Starting to build 1st coop - have questions.

[mlahodik]

Hello, I am new here and hubby is starting to work on our foundation.
I have heard that the deep litter method makes it easy for us who have small areas to manage odor, smell, flies.
We are building a 6'x12' I was inspired by one of the posts I found posted as chickerdoodles chicken coup. I'll try to find it and link it in comment.
Our yard slopes and we are thinking of building it about 18 inches away from the back of our house since that area is more level and would need less fill.

My desires are:
1. Predator proof (racoons, bobcats, hawks_
2. Rat proof (mice/rats)
3. Easy to clean and maintain since I have a disability and work as a school teacher.
5. 4-6 Chickens
6. Concerned about Heat and moisture. Our Climate in Florida is HOT. Winters are rarely below 50 degrees, although we could see some low 40s for 1 or 2 days.
7. Weather proof for rainstorms typical of florida.

Huge concern: odors, bacteria, flies, maintenance.

Any tips and guidance appreciated. I'll try to see if I can load up a picture of your yard with phone.
Thanks in advance

 

[chickenlittle21]

Welcome to BYC! I also live in Florida. I have around 70 chickens and I use hay for their bedding and I clean it out almost every week. DO NOT use the deep litter method. Black soldier flies find the deep litter to be a perfect place to lay eggs. I recommend you keep a compost pile. When you get your chickens DO NOT feed them corn.

Make sure that your coop has ventilation and is not near a place in your yard that floods. These are my coops:

 

[3KillerBs]

In a hot climate the more wire in your walls the better.

Here in the NC Sandhills I used deep litter in my in-town run very successfully. It was a mix of wood shavings, pine straw, straw, and whatever yard waste came to hand. I didn't have a source for wood chips, but they're even better for optimal drainage and plenty of high-carbon material to compost together with the high-nitrogen chicken poop.

Inside my coop I used a mix of shaving and pine straw. I tried straw once when a feed store employee convinced my husband to buy it instead of shavings but I didn't like it because I had to clean out the coop in half the time I got from the shavings. That is, 4 weeks instead of 8 (as long as 12 in the winter).

The coop was, technically, deep bedding rather than deep litter because it was bone-dry and thus no composting was happening.

I never had any odor issues that I couldn't solve with another 4" layer of dry bedding.

 

[mlahodik]

Welcome to BYC! I also live in Florida. I have around 70 chickens and I use hay for their bedding and I clean it out almost every week. DO NOT use the deep litter method. Black soldier flies find the deep litter to be a perfect place to lay eggs. I recommend you keep a compost pile. When you get your chickens DO NOT feed them corn.

Make sure that your coop has ventilation and is not near a place in your yard that floods. These are my coops:
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Wow very nice, I don't have anywhere near that much space. How do you keep your maintenance and cleaning down? I'm putting it at the topmost part of my yard. My yard slopes a lot.

 

[mlahodik]

Welcome to BYC! I also live in Florida. I have around 70 chickens and I use hay for their bedding and I clean it out almost every week. DO NOT use the deep litter method. Black soldier flies find the deep litter to be a perfect place to lay eggs. I recommend you keep a compost pile. When you get your chickens DO NOT feed them corn.

Make sure that your coop has ventilation and is not near a place in your yard that floods. These are my coops:
View attachment 2340577
View attachment 2340580
View attachment 2340582
View attachment 2340633
View attachment 2340638
View attachment 2340648
View attachment 2340650
View attachment 2340655
View attachment 2340658
View attachment 2340659
View attachment 2340662

OMG I love your set up and love, love your goats!

 

[mlahodik]

OMG I love your set up and love, love your goats!

I thought the chickens love to eat Black soldier fly larvae. I saw an article about it being great for them to eat? Wouldn't that help? Or do you think there would be too many for them to consume? I know chickens eat a lot. Thanks for all the insight I wish I had that much space.

 

[Kiki]

Hardware cloth.

1/2 inch.

I'd stop now and use it to put an apron around everything right now before you do any more...to prevent rats from digging in because you build it and they WILL come.

 

[mlahodik]

In a hot climate the more wire in your walls the better.

Here in the NC Sandhills I used deep litter in my in-town run very successfully. It was a mix of wood shavings, pine straw, straw, and whatever yard waste came to hand. I didn't have a source for wood chips, but they're even better for optimal drainage and plenty of high-carbon material to compost together with the high-nitrogen chicken poop.

Inside my coop I used a mix of shaving and pine straw. I tried straw once when a feed store employee convinced my husband to buy it instead of shavings but I didn't like it because I had to clean out the coop in half the time I got from the shavings. That is, 4 weeks instead of 8 (as long as 12 in the winter).

The coop was, technically, deep bedding rather than deep litter because it was bone-dry and thus no composting was happening.

I never had any odor issues that I couldn't solve with another 4" layer of dry bedding.

Sounds great. Are you no longer using that method? do you have any pics?

 

[mlahodik]

Hardware cloth.

1/2 inch.

I'd stop now and use it to put an apron around everything right now before you do any more...to prevent rats from digging in because you build it and they WILL come.

We are going to dig out the grass, to make a foundation, do you recommend all under it and have it go out of the sides how much?
Any more ideas, thoughts, tips? We've never done this before. Do you think I don't need to dig the grass out?

 

[aart]

These are my coops

@chickenlittle21 Would be good to put all this a member coop page to link in threads and on your profile.