Suggestions??

[sydneygirl89]

This summer in nor cal has been extremely hot and my poor chickens have been extremely hot also. This has led me to look at ways to keep them cool and I have noticed that my coop is very, well, lacking compared to everyone else's. Hearing about their coops makes me feel sad that my chickens aren't as spoiled as I think they are, for we built our own coop because buying one was too expensive. These are my first chickens, and I've had them for 2 years I think, but it was hard for them to acclimate to their new coop because they're old coop was so big and more coop like. We then moved them to our house which we had someone build it who had no idea what he was doing, but neither did we so it looked great to us. We added things like a nesting box and a perch and steps for ms jenni because she doesn't like flying so much and now that I look at it, it is very small and dirty and smelly and not good like others I've heard of. We had problems with the roof this winter because it was leaking, so we temporarily fixed it but I'm not sure how long that's gonna stay. Any suggestions on how I can make my coop better? I can go take pictures and measurements if you would like also. I want my chickens to be happy

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I switched to sand in the coop and love it. I wear an N95 mask when sifting it with a kitty littter scoop daily and that believe you me removes the smell of the poo and is cheaper to boot than shavings. There is a "got sand you should" thread that is good to read on BYC. I even use sand in the nest boxes. If you have odor in there then that is the poo that needs to come out.

They don't mind small as long as there is room for them to get in there and sleep. You are probably not where there is a huge amount of snow. (If there is snow in winter they do need a LOT more room as they live indoors.)

They also don't care about pretty! They like security, clean nests and place to sleep, and food/water/friends. You are probably just fine except for the poop smell.

 

[Bryant Redhawk]

The first thing I would address is how much ventilation does the coop have and how does the air flow through the coop.
Odors can be an indicator of poor ventilation and also unsafe air quality for the cooks.

For the roof leaks, you can coat the roof with a good quality sealant that can be rolled on. 4.5 gal of this type of material can be found at any Home Depot or Lowe's in the range of 75 - 135 dollars, depending on brand and type of compound.
We found one at Home Depot that is 85 dollars for 4.5 gal. has rubber in it and can be put directly onto wood sheathing without need of a primer coat. When using this sort of rubberized coating, using two or three coats is better at sealing and will last longer than a single coat. On Buzzard's Roost we use it as an undercoating prior to putting on our metal roofing, it ensures that we will not have leaks once the metal is installed, works far better than "tar paper" and helps reflect heat away from the interior.

We use this for coops, barns, sheds, goat houses, hog houses and our own house will get it too, when we get time to build that.