a walk-in coop and I love that. It makes everything easier - cleaning it out, checking on the birds, catching the ones that don't like to be handled. I decided against external access to nest boxes after reading about challenges keeping them dry, so I also walk in to collect eggs.

Tip 1: Include in your plans, a feed/equipment storage area. My coop is 10x14 and that comprises a coop that is 10x10 and a storage area that is 10x4. I love having the food and supplies located right there at the coop.

Tip 2: Roost space. I started with a ladder. What I found was that they all wanted to be on the top rung and there was constant bickering and birds being shoved off. Only a few slept on the lower rungs. Then they started getting bumblefoot, which I think was caused by them jumping off the top (too high) rung. So I took it apart and built a roost that consists of 4 parallel roosts. Bedtime has been far calmer ever since and I've had no new cases of bumblefoot.

Tip 3: Guttering. I added a gutter to my roof, and it feeds down to a rain barrel, giving me "free" water right at my coop. I couldn't set up the rain barrel as we went into winter due to freezing, so only recently got it set up and I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE having water right there. I don't use a nipple system, but have a 5-gallon galvanized waterer, along with several rubber bowls. Now I can just turn on the tap of the rain barrel and fill the waterers right there.

Tip 4: I used the left over guttering to create a feeder inside the coop. I put on end caps, attached the gutter to the wall at LF back height, and then fed a PVC pipe down into it. The pipe can be filled from the feed room side of the coop, and holds enough feed for 40-50 birds for about a day and a half. I love this feeder, after 4 years of trying every other solution in the book. It takes up almost no space, since it is attached to the wall and sticks out only 4". The steep sides of the gutter mean the feed doesn't get billed out, so there is almost no waste. And, the height at which it is installed seems to deter rodents from stealing my feed.

Pictures of most of the above are on my "My Coop" page under my profile if you are interested. I don't think I've downloaded it from the camera yet, but the other day I happened to be at the coop in time to snap a pic of turkey, ducks, LF and bantams all eating out of the gutter feeder at the same time. I'll try to get it put up there sometime soon.

Oh - and I like your idea of a moveable run. My birds have a very large yard and even with 40+ birds they have not yet stripped it of vegetation. Nevertheless, I do open the gate and let them out to free-range the whole property from about mid-afternoon on, so that they have access to even more vegetation and bugs.

 

[DavidandEm]

Thank you so much for all the info. I loved reading your profile "My Coop" page as well. Lots of good info to remember. How many chickens do you keep total (40+)?
Will keep this updated as we work. I am going to run down to the local repurpose store to see if there is any good scrapped lumber (doors, etc.) that I can tear down to reuse as parts of the coop........

 

[HEChicken]

How many chickens do you keep total (40+)?

The number is ever varying

Right now I have 6 ducks, 2 turkeys and around 30 chickens. But I have a dozen eggs incubating right now, some in the incubator and some under broody hens, plus I have a shipment of 25 chicks arriving next week. So this time next week I will have approximately double the number of chickens.