what do you love/hate about your coop?

[stcroixusvi]

If you check my page, you can see pictures of the coop - almost ALL of the ideas came from BYC

I love
=the poop deck - 2 minutes to pour dry poop into a bucket and haul out
=the second level roosting area, keeps the ground floor cleaner, and gives them more vertical space
=roosting areas in the run - the chickens love to fly up to them, makes them feel like birds

=the windows
=the deep litter method - search for details - we have linoleum on the floor
=space under the coop for the chickens to hide, but high enough for me to crawl under if I had to (yuck)
=run has a big, shady oak tree rimmed with rhodos that the chickens don't eat. They even perch on some of the sturdier rhodo branches - very cute.

would improve
=I would make the run larger - and intend to. It's 26 ft x 10 ft for 22 chickens, even though technically enough, they would like more (they told me)
=I would install the automatic waterer as a supplement to the regular waterer
=would make the coop larger

so I could have more chickens.

Have fun - wish I had started this years ago!

 

[kuntrygirl]

I love the big chicken house. I hate it doesn't have electricity.

 

[schmism]

Quote:
Same here.

I added an addtion to our coupe that added 20% floor space JUST for food and bedding. its something that i always recomend to new peeps building coupes (enough space for storage)

 

[Haunted Chicken]

I didn't make mine (bought it on Craigslist) but if I were to build my own there are a few things I'd change.

1. Mine is a 6' cube, 6' is too deep to reach into especially if you need to catch a chicken.

2. Mines tall enough but goes to low to the ground, so it will be hard to clean under. Higher up or a walk in would have been better.

3. Long and shallow would be better than a cube.


What I do like - I love the window we added. The girls love to line up and look out in the evenings as the sun goes down and it allows for tons of fresh air when opened.

 

[CluckCluck18]

I love my coop, Fowl Territory. Built it with friends and we had no idea what we were doing. The more beer we drank, the better we got! Don't build in the summer.....we about died. Build the coop first, then get chicks. Had a mess in the garage waiting for the coop to get done. I would have painted all the pieces first and then assemble things. Would have made it bigger.......seems like everyone says that. Started with six but now ready for more a year later and will need to expand my run. Love that I have a full size human door and doors that unlatch and all drop down, especially the nest boxes. I have roosts that are remove able for cleaning and the floor of the hen house is a drawer that I can pull out. Be careful on safety.We used hardware cloth that we dropped 12inches underground and 12inches out and then covered that with marble chips and have had no mishaps with varmints. The coop is painted white, black and barn red and has a baseball theme which I love. Everything we learned came from this site......we'd build a little,read a little,tear things down a little and it all got done. Have fun!

 

[Nicole01]

I love our coop. We built a 48 square foot room over 8 feet tall inside our garage. The run is 110 square feet along side our house with a steel door separating the coop to the run. It's very roomy and very safe for our 8 chickens. We have electricity inside the coop, which we will be able to add a ceramic heat emitter for the winter. I won't have to trek through any snow to see my girls and clean the coop.

The only downside is the coop is located on the west side of the house, which makes it a little more difficult to keep them cool during the very hot days. We still need to plant trees along side the run. Once the trees are in, it will be perfect!

I'm very happy with what we have.

 

[fargosmom]

I love mine - based on tons of research here - thanks to everyone!! I especially like:
- open henhouse design
- sand in the run
- plumbed-in waterer
- roof over the entire thing keeps it dry in winter, shady in summer
- big enough (barely) for me to go in and sit with the girls when I don't have time to let them out
- external nestboxes are easy to check
- door to henhouse is big enough for me to fit though when it's time to clean (I crawl right on in and sweep out the shavings).

I especially DON'T like:
- it's too low to stand up straight in (but I had no choice about that)
- it's big enough for our 7 hens, but only just . . . and no room for chicken math. If I could I would make the run twice the current size (but we'd need a bigger lot!)

I wouldn't change much, but I'd make it bigger for sure, if I had the opportunity . . . but it's just right the way it is now.

 

[nickie]

I love my coop. I love the hardware cloth insert for the popdoor for warm summer nights (securely locks in to keep chickens in and others out). I love the deep litter method and the 2x6 guards we put on the human door (a must) and the pop door. I like that it is built with an attached shed for my husbands mower storage so I have a place for extra feed and bedding. I love that my husband is an electrician so we will be adding electricity before winter and while we have a trench dug we will be running water line too.
I don't like that my run is only temporaried in and not the permenant design we will have when funds are available for material. I don't like the favorite roost being right at head crack level when turning the bedding every other day.
Gosh, not much I don't like. It's big, roomy, sturdy, tall enough to stand up in

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

I wish my nest boxes were a tad larger. But only for my Jersey Giant. So if you plan on having a really large breed bird, something to consider.