Six by 8 coop plans?

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Sorry in advance for the long post lol
So the guy backed out and I'm now planning an 8 by 8 coop (I may only make it 6 foot tall I have 100% decided but it will be 8 foot wide and 8 foot long (I'm only 5'5 so im worried of its 8 foot tall it will make the roof and any areas above my head hard to clean) for now the most chickens I'll have is 16. (my current 11 with the possibility of adding 4 more hens)
I free range atleast 5 days a week and honestly the only time their really up is if I'm not home for some reason, my mom says their not allowed out unless I'm home because they test their boundaries when I'm not around 🤣 but I work from home so that's why they only really stay up for maybe two days a week.
The only thing I'm concerned about is I do have Two Jersey giants, one rooster and one hen and the roo is already quite large and I know they say to account for more space per large bird.
Is an 8 by 8 still feasible with the option of expanding it to say a 10 by 10 or 12 by 12 if I decide to expand past 16 chickens? (I am using screws so it wouldn't be super hard to expand once I have the 8 by 8 built)
The run of course would be expanded as well if I do ever get more than 16.(probably would just fence in my entire half acre of back yard for them)
I had orginal purchased a 4 foot by 4 foot prefab coop so that's what the 5 orginal of my flock are coming from. Then I have Six new girls that will be added after their 30 days of quarantine is up. (About two and a half weeks left on it so I have a little while to build the coop)
I'm planning on a slanted roof to help prevent rain(I also will be doing a wooden roof for now but will replace it will a metal roof before summer is over) and planning to use Tree branches for roost instead of 2 by 4's mainly because I have a ton of solid tree branches around me that fell a few months ago after a bad storm, then I was going to use left over plywood and some pallets I have to build nest boxes.
I'm planning atleast four roost(I do have to make atleast one close to the ground due to my big roos potential mature size) but was planning to do the nest boxes in a row on the opposite side of the roost bars slightly elevated off the floor by maybe say 3 or so inches?
so far no one has had issues laying in the foam cooler set on the floor of the coops I turned into a temporary nest box because everyone told me my new hens would take a while to start laying again after the move and I've been getting an egg a day from all but two of them since the day after I brought them home 🤣🤣 and one of my orginal flock finally started laying.
Anywayyyys lmao does this sound like a solid plan for a coop build? I'm am going to enlist the help of my grandfather who has building experience and offered to help if I bought all the supplies so that does change things a small amount lol.
 
I'm not sure if you're still looking, but I just designed a building that I will be brooding large batches of broiler chicks in this season. I do alot of sketch up design for my farm work.
The shed is 8x5 and I haven't ordered materials quite yet, but might end up costing about 600 (considering the exorbitant price of lumber at the moment). If you can frame a wall (not difficult) and screw plywood onto the side of a stud wall you can build this. I would be happy to break these plans down for you so you can see the walls, base, and roof assemblies all separately with dimensions if you would like. I need to do that anyway, but I have a couple weeks so I just hadn't created my build files yet. Materials list is in the pictures. Or I can just send you the sketch up file if you know what to do with it.


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This is my favorite coop of all of my coops. Easy to clean out under. I divided it and made it into a duplex so I could separate birds. We built it to make it easy to clean out the poop pit under the roosts. It's 8'x16'. I don't clean the poop out every day and I have a lot of birds. Good luck with your build...
IMG_20200101_120506.jpg IMG_20160421_095230.jpg IMG_2921.JPG
 
Demonaca said:
Sorry in advance for the long post lol
So the guy backed out and I'm now planning an 8 by 8 coop (I may only make it 6 foot tall I have 100% decided but it will be 8 foot wide and 8 foot long (I'm only 5'5 so im worried of its 8 foot tall it will make the roof and any areas above my head hard to clean) for now the most chickens I'll have is 16. (my current 11 with the possibility of adding 4 more hens)
I free range atleast 5 days a week and honestly the only time their really up is if I'm not home for some reason, my mom says their not allowed out unless I'm home because they test their boundaries when I'm not around 🤣 but I work from home so that's why they only really stay up for maybe two days a week.
The only thing I'm concerned about is I do have Two Jersey giants, one rooster and one hen and the roo is already quite large and I know they say to account for more space per large bird.
Is an 8 by 8 still feasible with the option of expanding it to say a 10 by 10 or 12 by 12 if I decide to expand past 16 chickens? (I am using screws so it wouldn't be super hard to expand once I have the 8 by 8 built)
The run of course would be expanded as well if I do ever get more than 16.(probably would just fence in my entire half acre of back yard for them)
I had orginal purchased a 4 foot by 4 foot prefab coop so that's what the 5 orginal of my flock are coming from. Then I have Six new girls that will be added after their 30 days of quarantine is up. (About two and a half weeks left on it so I have a little while to build the coop)
I'm planning on a slanted roof to help prevent rain(I also will be doing a wooden roof for now but will replace it will a metal roof before summer is over) and planning to use Tree branches for roost instead of 2 by 4's mainly because I have a ton of solid tree branches around me that fell a few months ago after a bad storm, then I was going to use left over plywood and some pallets I have to build nest boxes.
I'm planning atleast four roost(I do have to make atleast one close to the ground due to my big roos potential mature size) but was planning to do the nest boxes in a row on the opposite side of the roost bars slightly elevated off the floor by maybe say 3 or so inches?
so far no one has had issues laying in the foam cooler set on the floor of the coops I turned into a temporary nest box because everyone told me my new hens would take a while to start laying again after the move and I've been getting an egg a day from all but two of them since the day after I brought them home 🤣🤣 and one of my orginal flock finally started laying.
Anywayyyys lmao does this sound like a solid plan for a coop build? I'm am going to enlist the help of my grandfather who has building experience and offered to help if I bought all the supplies so that does change things a small amount lol.
Click to expand...

