Starting coop design and have tons of noob questions

[Rhawn]

After reading 3 or 4 pages trying to get ideas for my coop design, I have run into several questions. I'll have roughly 6 hens, egglayers. My goals are function and ease of maintenance and production of eggs.

I have no shame in saying I will be stealing as much as possible from Scott's design here: http://scott.somnius.net/

So here comes all the dumb questions.

Whats the optimal square footage per chicken? They will be free roaming about 50% of the time.

Egg/nest boxes. I assume I need 1 for each hen. What's the best way to retrieve the eggs, should I put a hinged door on the back side of the boxes? How far off the coop floor should the boxes be? Do you provide the hay and the hens make their own nest, or do you have to do that for them?

Flooring. I see alot of people using linoleum for ease of cleaning. Do you just make a drain and a door to spray it down with? What's the best way to clean up the poo.

Run. I planned on just putting the run right over our grass yard, and letting them go at it. Do I need to put down sand or something else?

Windows. I am guessing I will need several windows for the summer VA heat. Will cut holes with wire over them work? What about winter?

My chicks are almost 2 weeks old, and this will take a noob like me forever so I'm getting a head start. That's all I can think of for now.

 

[Cats Critters]

First

Whats the optimal square footage per chicken? They will be free roaming about 50% of the time.

4sqft. per standard hen inside 10sqft. outside (run etc.)

Egg/nest boxes. I assume I need 1 for each hen.

Nope, 1 for ever 4 or 5 hens

Flooring. I see alot of people using linoleum for ease of cleaning. Do you just make a drain and a door to spray it down with? What's the best way to clean up the poo.

Sorry no idea I have a dirt floor

Run. I planned on just putting the run right over our grass yard, and letting them go at it. Do I need to put down sand or something else?

No, just give them assess to grit and you'll be fine

Windows. I am guessing I will need several windows for the summer VA heat. Will cut holes with wire over them work? What about winter?

I would have windows with screens, so you could close the windows in the summer and open them to the screens in the winter​

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
As large as possible. ("4 sq ft per hen" is NOT the optimal square footage per chicken, it is merely how much you can often squish them in without having too great a likelihood of too-large problems)

Egg/nest boxes. I assume I need 1 for each hen. What's the best way to retrieve the eggs, should I put a hinged door on the back side of the boxes? How far off the coop floor should the boxes be? Do you provide the hay and the hens make their own nest, or do you have to do that for them?

You only need one per 3-4 hens, -ish. The most secure thing is to collect eggs from inside the coop; if you want little ports to collect from outside, there are additional weatherstripping/leakproofing/predatorproofing issues to confront. (It can be done, of course)

Boxes can be pretty much anywhere as long as they are distinctly lower than the roost. I'd suggest like 18" off the floor as there is really just no reason for higher. I've used floor-level nestboxes without problem but some people feel they make it harder to avoid floor eggs. You will have to put clean shavings or hay or whatever in the nestbox, and clean it out occasionally to replace with fresh stuff as it gets soiled. A 4-5" lip on the nestbox opening will reduce the amount of hte shavings/hay/whatnot that gets kicked out onto the floor.

Flooring. I see alot of people using linoleum for ease of cleaning. Do you just make a drain and a door to spray it down with? What's the best way to clean up the poo.

Bedding. Like many, I prefer pine shavings ($5/bale at feed store, expands quite considerably when unpacked)but other materials are possible. As the bedding gets pooey, you either remove it, or add more fresh bedding on top or mixed in, depending on your strategy.

A droppings board under the roost will also intercept nearly 50% of the poo and make it easy to remove it from the coop every morning or however often you wish.

I don't really understand why some people like to hose out their coops. Poo should not be getting mashed onto the floor (except rare spots), that is what the bedding is for; and all that I can see hosing really does is soak the interior and predispose your coop to rot and dampness-related stink. <shrug>

I planned on just putting the run right over our grass yard, and letting them go at it. Do I need to put down sand or something else?

