walk in or raised?

[bagendhens]

so im in the final planning stages of my parents back yard coop...

were going to have 5 standard hens...

my mum, whos coop this will be and who will be keeping it up after i move out has a bad knee...
so
would it be better to have a

4x6 full height (6ft tall) coop...
this coop would have the nest boxes hung on the wall to keep the floor space, but clean out would mean shovel and lifting into the wheelbarrow...or laying out a tarp scraping everything out and then dragging the tarp away.

or

a 4x6 coop 1/2 height 4-3ft tall on posts to raise it up high enough to put the wheel barrow under it so it can just be scraped right into the barrow.
of course in this option the nest box would have to be mounted externally to keep the floor space...

thoughts?

i want to make clean up as easy on mum as possible in terms of lifting, but im also trying to keep construction as easy as possible (so trying to use each sheet of playwood to its fullest with the fewest cuts lol)

 

[fiddleblue]

For someone who has a bad knee, I think having a raised coop would be better vis a vis cleaning, so she doesn't have to bend as much to clean it out into a wheelbarrow. However, keep in mind that to REALLY clean out a coop, as well as to maintain any waterer or feeder that's inside the coop, you'd need to crawl into the coop, which might be harder with a raised coop than a full height coop. I recommend you have your Mom "imagine" that the coop is already built, and, maybe using some mock-up props, try to imagine/envision/practice going through the motions that would be needed for maintenance, and try to figure out how best to build it all with her needs in mind.

 

[teach1rusl]

Use dropping boards in a walk-in. No bending, no climbing...just scrape into to bucket every day...takes a minute for that few amount of birds. For any floor bedding messes, use a grabber or a kitty scooper attached to a long handle.

 

[patman75]

I did a walk in, tarp, deep litter method and linoleum under the roosts. I clean the linoleum under the roosts once a week and have not clean out the deep litter since I put the chickens in the coop in November. Every month I add another layer of pine shavings. It is dry and no smell.
Cleaning the deep litter might be hard for your mum, but you could help her twice a year with that.

Here is a link to mine.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=270176&p=1

 

[fiberart57]

I have a 4' x 6' raised coop for six standards and I love it. I think smaller is better if you're in colder climates. It's cozy enough so that the girls can cuddle and stay warm in the winter.

The nest box is inside with an outside door for egg collecting. I don't use poop boards, instead I use a kitty litter scoop every day to pic off the poop from the top of the shavings. The underneath the house is available for the girls in the run and it stays dry even in the worst weather.

I don't have a problem cleaning it. With my poop removal method, I only have to do a total clean out two or three times per year and it comes out easily with a big clean out door in the back. Because the run's covered, they hardly use the inside during the daytime so it stays clean. They only go into lay an egg and sleep at night.

I modeled mine after the playhouse coops on this thread.

Mary

 

[sephiroth]

I'd build a Catawba Brougham A frame tractor. I've been using one for a year and I can't think of many shortcomings.

 

[Intheswamp]

I'm curious...why stop at 4x6 when sheet goods are 4x8 and there is an 8 sq ft difference? The extra area would really help when food and water needed to be inside the coop during bad weather or whatever.

It appears the trick to keeping a coop clean is to keep the poop concentrated in one area and to keep it out of the litter as much as possible. The roost area receives the biggest load of poop and if this area is managed well then the rest of the coop will more or less follow suit.

Install your nestboxes at one end of the coop. Directly above the nests build a 2' deep dropping board (roughly 24"x48") that could slide out a door in the rear of the coop. Install 2 roost poles above the dropping board. This should be plenty of roost area for 6 chickens. The nestboxes could be built with an open back and the same door could be used for egg gathering. The dropping board could be slid out and cleaned pretty easily.

If you went with this plan and a 4x8 footprint then you would have your poop management at about the best it could be, you'd gain 4 square feet of coop floor area, and you'd have the nests on the inside of the coop.

In regards to coop space....you can never have too much.

Just a thought,
Best wishes on your project!
Ed

 

[Intheswamp]

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I was thinking of an elevated coop with a 4' interior height.

To build the coop at the correct height you would want the floor height of the coop to be just below her waistline so that when she bends over into the coop her stomach/abdomen doesn't hit the edge of the structure and she is able to reach in as far as possible. If it's built too high she's going to be looking for a stepstool.

Ed

 

[rcentner]

I have raised coops now and we are in the process of building a shed like building for the chickens. My raised coops were a little small for my standard chickens, that's why I am building a new one. I loved having the raised coops this winter cause I built a wind block on 3 sides and they were able to get out of the coop, but be out of the wind and snow. They used it a lot, but the outside is (obviously) the same size as the inside and just too small. If you build a small raised coop with the whole side opening for cleaning that would work, but with more of an opening you may have more draft problems. I found mine difficult to clean because they are small. Mine opened from the top and a small window on the side and it is not easy to get in to the coops. I love the poop board idea and will be using that in the new coop, I think that will be the easiest cleaning ever! So, I guess my advice would be to build a coop on the ground with a poop board. Look around the site at all the coops and you will get some good ideas (I did). Oh and with the raised coop, you do need to clean under it if they spend a lot of time there like mine did in the winter...also a big pain (I have some health issues as well). If the coop is big enough for them to spend time and not be crowded when they are inside they wont need an outdoor "shelter". The last point is that if you plan to have chicks it will be better to have a coop on the ground. Good luck, have fun!

 

[bagendhens]

thanks for the thoughts guys.

i think were going to go with a walk in...
and talking to my dad it seems like hes more interested in buying a small shed kit and modifying that rather than building from scratch (we'll see what he thinks of that plan when he sees the price of sheds around here lol.

but i think with the poop boards a walk in would give us the best acess to everything and easier use of space,
i do prefer the thought of having the nest boxes inside the coop rather than exterior built as im sure that would not only be easier to put together but warmer too, all wed have ot add is a small drop down door behind the boxes. (mum wants to be able to acess the eggs from the outside)
i could easily put in a removable board by the door that could be simply taken out on cleaning day and everything just get pulled out onto a tarp. rather than her trying to lift it into the barrow.

ive deinfatly got a much better visual than i did before of what im looking for now.
thanks