Tacticoop Design: embrace the box

[InvertGang]

Hello everyone!

I'm designing a coop take 2, one that's more traditional. It is 3 feet off the ground and the inside is 4 foot by 8 foot, and 4 feet high. It is going to be for 5 chickens. There will be a run underneath and extending out of the front side (with 1/2" hardware cloth). The back will come down with hinges for easy clean out. The front right will be open hardware cloth and the front left will have two nest boxes with an exterior hinge for easy access.

At the back are two 1x6 boards in rails that can be removed by sliding them up. This lets you drop down the back and work inside the coop without the 12 inches of bedding falling out, while being able to remove them and shovel all the bedding into a wheelbarrow.

There's a removable roosting bar along the top back, that slots in and can be taken out for cleaning. I'm going to add closable ventilation along the top back for summer, that can be closed for winter.

Let me know what you think!

P.S. The scale person beside the coop is 6 feet tall, for scale.

I've also removed the front and top to make it easier to see.

 

[rosemarythyme]

You don't mention your climate but adding your ventilation to your illustration would help a lot, as it sounds like you only plan on one vent? Keep in mind ventilation is just as essential in winter as summer, so if you're closing that for winter, you have to open up ventilation elsewhere to compensate.

Having actual measurements would help as I don't know how "accurate" this mock up is. Is that line near the top the roost? It looks to be up too high, the birds need space to land, and ventilation should be 18" or more above their heads to avoid drafts unless there's a buffer that's not shown.

Is the roof intended to be flat?

 

[InvertGang]

You don't mention your climate but adding your ventilation to your illustration would help a lot, as it sounds like you only plan on one vent? Keep in mind ventilation is just as essential in winter as summer, so if you're closing that for winter, you have to open up ventilation elsewhere to compensate.

Having actual measurements would help as I don't know how "accurate" this mock up is. Is that line near the top the roost? It looks to be up too high, the birds need space to land, and ventilation should be 18" or more above their heads to avoid drafts unless there's a buffer that's not shown.

Is the roof intended to be flat?

I'm in southern Canada so hot summers and cold winters. There will be two vents, on opposite walls. In winter, I'm just planning on closing the one near the roost and leaving the one in the front open.

This mockup is to scale with dimensional lumber, 2x4 2x2, etc.

The roof is flat and I'm planning to put a tarp on it to keep it soaking in.

I've added some dimensions to the diagram (in inches) and put the front and roof on. Here you can see the front with the door on the left and the year-round ventilation on the right:

Here's the roost with the height above the bedding (12 inches of room for bedding):

Here's the back vent that's going to be closed in the winter:

The goal is to make something pretty compact that's not too hard to build, so not a lot of angled cuts or fancy framing or anything.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I'm not a builder at all so I'll do my best here, but hopefully someone with more experience on that front can weigh in...

So first image, that large rectangle on the right is the main ventilation? What's the smaller rectangle to the left, pop door?

Second image, your roost is a little too close to the wall. The edge nearest the wall should be 12" away, not 8".

The back vent is so tiny that I'm not sure if it adds any meaningful air flow. Is it meant to be that small?

I think you'll need a sloped roof with some sort of roofing material over it, tarp isn't going to last and if you get any snowfall, snow weight is a real consideration.

 

[ChaosMom]

One possibility to increase ventilation and avoid the flat roof: make the front a foot or so taller, with a roof that slopes to the rear and that extra foot of height made of hardware cloth instead of wood. I know you want to avoid angled cuts, but this wouldn’t be terribly complex. Look at Woods Coop images for ideas.

In general, ventilation should be higher than the birds’ heads when on their roosts: overhead ventilation, not drafts on their bodies while they’re roosting.

I’ve also seen concerns about coops that are “only” four feet deep, because bullied hens don’t have enough space to get past their bullies. But of course, when what you have is four feet, that’s what you have.

Edit: sheesh, Autocorrupt is on a roll today.

 

[InvertGang]

Yeah, the area to the left front is a pop door, but I'm thinking of putting it in the floor instead since the run is going to be anti predator.

