Things you've learned while building your coop...

[JacinLarkwell]

Always add more ventilation. If you have too much, you can always cover it when it gets cooler

 

[sziemba]

4 inch PVC is better than 3 inch, despite the weight when full, since you can actually fit your hand in to clean it.
A run door that has a bottom section and a top section that can be used separately or together is handy.
Despite the teasing you will get from your friends/family, and outlet and light in the coop is very useful.

 

[Adam B]

Start your early. Check Craigslist for materials you would be amazed what you may find for free . Like metal roofing and windows. Use screws rated for outdoor use I recommend hex head screws. The are easier to remove .If you start to get frustrated walk away . Two people helping is better than one. Use a chalk like on metal roofing .

 

[middle TN Nancy]

We haven't built a coop, but we have been building a house for the past 8+ years, and I think this tip might help someone. We live in a heavily wooded area in the south. We chose metal roofing for durability, but it has come with a terrible downside for us. Each and every "groove" of the roof is a potential red wasp nest. There's no telling what we've spent on wasp spray and contraptions, and their sting is very painful. I wish we'd used shingles.

I’m in a heavily wooded area in the south too. If you’re talking about how the metal ridges cause a small gap opening about every foot that cannot be closed with wood - I stuffed the ones that led into the coop itself with wadded-up hardware cloth scraps (to keep mice from chewing through) and then filled those gaps and all those that led into the run with Great Stuff foam insulation. I found it in black instead of the regular yellow so you don’t even notice it. It’s a little tricky to work with as it continues to expand until it cures, but it’s easy to trim off the bulges flush with a serrated knife after it’s cured.

 

[Three Little Bunnies]

Have more best boxes than you think you need. For example, I started with fifteen chicks and three neat boxes. Two chicks died, so I have thirteen and three. Now I have two more pullets and plan on more. I now need at least one more box, two since I would like to hatch eggs.

 

[Three Little Bunnies]

Clean your coop once a month, depending on the type. Otherwise, you may get creepy-crawlies.

 

[Pat B]

Adding an old mailbox makes great storage for hand sanitizer and wipes. Especially good if you have kids that like to play with the chickens.

 

[donaltman3]

Water-proof the roof, very well, of both the pen and coop areas. Your chickens will thank you for it.

This is my biggest or best-learned coop lesson. I put up some used clear plastic roof panels over our run and coop area instead of just the bird netting that I've used over the last several years.... huge difference. I had no idea it would make such a difference. Sure I knew it would be less muddy after a rain but having a solid roof has also kept flys down. My eggs are also cleaner because they don't have muddy feet. Also, the coop area seems to smell less. My next project is to seal some of the old screw holes that were in some of the panels from their previous use. Wish I would have had a solid roof years ago. The clear PVC
panels let plenty of light in and work really well.

 

[Flockincrazy]

No matter if the plans say it will hold such and such amount of chickens always make it bigger its never big enough

 

[runningboy]

I have a pretty long list as my coop is old, and needs a lot of adjustments. First of all, water-proof the roof, and I'm already working on that with some guys that do roof coating Jacksonville. The second on the list goes, space, mine can barely fit 15 chicks in there, and it's pretty low too. The idea with the nesting boxes accessible from outside it's simply amazing, but for me, it's not the case because I need to fully reconstruct the coop for that. I will do a total reconstruction in the future because as I said, it's old and small, but for now, I'm doing only the small modifications.