Topic of the Week - Building a Chicken Coop

[basement chick]

To me the three most important things in building a coop (and run) are location, location, and location. If you put your coop (and run) in a low spot where water drains to it or stands you will have issues. If you build it where (or so) water drains away life will be much more pleasant. You need to keep it dry!

- Do's and don'ts - What did you wish you did differently, or knew, when you built your coop?

This is hard to answer because we all have our different preferences. My coop has been constantly evolving as I go along. You make your plans but they never work out exactly as you expect. We are all going to have different goals and conditions. Even if you have some experience your needs will change. Things you think you want are never used. I made a couple of my nests so I could access them from outside. I never use that feature, it’s much more convenient for me to just walk in and gather eggs. Some people really like access from outside, and if your coop is too small to get inside yourself it’s pretty necessary.

- What materials would you recommend (or not) and why?

Anything touching the ground needs to be able to stand up to touching the ground. Non-treated wood will rot pretty quickly in most climates unless you use special expensive varieties of wood. Some metals will rust. Pay attention to the foundation, use stuff that will last. That can be treated wood, special wood, certain metals, cinder block, brick, concrete, or something else. They can all work.

For roosts I want wood. Metal or plastic are good heat conductors while wood is a good insulator. Wooden roosts will stay warmer in winter and won’t be as hot in summer.

That’s about it for specific material recommendations. People successfully use wood, metal, or plastic in various combinations for coops. Some of that is personal preference, some might be climate, some might be what’s available or inexpensive.

- Coop size(s)?

You can follow the link in my signature for some of my thoughts on things to consider when determining coop size. We keep them in so many different climates, with different goals, set-ups, flock make-ups, and use so many different management techniques no one square foot number can fit us all. We are all unique.

Make it bigger than you think you need. I find the more I crowd them the more behavioral problems I have to deal with, the harder I have to work, and the less flexibility I have to deal with issues. A lot of this is about me, not the chickens. If I manage them right I can crowd them, but why make my life harder than it has to be?

Flexibility is priceless. If you shoehorn them into the tiniest space possible what do you do if you get a broody hen? Or if you need to separate an injured chicken for a while? Or try to integrate replacement chickens? If you plan your coop around free ranging all day so they only sleep and lay in the coop, what do you do if you have a predator issue?

You need to be able to access everything inside your coop. At some point that’s going to change from a small coop you can reach most places from outside to where you need a walk-in coop. Again, think about your convenience.

- Money saving tips for coop builders?

Consider the size of your building materials when planning your coop. If you are buying new, here in the States most building materials come in 4’ and 8’ standard dimensions. If you plan your build around this you can usually reduce cutting and waste. A 4’ x 8’ is probably not going to be much more expensive (if any) than a 3’ x 7’ and will probably be easier to build.

- Anything you'd like to add?

I’ll give links to a couple of articles that I think should be required reading for anyone building a coop (and run).

Pat’s Big Ol' Ventilation Page

http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-VENTILATION

Pat’s Big Ol' Mud Page (fixing muddy runs):

http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-fix-a-muddy-run

You will get a lot of advice on this forum, many people will tell you that you absolutely have to do things one specific way. But then you’ll see where someone did it totally differently and it still worked. There is practically never one way to do something, there are many different ways that work. That makes it harder because you have so many options that can work instead of someone just telling you that you have to do something a certain way.

We all keep chickens in totally different conditions. When you see advice from someone I suggest you try to determine if they are talking about your circumstances. What works for someone free ranging a large flock with multiple roosters may not work at all for someone keeping four hens in a small suburban back yard, totally contained in a small coop and run.

Try to keep things simple. Again, that’s for your convenience, but animals are a commitment. If you leave town for a wedding, vacation, or funeral, you will need to get someone to feed and water the chickens. The easier you make it to take care of your chickens the easier it may be to find someone. Think about where you store your feed, get water, and such as that. Chickens should be easy to take care of. They are much more enjoyable if they are not a burden.

Excellent advice. And amen, animals are a commitment, not just a hobby! Research as many sources as possible. I agree with LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION... you can add on and tweak window size, nest boxes, roost bars, run size, etc, but if it's too hot in the afternoon or too windy in the winter or MUDDY all the time, you can't easily move the whole thing. Dry dry dry and shady with sand everywhere would be my choice. Chickens will destroy a nice grassy run in no time flat. And not too far away from the house. You'll be walking out there at least twice a day every day for years...rain, wind, night and day. Close to the water source and electric outlet too. Water and hoses are heavy. A light and a fan or two is nice.

Can you visit a nearby farm with chickens? Most love to talk about their pets if they have time and can advise you on your specific area's problems. Visit the local farm store where you'll buy your chicken food. Ask if anyone there will talk about their chickens and coops.

