Tips to Improve a Chicken Coop (especially for ease of cleaning)

[ATP]

We bought all the materials for the coop last Saturday, and we started to build the coop on Monday. After posting a picture of the materials, we had a visit from our landlord. He showed me pictures of a chicken coop he and his sons are building. "That is nothing compared to ours," I said. He replied, "It is for you. We are building this one for you." – Wow!

Change of plans, I guess. Now what?

They had it ready made for us and brought it over on Wednesday. And this is what it looks like:

Coop is 1.80m (about 6') high (from bottom to very top of roof). The inside is 1.40m (about 4' 8") x 1m (about 3' 4") and the area of the nestboxes is 1.40m (4' 8") wide, 0.50m (1' 8") deep, and 0.40m (1' 4") high.

Our landlord is very generous, and he really cares for his tenants. He and his sons put in so much thought and care and love into this project. We are very grateful for that.

Having said that, the coop does need some more or less small improvements. The first thing is, there is not much of an access for me to clean the coop. Meaning, there is the door for the girls to get in and out of the coop, the little roof above the nestboxes (left) is not to lift up. Its siding folds down, but it does not give me enough access to it.

The back and the right side of the coop is where we are thinking about inserting a more or less bigger door. Looking into the coop through the nestbox in the middle, though, you will see that there are two posts placed. So, we consider to take one or the other posts down and use the siding to build a door, and put the door into the coop.

Hope that makes sense Any (other) suggestions are more than welcome.

The front (chicken) door is framed from the inside.

The coop also has some small safety issues, but ventilation has been thought of which is in the front and also in the back of the coop. It will be adjusted slightly for the back. I will show more pictures and seek more help, as this thread and the improvements of the coop move along.

Thank you so, SO much for taking the time to read, giving thought to it, and sending through your advice. It means a lot to me.

 

[Shadrach]

You're going to hate me.
You've already discovered one problem and that is access for cleaning.
Are there any roost bars?
There are no front ledges to the nest box so no way to keeping bedding in the boxes.
If one is going to build a coop that is off the ground it needs to be around half a metre off the ground so the chickens can get under it and you can get them out from under it if necessary. Having a half metre or more gap underneath will also make if more difficult for rodents etc to chew their way in from underneath where at the height one may not even notice until it's too late.
The ventilation is a) inadequate and b) in the wrong place. One wants to encourage air flow and that usually means venting at the highest points in the build with some provision for dragging cool air in at the bottom of the coop or even below the eaves in a build like yours.
Every plank join, every piece of end grain timber is a mite home. There are lots of mite homes in the build you have.

 

[ATP]

You're going to hate me.
You've already discovered one problem and that is access for cleaning.
Are there any roost bars?
There are no front ledges to the nest box so no way to keeping bedding in the boxes.
If one is going to build a coop that is off the ground it needs to be around half a metre off the ground so the chickens can get under it and you can get them out from under it if necessary. Having a half metre or more gap underneath will also make if more difficult for rodents etc to chew their way in from underneath where at the height one may not even notice until it's too late.
The ventilation is a) inadequate and b) in the wrong place. One wants to encourage air flow and that usually means venting at the highest points in the build with some provision for dragging cool air in at the bottom of the coop or even below the eaves in a build like yours.
Every plank join, every piece of end grain timber is a mite home. There are lots of mite homes in the build you have.

Why should I hate you? No reason.

We are still into preparing the place for the chickens, so no girls are living here yet!

As mentioned, I want to tackle this bit by bit, please. I'm currently looking into gaining enough access into the coop. I will be posting & dealing with the other issues a little later.

Thank you for sharing all your thoughts about the coop here. The roost bar is in and the ledges to the nest box have already been thought of. We keep a change of the layout and/or place of the nest box in mind, though, so there is no sense in putting the ledges up yet. The coop is currently 25cm (10") off the ground, and, at its final place, it will be lifted up another 20cm (8"). The ventilation will be changed and dealt with at a later time, as I mentioned in my first post in this thread. I'm aware of mites and have been researching and considering that already (books, forum, talks with other chicken owners).

Thank you for taking the time to read and for going through the effort of writing a reply here.

 

[Penpal]

It looks well built.

I wonder if you could put a ridge vent in for ventilation. Unless you are way north, having that vent in the door may not be an issue.

