Starting a coop build, it is my first build and first chickens so feedback is very welcome

[saysfaa]

The plan is 10x14. It will be board and batten pine siding and doors, plywood floor, 4:12 shingled roof on plywood with almost 12" eaves, 2 single pane "barn windows" that open inward from the bottom (hinges at the top of each window) and hook open more than 90 degrees up. It has double doors 3'x7' each on the west end and a single 4'x7' door on the south side near the east end. The 4 or 5 hens will get the east 6 or 7 feet of the building; garden tools and chicken supplies get the west end. Woven wire with a 2" x 4" mesh to divide the chickens from the rest of the building. That makes 10 to a little over 15 square feet per hen. They will go out some but not reliably enough to count that for space per bird. I will be able to bring some entertainment in to them regularly, although that will be a lot easier vary in the summer. Is that enough space for most breeds or should I make sure to pick breeds that are more likely to tolerate confinement?

I'm upper midwest so it gets cold and can get very snowy. Zone 5b (or so). Lowest it normally gets is ten below or so (F.), it doesn't stay there longer than a few days. Weeks straight of teens and mid twenties is common, though. Highs in the summer hit 90's and stayed there for several weeks last summer but it does cool off nicely at night. It is humid. Very little wind as we are sheltered by a steep hill and woods to the windward side and it isn't often windy here anyway.

My winter ventilation plan is to leave the south side door fully open and everything else air tight. If that doesn't work - I can build a wood's open-air style coop inside the main coop. or part of one. I'm not just building the woods' coop as a compromise with my better half. In the summer, open the ridge vent and soffit vents and whatever doors and windows seem to make it most comfortable. It will get morning and evening shade from trees - full sun from about 8 to 3:30.

Predator protection: I expect raccoons will be the most likely threat but everything from least weasels to bald eagles and black bears is possible. Metal lath (like for stucco, it is 27" x 8' with 1/4x1/2 diamond-shaped mesh) on the ground for the apron around the outside. And to screen the bottom 50" of the south door. And the west door if I can figure out how to make it movable enough. Maybe put a frame around it and slide it open inside the framing. The rest of the openings (eaves, windows, upper part of doors) : 19 gauge hardware cloth with 1/2 x 1/2 mesh.

I'm still working on roosts and nests.
Nipple waterer on a bucket or on a pvc pipe from a bucket.
This for a feeder: https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/diy-rodent-free-chook-feeder/12322946 for dry feed. I'm working on feeding fermented rations. And how to give them oyster shell and grit. Is there any reason a "sandbox" of sand and stones wouldn't provide grit as well as dusting and entertainment?
Bedding: Sweet PDZ under pine shavings and fall leaves from the trees. Maybe some chopped straw (from my own rye field - is there any reason not to use that?)

 

[3KillerBs]

My winter ventilation plan is to leave the south side door fully open and everything else air tight. If that doesn't work - I can build a wood's open-air style coop inside the main coop. or part of one. I'm not just building the woods' coop as a compromise with my better half. In the summer, open the ridge vent and soffit vents and whatever doors and windows seem make it most comfortable.

It sounds nice and roomy and secure against predators, but I'm afraid that your ventilation plan needs some work.

You need 1 square foot of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation per adult, standard-size chicken. Any ventilation that's closed in the winter doesn't count.

Additionally, that winter ventilation should be over your birds' heads while they're sitting on the roost so closing off the soffit and ridge ventilation for winter is exactly backwards.

This is from a cow barn article, but it's the same principle:

Is there a particular reason you planned to close the ridge and soffit vents for winter?

 

[saysfaa]

Can I ask why you are covering all that ventilation?

Sure.
It has 28 square feet of ventilation from the 4'x7' open side, so has plenty of ventilation for 4 hens.
It keeps nearly all the snow out and eliminated drafts because the building becomes three-sided so there is no where for the wind to go so it doesn't blow through.

The turnover of the air is driven by the warm air rising which pulls fresh air in the lower part of the open side and pushes the warmer, moister air out the upper part of the open side. I need a very light flag (like a kleenex tied to a stick) to see the air flow because it moves so slowly. But it carries all the moisture up and then out. I tested it with thermometer and hydrometer to show it works but it wasn't necessary for myself because I can feel the difference and see it (such as in how fast snow tracked in melts - technically is sublimates when the temperatures are far below freezing, but that is getting pretty geeky)

 

[M-H-Fielding]

I like the design a lot!

 

[aart]

Dh still wonders why I thought they need 8' of roost when they sleep on, like, less than 6 inches of it.

It depends where the roost is.
If they have to fly up to it, they need wing space to do so.
Also good for them to have some extra space for the shuffle that happens during the RoostTimeRunmble.

 

[3KillerBs]

@3KillerBs, those pictures help explain a lot. Thank you.

You're welcome. I remember seeing that photo when someone else posted it last summer.

 

[3KillerBs]

Why do they work only for that specific system? His pictures show houses without the half monitors as examples of successful open air designs. Curious, not challenging. Besides, even if the concept works for other systems, I'm not sure it will work for this design.