To save money, the big building stores have damaged discount areas. We got metal roofing for the run that was dented and screen doors that were ripped. They're covered with hardware cloth anyway. Broken windows too. Take out the glass and cover with hardware cloth. Ask if they'll take even less money...We always pay less

I also think predator proof is very important. How awful to build a cute new coop only to find them all gone one morning. Heavy latches on any doors. Cover every opening with hardware cloth, never chicken wire. We covered every single opening with hardware cloth and ran it twelve inches on the ground around the run and covered that with pavers to prevent digging predators. Check around regularly for loose boards, etc. I never had a problem in four years and we were deep in the woods with all kinds of critters. Use big tin snips to cut hardware cloth easier and wear gloves. Check Amazon for discounted rolls of hardware cloth. Again, research!

Also, not related to coops, but think about what you will do if and when they get old and ill. Is a vet nearby who will treat chickens? Wil you spend the money and the time? My experience is they get egg bound and hang on forever. It can be difficult to watch them go downhill slowly. As we all know, vets are expensive and, again just my experience, chickens are hard to treat.

My last suggestion is maybe start small. See if you really enjoy it and then expand. Chickens are fun, interesting, intelligent pets if you do your homework!

 

[MTR]

View attachment 1047023
Pic by @bgchicken​

Many of us found that building vs buying a chicken coop can be a better option for economic and other reasons. And with summer in full swing (for most of us anyway!) and spring chickens moving outside, it's the time of the year when many new chicken owners start thinking "coop". So this week I'd like to hear you all's thoughts own coop building. For starters:

- Do's and don'ts - What did you wish you did differently, or knew, when you built your coop?
- What materials would you recommend (or not) and why?
- Coop size(s)?
- Money saving tips for coop builders?
- Anything you'd like to add?


For a complete list of our Topic of the Week threads, see here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/topic-of-the-week-thread-archive

 

[MTR]

I’ve never heard someone say I wish my coop was smaller

 

[Tashua]

We elevated our coop on 4x4’s and used old windows covered in hardware cloth,installed backwards so they are able to be opened/closed from outside .
covered the roof area with hardware cloth before enclosing the coop and roof ( so there’s ventilation on all of the upper area) . I wanted a drop down door for easy cleaning (getting old) wheel barrow fits right under the door. Big covered run with human sized door !
All that said I love my coop & only wish I had doubled the size of the drop down clean out area .
Completed coop BEFORE getting chicks .
( the orange caution fencing was when we were teaching free ranging , they were tiny )

 

[3KillerBs]

- Do's and don'ts - What did you wish you did differently, or knew, when you built your coop?

I included a Things We Did Right and Things We Did Wrong in my article for the Little Monitor Coop.

Things we did right:​

I would heartily recommend a monitor roof for anyone in a hot climate. With the pop door open 24/7 except in dire emergencies and the coop located in deep shade it was never any warmer inside than the ambient air temperature outside and, as previously noted, no rain ever penetrated beyond the roof overhangs.​

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It was not hard to build for a competent handyman. DH and his best friend assembled the coop in one weekend and the run in another weekend. He had fun with his new Kreg jig, but it's not necessary to set the screws in pockets.​

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The structure is entirely sound, due to DH's family habit of over-engineering everything -- though it can be moved by 4 men with the carrying 2x4's in place (we knew we'd be moving to the country eventually). The nestbox roof was damaged, probably by a branch falling on it during Hurricane Florence, but the boxes were sound.​

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It *is* portable, though not so light as to be moved without serious effort.​

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The nest boxes were a good size even for the Brahmas.​

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The roost was well-placed, above the nest boxes but below the open section of the roof.​

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The hardware cloth defeated the efforts of a predator -- unable to tear the wire loose it attempted to rip through and failed (we added a second layer over the entire area that was damaged).​

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It is not difficult to clean out since the large door allows me to reach all portions of the coop with the manure fork even though I am too short to quite reach the far wall. When the first residents retired the man helping me relocate them to the freezer was easily able to reach in and get hold of them without a rodeo. (I would not make a non-walk-in coop any deeper).​

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The far half of the run was roofed, so that I could keep the food and water out of the coop. The chickens were able to bask in the morning sun and had to get out of the coop for exercise in all weathers. (In a sunnier location the entire run should be roofed).​

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We had a perch in the run, which was regularly used.​

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Things we did wrong:​

One wall was OSB due to having miscut the siding. Never again.​

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The wood in contact with the ground has rotted out. At this distance from the build we can’t remember if we bought ground-contact-rated treated wood or not but the combination of our steamy climate, termites, carpenter ants, and the composting action of the deep litter system destroyed the understructure. When it’s moved to its permanent location on the new property it will be put on concrete pillars.​

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Too many nestboxes. The renovation reduced them to two. We replaced the rightmost box with an additional vent window because in our new situation we are not able to create a hardened run with 24/7 access right away. This vent will be under a roof overhang.​