For the nest boxes, you could add individual boxes of some sort. That way, you don't have to think about cleaning, just pull out the nest box, empty, put back in. Not having a front ledge means you can add litter and use a small rake to rake out the floor of the coop via the nest nooks.

You can use concrete blocks (used in construction) under each leg to raise the coop higher.

 

[ATP]

It looks well built.

I wonder if you could put a ridge vent in for ventilation. Unless you are way north, having that vent in the door may not be an issue.

For the nest boxes, you could add individual boxes of some sort. That way, you don't have to think about cleaning, just pull out the nest box, empty, put back in. Not having a front ledge means you can add litter and use a small rake to rake out the floor of the coop via the nest nooks.

You can use concrete blocks (used in construction) under each leg to raise the coop higher.

Thank you SO much! Our landlord is a builder who has his own construction firm.

Now that was the kind of advice I was looking for.

The ridge vent will not work in our case, hubby said. We will enlarge the one on the back of the coop for sure. We are not sure yet what to do about the window in the door, as this side of the coop is facing west and the weather is "coming in that way" a lot.

I already bought various sizes of plastic trays. I was going to use a large one to put underneath the roosting bar (straight across, but set higher than the nests). Could have thought of using some for the nest box, too. Great idea! Sounds so easy to clean out that part.

Concrete blocks. Yes, that is what we planned on using to raise the coop. We just bought a few more today in case we have to raise it even higher (our garden has a falling surface).

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and taking the time to write this reply. I do appreciate it very much.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Additional thought.....

That chicken door swings to the side. You will need to hook it open so it doesn't blow shut preventing the birds from getting in when they need to.

 

[kathy32]

Nice (free - wow!!) coop! I actually wouldn't bother adding a door. If it were me, I would use something removable to block the edges of the nesting boxes and then use that opening as access for cleaning like the previous commenter suggested. A concrete rake (a solid rake without tines) would make the job super easy, especially since it is raised. You can just set a tarp underneath and have it raked out in no time. I would skip the tray under the roost - we tried something like that and the chickens just moved it around and it made it harder to clean.

 

[ATP]

Additional thought.....

That chicken door swings to the side. You will need to hook it open so it doesn't blow shut preventing the birds from getting in when they need to.

Of course. Thank you! I probably would have not thought of that until the door slammed Good thing you mentioned that. Thank you!

 

[ATP]

Nice (free - wow!!) coop! I actually wouldn't bother adding a door. If it were me, I would use something removable to block the edges of the nesting boxes and then use that opening as access for cleaning like the previous commenter suggested. A concrete rake (a solid rake without tines) would make the job super easy, especially since it is raised. You can just set a tarp underneath and have it raked out in no time. I would skip the tray under the roost - we tried something like that and the chickens just moved it around and it made it harder to clean.

Ideas to think about. Thank you!

I'm also grateful for all the details you provided. A concrete rake makes sense and I can imagine having the tarp underneath while cleaning it out would make the cleaning so much easier, too.

Having second thoughts about the trays now. I wondered, and can actually see my girls moving things around in the coop already.

Thank you for reading and replying to my post. I really appreciate that.

 

[ATP]

Step by step we are getting there.

(Please ignore the run for now. It is only temporary. It will be tackled a little later on but before the girls move in. Thank you.)

The entrance is wider, more accessible for cleaning. Hubby is currently working on (re) building the door.

So, the next things we will be working on are
1) walls inside
2) floor inside

I'm talking about the walls underneath the air holes (the holes will be changed "into a window" as big as the whole area of the holes) and the wall to the right.

1 Would we keep/make the roosting bar that is in there "permanent" or should we work around that so it will stay removable? (There will be another roosting bar not on this side, though)

2 What material/s are best to make the walls (plywood?) to attach to this frame? I would like to paint them with chalk paint and/or something wipeable.

3 Does it make sense to buy chalk paint? It is quite expensive so I would like to find out if this would make a difference. (e.g. more protection against mites, and to make cleaning easier)

4 Flooring... Would it make sense to put in a pvc/vinyl flooring (removable for ease of cleaning) or would something (like plywood?) that could be painted be better?

Thank you all so, SO much for taking the time to read and reply. I so appreciate this very much.

PS: Please forgive my typos and sometimes confusing wording. I'm quite nervous but also really excited about getting things ready for my girls.