Walk in coop vs. elevated coop (4 ft)

[JerseyHen]

This will be our first coop. I was thinking of a 4 ft x 16 ft, elevated about 2 ft, 4 ft in front with about 3 ft in back (slant roof) with two cleanout doors in the back to allow access to each side, 2 sets of nesting boxes (about 8), couple of windows, and the rest of the required coop comforts, but someone mentioned that I should really do a walk-in size coop. Now I am undecided. Any of you have both and can give pros and cons? Any of you feel very strongly about why one is better than the other? We break ground in about 3 weeks... so excited! Any advice would be most appreciated (I did a search for this topic and it was covered a bit a long time ago and not very fully). C'mon BYC wisdom, sure could use some right about now...

 

[Cass]

I'm going with a walk in coop myself. My thinking is that if I can walk in my back won't sustain any injury when I am cleaning the coop or trying to catch a chicken.
Also, it can be called a "storage shed" to prospective buyers when we sell to move south.

 

[gryeyes]

Oh, no, if you CAN do it, go for the walk in coop!!!

I built a 4x8 coop, with the front wall 4 ft tall and the back wall 6 ft tall (also slanted roof) and it's okay. I am 5'4" tall, so I can stand in the middle and still reach the shorter side when necessary.

I'm having another coop built and it is 8x8, with a gabled roof with walls six feet tall. It's also elevated 2 feet off the ground so the birds have shade, shelter, and dust bathing space underneath it.

You do NOT wanna have to bend over to do coop maintenance, or try to capture a chicken.

 

[andalusn]

I much prefer being able to walk into my coops. I have a nursery pen that I have to hunch over to work in and it's not fun. I have 3 walk in's and it's easier to work with the water, feed and if I have to catch a bird from a roost for doctoring etc.

 

[perchie.girl]

Definately walk in for me. 8 nest boxes is a lot.... unless you have like 40 chickens.

 

[JerseyHen]

I thought the purpose of the lower ht coops was that you cleaned them from outside using the hatches, not crouching inside them and that they are elevated to reduce bending. Guess I may be wrong about that. I was hoping to get more floor area out of my budget by sacrificing the height, but it seems it might be a bit harder to manage the chores and I hadn't thought of having to catch a chicken in there. I did imagine it might be a bit of a challenge with the water (unless my nipple feeder works out (pvc tube style)... Looks like I might be rethinking my design. Perhaps I should just go for it and do an 8x8 coop...

 

[JerseyHen]

perchie.girl :

8 nest boxes is a lot.... unless you have like 40 chickens.

Good to know, less to build.​

 

[Paraclete]

Yeah, walk in would be best. I'm actually putting a simple one together right now. Kinda drew something up really fast and then started at it. It's 4' wide, by 6' tall with a 14 degree slop to about 50 some odd inches, which makes it about 7.5' deep or long or what have you. I'm still designing it as I go but I'll only be putting in about 3-4 boxes in with access to them from the outside. I just prefer the walk in types because it allows for more bonding time with the birds without the worry of one flying off or something.

 

[AZBootsie]

I like walk ins better. Just easier for daily care, and I can sit in the coop with my flock when it rains.

 

[Pineywoods Peepers]

Walk in! I had to get inside my little coop that is 4 x 8 and on stilts today to clean it out and get it ready for my meet chickens. I have two large clean out doors, but couldnt reach all the way in the corners to get all the crud out without crawling inside. Then while i was all hunched over whisking disentegrated shavings and poo out of crevices my broom was too tall and kept hitting the ceiling of the coop. Not a fun way to start the day!

So if you've got the dough I'd say spring for the walk in coop. Heck if you can build it in a circle you wont have to worry about corners at all. I'm seriously thinking about doing that when we build our next "last" coop.