Too Ambitious?

[Gordonsetter2007]

I have 5 bantam hens and their rooster and want a new house for them. Ready made are really expensive or small, so I thought I might take a shot at building one myself.
Any other’s that have done this, are invited to encourage me and pass on wisdom earned while making their coops and houses.

 

[aart]

I have 5 bantam hens and their rooster and want a new house for them. Ready made are really expensive or small, so I thought I might take a shot at building one myself.
Any other’s that have done this, are invited to encourage me and pass on wisdom earned while making their coops and houses.

Here's a whole bunch of coops to browse.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/chicken-coops.12/

Biggest piece of advice I have is to draw out your plan on graph paper,
and ask for reviews here, before ever cutting a piece of wood.
Beware of plans out there on the web, many are not good designs.
Do lots of browsing and reading here, take notes, save links.
Plan on it taking twice as long and be thrice as costly as you think.
Cry now or cry later.

Oh, and .... Welcome to BYC! @Gordonsetter2007
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!

 

[SE WA Guy]

I have 5 bantam hens and their rooster and want a new house for them. Ready made are really expensive or small, so I thought I might take a shot at building one myself.
Any other’s that have done this, are invited to encourage me and pass on wisdom earned while making their coops and houses.

Welcome!

I also built my own coop, did not use a pre-fab model. I looked at the various designs on the internet, and then I thought about my yard, my goals and my city bylaws.

For example, I have a large privacy fence around my back yard, and I didn't want anything to rise above that fence line. Also, we have some neighbors that are always looking to report people to the city for minor infractions. We have a limit here of four chickens to a yard (but I may have six...). But with a group that small, I wanted to focus on building a better run area as opposed to having a larger coop. So my run is 20'x15' and is fully fenced, even the top has mesh wire to keep the birds from flying out and cats from jumping in.

My coop is really just a very large box that stands now higher than 4'. Now that may be simplifying it a bit, the coop is large enough to house the number of birds, has an offset roof that allows for ventilation, and has one side wall that is on a hinge that I can completely open up for cleaning and for getting those precious eggs.

But in all fairness, I designed a really fancy box - super simple to make. I've also added in little lean-to's in the run, along with a perch swing. All things that are very easy to make.

Start with your desired number of chickens, and then look at your budget, and kind of fill in the gaps from there. I'll try to post a pic or two of what I made here in a minute.

 

[SE WA Guy]

Here's an example of what I did. You see how the one wall opens up, very easy to do. We had this giant concrete pad in the back yard from an old shed, so we used it as a flat foundation of sorts. We've now covered all of the concrete with a mix of bedding pellets and straw so that the birds never have to worry about scorching their feet on the concrete. I've since added in another shade element into the left side of the run, and we have an actual sun shade that we'll attach to the entire run here as it gets hotter out.

It's maybe not as fancy as some of the 'walk-in' coops, but it gives the birds enough room to play around. We also let them free roam the rest of the backyard daily for added shade and activity.

And what can I say? They seem to really love their little home. There's enough space for a couple of roost bars in there, and the opening hides them from the intense wind storms we get around here.

There really is no limit to what you can build.

 

[aart]

the intense wind storms we get around here.

What about rain......looks like a flat roof on coop??

 

[SE WA Guy]

What about rain......looks like a flat roof on coop??

It’s hard to see from this angle, but the roof has two tiers, so one side is up about 3” from the other side and that’s where the vent rides the entire width of the coop. And then I put a lip on the lower end so that the rain doesn’t poop into the coop. Nothing fancy, all practical. Maybe not the very best system, but I live in a desert, we only get rain like 20x per year.

 

[aart]

It’s hard to see from this angle, but the roof has two tiers, so one side is up about 3” from the other side and that’s where the vent rides the entire width of the coop. And then I put a lip on the lower end so that the rain doesn’t poop into the coop. Nothing fancy, all practical. Maybe not the very best system, but I live in a desert, we only get rain like 20x per year.

Yes, I can see the two levels, doesn't look like either would shed water.
When I see you're SE WA ......WA always make me thing copious rainfall, I forget that there is much desert to the east.

 

[SE WA Guy]

Yes, I can see the two levels, doesn't look like either would shed water.
When I see you're SE WA ......WA always make me thing copious rainfall, I forget that there is much desert to the east.

Yeah. Lots of desert out here lol. Definitely not Seattle. In addition to the lip that guards from water coming into the vent, I put a sealant in between the slats on the roof to make sure it would guard against water. I water my lawn and allow the water to overlap onto the coop, and it’s not got the bedding wet yet. There is a tiny bit of pooling on the roof after a good soak, but with our sun out here, it’s evaporated in less than ten minutes.
My last group of cockerels used to love to hang out up there and get a lay of the land. And it’s not so tall that they are afraid to get down.
I know it’s unconventional, but it’s working out surprisingly well. All depends on the end goal I suppose.

 

[Gordonsetter2007]

Here's a whole bunch of coops to browse.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/chicken-coops.12/

Biggest piece of advice I have is to draw out your plan on graph paper,
and ask for reviews here, before ever cutting a piece of wood.
Beware of plans out there on the web, many are not good designs.
Do lots of browsing and reading here, take notes, save links.
Plan on it taking twice as long and be thrice as costly as you think.
Cry now or cry later.

Oh, and .... Welcome to BYC! @Gordonsetter2007
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!
View attachment 2165040

Thank you for the pointer: I wrote about myself and where I live. One of the reasons I joined this
group were the plans for coops that I saw. And of course the one I really like doesn’t have plans! I’ll keep looking and I appreciate your advice!

 

[aart]

I wrote about myself and where I live

Still good to add your location as described above, so it shows up on every post.