I can make the back ventilation bigger, is 4 inches tall and as wide as half the coop enough? I'm thinking that if the chickens get drafty they can go to the left side where there isn't a cross breeze and if they get hot in summer, they can go to the right which is more drafty.

If I lower the bedding depth from 12 to 8 inches, and the roost to around 18 inches from the bedding, they'll have 18 inches of clearance above the roost until the roof. With them being 12 inches, that gives us 6 inches above them ventilation can be placed, is that enough for the ventilation to be above them?

I don't want the floor or the roof or the walls of the coop to be bigger than a 4 foot by 8 foot sheet of plywood, but I'm pretty flexible to changes within that footprint.

Btw, when I'm done, I'm happy to turn it into plans people can follow. I made it in a parametric 3D design software so I can also change the values (for example, make it 6 feet by 8 feet, and make it 6 feet tall instead of four) when I share it.

Actually, I could maybe do 6x5 if those dimensions work better? But it'd make it tough to clean it out from the back since 5 feet is pretty deep.

 

[InvertGang]

One possibility to increase ventilation and avoid the flat roof: make the front a foot or so taller, with a roof that slopes to the rear and that extra foot of height made of hardware cloth instead of wood. I know you want to avoid angled cuts, but this wouldn’t be terribly complex. Look at Woods Coop images for ideas.

In general, ventilation should be higher than the birds’ heads when on their roosts: overhead ventilation, not drafts on their bodies while they’re roosting.

I’ve also seen concerns about coops that are “only” four feet deep, because bullied hens don’t have enough space to get past their bullies. But of course, when what you have is four feet, that’s what you have.

Edit: sheesh, Autocorrupt is on a roll today.

I decided to try the fancy tilted roof thing, here's the updated models with the updated roost height and bedding depth etc.

 

[ChaosMom]

I decided to try the fancy tilted roof thing, here's the updated models with the updated roost height and bedding depth etc.
View attachment 4068626

View attachment 4068627

And that section below the higher end would be hardware cloth (don’t know if that can be easily rendered in your program)

@Ted Brown, a fellow Canadian (Quebec?) built an open Woods coop, and his chickens did very well in the cold. I’ll see if I can find the thread and post it.

Edit to add: I’m still looking, but Woods coops are much deeper than 4 feet, so the back can stay warm. Wiser heads will need to chime in here.

 

[Ted Brown]

Standard sizes for Woods KD is 6x10, 8x12, 10x16.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Yeah, the area to the left front is a pop door, but I'm thinking of putting it in the floor instead since the run is going to be anti predator.

Floor pop doors are a bit of a headache. It removes any possibility of using an auto door and 8" thick bedding is going to just fall through that hole, even if you try to put boards around it, as the birds will keep kicking bedding into it.

I can make the back ventilation bigger, is 4 inches tall and as wide as half the coop enough? I'm thinking that if the chickens get drafty they can go to the left side where there isn't a cross breeze and if they get hot in summer, they can go to the right which is more drafty.

So it'd be...4" x roughly 48", which yields around 1.3 sq ft in back. With the 6.6 sq ft in the front that may be enough for summer. I assume both vents are going to be on the same side with the idea that in hotter weather they could sit on the more ventilated half if needed?

If I lower the bedding depth from 12 to 8 inches, and the roost to around 18 inches from the bedding, they'll have 18 inches of clearance above the roost until the roof. With them being 12 inches, that gives us 6 inches above them ventilation can be placed, is that enough for the ventilation to be above them?

Most likely that should be fine. The only thing I'm unsure of is if the pitch of the roof is sufficient to reliably shed snow, if you get enough snow to matter.

I don't want the floor or the roof or the walls of the coop to be bigger than a 4 foot by 8 foot sheet of plywood, but I'm pretty flexible to changes within that footprint.

I think 4x8 footprint is ok assuming you stick to the flock of 5 so I wouldn't sweat the narrowness if that works best with your plans.

If you're planning to add more birds over time, then oversizing everything would be advantageous.