The IN and OUT of my coop, please advise

[DellaMyDarling]

Putting some finishing touches on our shed turned into coop. Have a few ideas but need your guidance as to how my hens will enter and exit the building.

The run is not even in construction works yet. My birds are free rangers and the run will eventually be built so that we A. do not need to get to the coop precisely at dawn before they squawk their brains out in confinement and B. so that we have a prayer of hiring the neighbor boy to care for the birds while we are taking (a hopeful) vacation. I'm sure down the road we will find other benefits to having the run as well.

My goal here is to eliminate the need to hack a chicken hole in the side of our nice Shed/Coop. Said inner shed coop contains a perfectly sized window for chickens. The run will be secured to the exterior of the shed where this window is.
Problem: height of window. 3 feet, approximate floor to sill. Outside, drop is more like 4' but I could easily remedy that with just a tree stump I think.

Conveniently, my bookcase turned into nesting boxes can be placed next to this window, making double use of any ladder/rung/ramp/etc for the window exit as they will enjoy getting to the top of this book case via said method. It is taller than the sill, so unfortunately cannot be placed underneath.

What I really need to know is:
How steep is too steep for a ramp? I did some funny maneuvers with the measuring tape and wasn't happy with the angle. Angle can be modified some by placing the ramp on a stump/log/blocks/brick/whatevers.
Can/will chickens utilize a ladder-like "ramp" to exit through the window? This would be very space saving! Consider: wood pallet set at a slight angle, the slats make nice toe grips?
Do ducks have the same ramp abilities as chickens? Say, when I acquire ducks I can overnight them inside the shed coop and know they can get back out?

Other ideas? Or give up and cut a dang hole?

 

[21hens-incharge]

If you are asking if chickens will climb a ladder like a parrot the answer is no.
Ducks also cannot. Most ducks don't even like ramps that are even remotely steep.

I would cut the hole.

 

[trudyg]

Too steep and they'll slide. can you maybe put several platforms? They could hop up onto one and get set to hop up onto the next, then have one as a staging area at the window so they have a good landing zone? They adapt but too much of a leap and older/heavier birds may have a problem.

I have an ADOR automatic door. It was pricey, but well worth it. Opens at dawn, closes at dusk, nothing in or out if it's closed. Beeps before closing so they come running, only had one left out one time but she was hiding from a hawk and afraid to come out. I was aware of the hawk and doing head counts. If you can swing an automatic door, I'd do it. There are others, even diy ones, if you want to save money.

Either way, I would cut a hole. When my big heavy roo jumps down from the roost it's a big thump when he lands, I worry he'd get hurt.

 

[aart]

My goal here is to eliminate the need to hack a chicken hole in the side of our nice Shed/Coop. Said inner shed coop contains a perfectly sized window for chickens. The run will be secured to the exterior of the shed where this window is.

Please post pics of the inside and outside of shed/coop.
If you have ducks I'd go with a low pop door.
I do not believe they are ramp savvy...but @WVduckchick can answer that one.

My goal here is to eliminate the need to hack a chicken hole in the side of our nice Shed/Coop

You do realize that soon the inside of your 'nice' shed will soon be covered in poultry poop, right? Or are you worried about how the outside 'looks'? Maybe you don't have to carpentry skills to make decent looking pop door?

 

[WVduckchick]

Most large ducks do not like ramps, but they can maneuver ones that aren't too steep (25-35 degree incline, maybe?) But my call ducks do fine with ramps (they will sneak in any open chicken pen and check out inside the coop)

You mention tree stump -- I used a stair-stepped cluster of stumps once, that may take up less space than an angled ramp, as a thought. Somewhat depends on breeds, depending if they are ones that have much or very little hopping/flapping ability.

One of my call ducks has taken to laying her eggs in my baby coop.

 

[KaptainHowdy]

Hi Della!
My brother has a barn looking shed
12x16. 1 window on the front to the left of the door.
We took the window out so we could make a hardware cloth screen for the summer. His chickens hopped up on a roost... hopped the 2-3 foot to the rough opening of the window. And jumped out into his yard. Also about 4 feet from bottom of window to the floor. They have a door but all day they were jumping out the window... going in the door and doing it all over again. We felt like they were having fun so we left the window off all weekend and just covered it up with a board in the evening.
We cut a hole in the back of the shed about 1 foot by 1 foot. Built a nice door with trim and all. Looks good in my opinion.
Good luck!

 

[trudyg]

Smaller /lighter chickens can hop fairly easily, especially if they tend to fly. My heavies don't come close to flying and would have a harder time going in and out of a window without a ramp or something. So, it all depends. I understand not wanting to cut up a new shed. I got a gate for a dog kennel, 6' high and 5' wide, half is a door that swings to walk thru. Maybe you could do something like that and cut the wires in order to add a pop door? I installed it inside the regular doors (same dimension) and can close the wood doors when the weather is bad or leave them open and just use the walk thru gate. I think the brand was Revere (?) at TSC. You could google it and see if it might suit.

 

[DellaMyDarling]

Hi Della!
My brother has a barn looking shed
12x16. 1 window on the front to the left of the door.
We took the window out so we could make a hardware cloth screen for the summer. His chickens hopped up on a roost... hopped the 2-3 foot to the rough opening of the window. And jumped out into his yard. Also about 4 feet from bottom of window to the floor. They have a door but all day they were jumping out the window... going in the door and doing it all over again. We felt like they were having fun so we left the window off all weekend and just covered it up with a board in the evening.
We cut a hole in the back of the shed about 1 foot by 1 foot. Built a nice door with trim and all. Looks good in my opinion.
Good luck!

Sounds like what we have, and what I'm hoping they'll do lol.

We played around with a few different configurations . I'll try to grab pics tomorrow. I just don't care for the idea of putting another hole in a solid building.

 

[bajabirdbrain]

We bought the Brensea Chick Safe, battery powered programmable unit. Has worked flawlessly for 2 yrs. We set the door to open around day light and to close about 1/2 hr after they go to roost. Of course we have to adjust the times as the seasons change.

As far as a ramp goes, the one from run to coop is about 4 ft long and gains about 2ft in height. Have some wooden strips across the ramp and glued down some sandpaper for better traction. Again, no issues observed. The ramp from the floor of the coop to the roosts is the same but a bit steeper, no problems.

Consider putting your location in your avatar, everybody likes to know where you are located. Have fun and good luck. BB

 

[LarryOdom]

If you are asking if chickens will climb a ladder like a parrot the answer is no.
Ducks also cannot. Most ducks don't even like ramps that are even remotely steep.

I would cut the hole.

I agree, cut a hole.