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4-foot run height. All future runs will be walk-in. Cleaning the run was back-breaking. Retrieving an egg from under the coop required sending in a child with a hoe.​

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Use of inexpensive roofing materials. All future coop roofs will either be metal or will be constructed exactly as if they were on our own house. There's no savings in having to replace stuff.​

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Fit of pop door tracks too tight. DH's over-engineering strikes again. He had forgotten the warping effect of exposure to sun and moisture.​

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Roofed section of the run not slanted. Rain puddled on top, accelerating the deterioration of the inexpensive roofing materials.​

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The coop perch was only held by gravity and not otherwise secured because I thought that would make it easier to clean. The big Brahmas, particularly the rooster, periodically knocked it down.​

I also wish that I'd known how easy and versatile electric poultry netting was back when I had the in-town flock. I could have let my birds de-tick the back yard without fear of the town's many stray dogs.

- What materials would you recommend (or not) and why?

If you live in a warm, humid climate and use Deep Litter don't underestimate the wood-eating capability of the composting action of chicken manure. Put the coop on concrete blocks or piers.

Likewise, consider metal roofing and metal siding or Hardie Board.

I've had great results from using traditional barn paint on my coop and on other outdoor structures. It's made to go directly on rough, unprimed wood and holds so well that several raised beds ended up held by the paint shells around the insect-eaten boards.

- Coop size(s)?

Don't skimp on your 4 square feet per adult, standard-sized hen. Yes, you *might* crowd the birds successfully for some time and yes, a larger flock in a large coop needs less space per bird socially. But each chicken still creates the same amount of poop and that's better spread over more space.

Then, if you possibly can, go even bigger for your run. You get a lot of flexibility when you have more elbow room.

- Money saving tips for coop builders?

If it suits your climate, it's more cost-effective to build an Open Air coop. Our new Chicken Palace has become a money-sucking monster, but if we'd tried to make an enclosed coop with a roofed run for the same square footage we'd have paid twice as much.

- Anything you'd like to add?

Ventilation, ventilation, ventilation!!!!!

I put 16 square feet of permanent ventilation and another 10 feet of supplemental ventilation into my Outdoor Brooder and still needed to put up a picnic canopy to keep the temperature reasonable. Imagine how hot it would be in one of those airless prefabs.

 

[3KillerBs]

Rules of Thumb

• If it looks like a dollhouse it's only suitable for toy chickens.
• If it's measured in inches instead of feet it's too small.
• If your walk-in closet is larger than the coop-run combo you're thinking of buying think carefully about whether you have an utterly awesome closet or are looking at a seriously undersized chicken coop.
• If it has more nestboxes than the number of chickens it can legitimately hold the designer knew nothing about chickens' actual needs and it probably has other design flaws too.

 

[3KillerBs]

I’ve never heard someone say I wish my coop was smaller

An excellent point!

We elevated our coop on 4x4’s and used old windows covered in hardware cloth,installed backwards so they are able to be opened/closed from outside .
covered the roof area with hardware cloth before enclosing the coop and roof ( so there’s ventilation on all of the upper area) . I wanted a drop down door for easy cleaning (getting old) wheel barrow fits right under the door. Big covered run with human sized door !
All that said I love my coop & only wish I had doubled the size of the drop down clean out area .
Completed coop BEFORE getting chicks .
( the orange caution fencing was when we were teaching free ranging , they were tiny )

That's a great coop. Did you make a coop page article for it (there's no link for one in your profile).

 

[Tashua]

I did not include the coop. plan because we kind of did it as we went along...My husband is a retired carpenter.... knew what we wanted and used the theory on the “4 x 8 measurements are less cutting” then we used a lot of recycled materials and I went for the smaller hardware cloth because I didn’t want chance of any snakes in there when we painted the hardware cloth black it makes it almost disappear into the woods.... I also used FRP on the floor it’s waterproof and everything slides right out for me when I’m cleaning it. We also made our own feeder and waters just ordered water nipples and we had PVC around in the shed already. . .. If you have any questions other than that you could message me no problem I’ll do my best to help you out

 

[3KillerBs]

I did not include the coop. plan because we kind of did it as we went along...My husband is a retired carpenter.... knew what we wanted and used the theory on the “4 x 8 measurements are less cutting” then we used a lot of recycled materials and I went for the smaller hardware cloth because I didn’t want chance of any snakes in there when we painted the hardware cloth black it makes it almost disappear into the woods.... I also used FRP on the floor it’s waterproof and everything slides right out for me when I’m cleaning it. We also made our own feeder and waters just ordered water nipples and we had PVC around in the shed already. . .. If you have any questions other than that you could message me no problem I’ll do my best to help you out

No specific questions.

I'm working on an article about chicken coops and including links to coops I find well-designed and would have added this.

 

[Tashua]

No specific questions.

I'm working on an article about chicken coops and including links to coops I find well-designed and would have added this.

Well thank you ! Sorry I couldn’t be of more help