If it does work, though, it might open up a lot more choices for retrofitting already build buildings or for those with other reasons for wanting the coop to look like a standard shed.

I do not see how leaving the ridge and soffits open will not result in much more drafts than I want even if I can box the roost to be draft free like the person in the link did (Wonderful information there!!!). Unless I close the south door and then I lose most of my light.

IIRC, and I admit that it's been a good while since I've read the details since my climate is better suited to an Open Air coop (a roofed wire box with a wind/rain shelter at one end), than a Woods Coop, the creator of those coops mathematically calculated the necessary ratio of depth to width and height, and the necessary amount of wire to ensure that the system works.

Perhaps someone with direct experience of Woods Coop variants will chime in?

Open soffits with a ridge vent are draft-free because the moving air flows along the roof above the birds' heads.

 

[aart]

a Woods Coop, the creator of those coops mathematically calculated the necessary ratio of depth to width and height

Yes, the WxL proportions of the coop are important.

Woods has the big front wall open and all the other openings closed in winter.
This creates an air cushion that provides good air circulation but doesn't not allow strong breezes to flow thru to the back of the coop.

 

[saysfaa]

Well, it will be at least a week longer; the builder's supplier is having trouble sourcing the rough sawn boards. I have some huge douglas fir in the back pasture that I have thought of logging anyway. Spring isn't the best season for getting them out, though. The builder will check. They usually use white pine but fir might be okay.
It has been hard to be patient but this is why I decided to wait until the coop is delivered before getting the chicks.

 

[writerskramp]

The plan is 10x14. It will be board and batten pine siding and doors, plywood floor, 4:12 shingled roof on plywood with almost 12" eaves, 2 single pane "barn windows" that open inward from the bottom (hinges at the top of each window) and hook open more than 90 degrees up. It has double doors 3'x7' each on the west end and a single 4'x7' door on the south side near the east end. The 4 or 5 hens will get the east 6 or 7 feet of the building; garden tools and chicken supplies get the west end. Woven wire with a 2" x 4" mesh to divide the chickens from the rest of the building. That makes 10 to a little over 15 square feet per hen. They will go out some but not reliably enough to count that for space per bird. I will be able to bring some entertainment in to them regularly, although that will be a lot easier vary in the summer. Is that enough space for most breeds or should I make sure to pick breeds that are more likely to tolerate confinement?

I'm upper midwest so it gets cold and can get very snowy. Zone 5b (or so). Lowest it normally gets is ten below or so (F.), it doesn't stay there longer than a few days. Weeks straight of teens and mid twenties is common, though. Highs in the summer hit 90's and stayed there for several weeks last summer but it does cool off nicely at night. It is humid. Very little wind as we are sheltered by a steep hill and woods to the windward side and it isn't often windy here anyway.

My winter ventilation plan is to leave the south side door fully open and everything else air tight. If that doesn't work - I can build a wood's open-air style coop inside the main coop. or part of one. I'm not just building the woods' coop as a compromise with my better half. In the summer, open the ridge vent and soffit vents and whatever doors and windows seem to make it most comfortable. It will get morning and evening shade from trees - full sun from about 8 to 3:30.

Predator protection: I expect raccoons will be the most likely threat but everything from least weasels to bald eagles and black bears is possible. Metal lath (like for stucco, it is 27" x 8' with 1/4x1/2 diamond-shaped mesh) on the ground for the apron around the outside. And to screen the bottom 50" of the south door. And the west door if I can figure out how to make it movable enough. Maybe put a frame around it and slide it open inside the framing. The rest of the openings (eaves, windows, upper part of doors) : 19 gauge hardware cloth with 1/2 x 1/2 mesh.

I'm still working on roosts and nests.
Nipple waterer on a bucket or on a pvc pipe from a bucket.
This for a feeder: https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/diy-rodent-free-chook-feeder/12322946 for dry feed. I'm working on feeding fermented rations. And how to give them oyster shell and grit. Is there any reason a "sandbox" of sand and stones wouldn't provide grit as well as dusting and entertainment?
Bedding: Sweet PDZ under pine shavings and fall leaves from the trees. Maybe some chopped straw (from my own rye field - is there any reason not to use that?)

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It's great to have plans.. mine was what I had on hand and the length of lumber and tin.. Some tar paper, leaked. Added a scrounged pool liner. No longer leaks.. Some old windows and long abandon dog pen already there.. Added an old shooting blind for an egg house.. and for the cherry on top.. an old pond net I purchased for ten dollars at a garage sale thinking it may come in handy for something.. Miracle of miracles, it did. Net is supported in a maypole of sorts in the center, with old cargo straps attached to a tire side wall. A dirt run, and a dirt floor, the dirt was already there. Some fallen trees for roosts and scrounged plastic milk crates for nest boxes.. had to dump out the tools. Cut a smaller entrance into a larger piece of sheathing. Placed on old door hinges. Closed in the winter, open in the summer. Some recycled hardware cloth for some widows for ventilation, plus nothing is sealed up nor insulated.. Place old shower doors over those in winter, just to keep the wind out. Everybody's happy, well almost everybody. Those that aren't too bad.. chickens like it!