Not at the moment. If it ends up muddy once it is bare dirt, you may want to. See my "fixing a muddy run" page (link below, in my .sig) for discussion of run footing.

Windows. I am guessing I will need several windows for the summer VA heat. Will cut holes with wire over them work? What about winter?

See my ventilation page

, link below in my .sig. Short answer: big window-size holes, yes. Things cut with a hole-saw, no. Have a way of closing them down for winter, perhps with plexiglass for at least one of them so there is still good ambient light in the coop. You may well wish to specifically design good winter ventilation (openings at tops of walls, preferably under roof overhang).

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[Rhawn]

I am still designing this coop, mostly in my head

.

My next question comes with how to best install a door into plywood walls? I'm 6'5" and will need to be able to get in far enough to clean and grab my eggs. I have a recycled interior wood door I could use.

Do I need to frame it out? Hopefully not because I am clueless there.

Can I cutout a door out of the plywood wall and just hinge it somehow?

Pics of solutions are appreciated.

 

[valentinebaby]

I've never built anything before I designed and built my coop this spring. Framing out is really not as difficult as it seems - just make sure you buy a "square" to keep the corners squared, and start with a plan on paper! For ideas on how to build your own windows from scratch - check out my BYC page at the left under my name. I used both 1/2" hardware cloth and window screening to keep the critters and flying bugs out of the coop.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Well, these "plywood" walls will just be plywood SHEATHED, right? They will be constructed as stud walls, like your house? So, just put one pair of studs a little "too far" apart, the width of your doorframe. Add a 2x4 cut to fit between them for the header (top of door opening). Toenail 'em well in place. In a large building with a serious roof, double them for extra strength; this is not strictly necessary in a small shed with a lightweight roof.

Then you can either put in a "real door", bought prehung (if you're going to do this, make sure you know what size opening it will take so that you can space those two studs exactly right); or you can put in a homemade plywood door. The homemade door can't be JUSt plywood, it will need reinforcement along the edges and diagonally so it doesn't warp and bow and get all strange.

There are several different ways to attach a homemade door. Unless you do it in the doofiest possible way (which sort of works but is not ideal) you will need to get some thin wood strips -- furring strips work fine, or you can use real doorstop trim from the store -- and attach them partway in on the doorframe (which in this case will just be the studs) to limit the door's swing, so it just closes flush with the wall rather than swinging 180 degrees.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Wooden_Pony]

My coop is not like the one you are looking at but hopefully these pictures will help you out some on the design of yours.

Flooring. I see alot of people using linoleum for ease of cleaning. Do you just make a drain and a door to spray it down with? What's the best way to clean up the poo.

The floor and inside walls in my coop is just painted with a exterior house paint. I keep a thick bed of pine shavings on the floor and have never had to hose out the coop. I do dust it with a broom. Walls and floor once a month to clear out cobwebs and pieces of shaving that have stuck to the walls. I only spot clean really dirty areas. Bucket of soapy water and a scrub brush.

Egg/nest boxes. What's the best way to retrieve the eggs, should I put a hinged door on the back side of the boxes?

Here is how we did my nesting boxes. We put it on a heavy duty drawer pull system.

Back side of my coop, nesting box closed...

Pulled open.

Windows are screened with weld wire and have plexiglass that can be removed on hot days. We also have shutters that can be closed and we put up on cold winter days pieces of insulation between the plexiglass and closed shutters. Below this window is the clean out door.

My other window is from Taget (yes the store LOL).... it is a picture frame, one that holds several pictures in one frame. That one always stays open since it is under the runs overhang.

Here is how it looked before doors and windows. We use T~1~11 for the walls..

These pictures are old. My coop has been completed and all paint mess ups fixed for almost 2 yrs!

 

[Rhawn]

My design has changed significantly, my coop will now be raised with run area underneath of it.

How much room would you leave for underneath the coop so my girls can get underneath? 1.5 or 2 feet? I'm leaning towards 2, but that will take 6 inches from the total height of the coop.