I may have missed it, but what are you planning the foundation to be like? Are you planning an elevated coop, a floor of some kind, or a dirt floor?

Its almost always possible to expand a building, but different styles make it harder or easier. If you’re planning a coop that’s elevated, it would certainly be a huge pain in the booty to expand it because you’d have to square up new foundation supports. Mine is elevated and walk it, and I would definitely not expand it... more work than its worth. I’d rather just build a second coop.

Chicken math is so so real, and if you think you might get more chickens down the road, you probably will 😂 I’d say, think about what the MAXIMUM number you’d ever take care of is, and build the coop to fit those needs. I built my coop to accommodate 24 because that was our max, and I even regret that. Not because I want more than that now, but because I don’t have the extra space currently to accommodate brooding in my main coop.

Tree branches make great roosts, just make sure they’re not too skinny. From my understanding, it’s not ideal to have chickens either completely flat footed or with toes wrapped around a roost in a full grip. The reason most people recommend the fat side of a 2x4 is because the bird is able to be flat footed with toes curled over the edge as much as they like, and it also gives them a nice flat surface to rest on their keel bone. Branch are great, just need to find the right ones! I have a few branches used as roosts, although they’re not the main sleeping ones, and I’d recommend buying a few sheets of 80 grit sandpaper and just smoothing it out put a little focusing extra on any sharp edges. Then I put an old sock on my hand, and ran my hand over the branch... anywhere it snagged, I sanded it down until it didnt snag. It doesn’t take long, a 6 foot branch maybe took 15 minutes... and you only have to do it once. And you said you are planning at least 4 roosts, the total number doesn’t really matter, as long as they’re spaced out enough and allow at least 10 inches per bird. My chickens cram together to snuggle in the winter, but in the heat of summer they all spread out as far as they possible

I know lots of people put nesting boxes close to the ground, but definitely keep predators in mind. If your entire coop is elevated it helps deter them, but if your coop is built on the ground it’s easy for things seeking out eggs(snakes, skunks, etc) to walk or slither right in and help themselves. Also keep in mind the ability to clean underneath them... if you’re trying to keep them 3 inches off the ground, do you really want to get down on hands and knees and scoop whatever is under there by hand? Are you prepared to find rats or mice in the small cozy space that is protected from the chickens?

As far as height, even a 6 foot roof that’s slanted(I’m assuming you’re wanting that to be the tall side) can be hard to reach to clean without a ladder. Remember, it’s 8 feet across too! And if you’re planning on making it a walk in coop, are you prepared to be ducked over in 80% of the coop? I’m 5’6” and I built my coop walls to be 8’ tall on the high side and 6’ tall on the short side. Let me tell ya, I can’t imagine not being able to move comfortably throughout a large coop without knocking my head or being doubled over 😂 with a metal roof, if it’s slanted, definitely does a good job of clearing itself. Snow generally slides right off, and debris is carried off with it and rain(leaves, pine needles, bird poop, etc).

Anywho, those are a few things that popped into my mind!
 
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Thank you for the advice everyone! So what my grandfather and I decided on is an 8 by 8 that has no floor and is elevated with the smallest size hardwire cloth we can get, doubled and dug into the ground on any exposed bottom and then going out around the sides by a few feet so nothing can dig in or under,
Were doing a metal roof, and I'm using weather treated plywood and then painting everything with this all season paint and primer I found locally.
I also have these huge weather proof cloth for plants I currently use to insulate the outside of both my coops that I'll use the same way in the winter on the new coop just wrap around the roof and top ventilation to prevent temperature drop inside the coop without preventing airflow. We have had a really cold winter compared to normal this year.
Were picking up the plywood saturday I already have all the frame lumber so i just need that and will start the build.
 
as I read that, the coop will have no floor, the walls will be slightly elevated off the ground, with that gap filled by hardware cloth bent out into an apron surrounding the run. When the birds are up on their perches or nesting in their boxes, they will be out of any drafts.

But I may be imagining it wrong.
 

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