what do you love/hate about your coop?

[mcjessen]

I love the size of the coop itself but hate the fact that it's not as tall as I would have hoped. I have to bend over at an angle that is just perfect for killing my back. I also have to bend over in the run (only 4.5 ft tall) to walk in and out. I can't tell you the number of times I've bashed my head on the cross beam coming out of the run. Grr... BUT, hubby did a good solid construction job.

 

[silkiechicken]

I wish I had made my solid wood floor coop BEFORE going to grad school.

I have and am still using a 4x4 mini coop as a brooder, 2 short 4x8 mobile tractors, and one larger 8x8 mobile tractor. The biggest issue with these tractors is that they can be dug under and are getting old so are falling apart becuase of construction practices of a 12-14 year-old kids (my brother and I).

Mini Coop/brooder: This I wish I knew better to make a floor that is smaller than the base. A base larger than the floor = water seapage in the wet PNW even with caulking. I should have added more ventilation too. However, this is for chicks and babies and 3 weeks + they get free roam.



4x8 tractors: I really like these for raising meat birds or grow out before going to the larger coop. One has a flat roof, one has a A frame tarped roof. For the first two weeks they live in the 2x4 hutch and then I let them into the run area. Easily moved by two people by picking up. However, is not predator proof. A hardware cloth skirt would fix that problem, but when I was home, I fixed pred issues before they were issues.



I don't have a pic of my 8x8 tractor, but it can also be lifted and moved by two people. It just had a tarped roof with a hutch inside vs outside on the small ones. I would make it predator proof if I were to do it again, by use of retractable wire skirts.



So now that I am in grad school almost 300 miles away from the chickens, I am in the process of building a 6x8 coop with a wood floor so preds can't get my birds like they have a few times since going off to school with only parents and brother to watch the flock.

You can see my coop here .

My SO and I have spent one 3-day weekend, and one 4-day weekend building and painting it so far. We have both never built something to this scale. Our first flooring, framing, siding, and roofing jobs. I did my 4x4 from a lowe's kit.

We expect that on the 3 day labor day weekend coming up it can be finished...

Day1: Trim and final caulk applied. Nest box and roost cut and assembled.
Day 2: Final painting.
Day 3: Install of roost, nest box, and chickens from other pens.

Then on our soggy thanksgiving break, it is time for the tear down of the dilapidated 8x8 tractor.

However, I'll be gong onto 4th year of grad school this fall. You'll want to find distractions by this time...

All in all, if you are living where you plan on building your coop, a solid week of work, or a month or two of weekends should be plenty to make a nice coop.

 

[GA_in_GA]

I wish I would have not gone with the 'modular' mini-coop. Very cute, but not practical unless you only have bantams.

I am happy that the 8' x 16' run is completely covered with 1/2" hardware cloth, and surrounded by a 2' apron of the same. Also having a tin roof allows the chickens to be out even if it is raining. I have sand in 1/3 of my run and mulch in the rest. I am going to go to 100% sand, it is much easier to keep clean though I think the hens really enjoy the mulch for scratching.

Quote:
Same here.

I also wish the chickens would not poop in their coop.

 

[gale65]

Wish ours was tall enough for me to stand up. I hate cleaning it out all stooped over. By the time I'm done my back is screaming. I hate the fold down pop door. I'd rather have a sliding one so I could rig it up to open and close from outside.

 

[TheUrbanFarm&Garden]

I also like my self closing coop door....a necessity!

 

[ninabeast]

I'll chime in on the automatic pop door. A word to the wise when setting the timer on your pop door: don't get am and pm mixed up. I'm just sayin'.

I also love my girls' screen door. Our coop is 72 sq feet inside our big barn. I can close and latch the external barn door over the screen door for warmth and darkness at night, or during wet or extremely hot weather, but feel comfortable leaving the barn door open for ventilation all day, and also on hot summer nights, as the screen door is completely secure all by itself. My girls LOVE looking out of it when the weather won't allow for foraging.

 

[galanie]

I like that mine is big enough to walk into and not ever have to bend or stoop. I like that it was big enough for 4 hens I started with, is big enough for the 12 I have now, and will still be big enough for the amount I'll have next year. I love that it has a corrugated tin roof that will just last forever and is in the shade of a tree. I love that it has one side completely "open" (though covered in wire) with large windows in two of the other sides. I love that since I live in a warm climate, I'll likely never have to to worry about heating it, only about it being cool enough, which it is.

Only thing I do not like is that it was made from a converted shed that was already showing age. It will still last a number of years, but had I started new, I wouldn't have to worry about that for many years to come.

 

[BarefootMom]

hate:

not near big enough...started with 27 chicks now have over 100...
Run is not covered and chickens fly over...plus we didn't make the gate big enough to get the lawn mower in there... (no we don't have grass but we have weeds that the chickens won't eat...)
not enough nest boxes
Would like to have external nest boxes
should have covered the plywood with linoleum or something easier to clean...

love:
...
...
...hmmm

well it keeps them secure and they seem to like it.

 

[Hummingbird Hollow]

I wish I had known about the limitations of chicken wire before I started the coop and run. Because of the position of my coop, I covered the part under the coop with chicken wire before I slid the base into place. I then built the coop and built the run before I read the horror stories in the "Predator" thread of this forum and went out and purchased hardware cloth that I then had to put over the chicken wire. It would have saved me time and money if I had only used hardware cloth.

I also decided to build my laying boxes inside the coop, accessible through a little hatch door. I thought this would be a warmer, easier to insulate arrangement than having them hanging on the outside of the coop. While that may be correct, I'm falling prey to the same desire so many other folks mention about wanting "just a few" more chickens and would have a bit more room inside.

I am pretty pleased with the roost and "poop-slide" arrangement inside the coop as well as the interesting roosts I set up in the run. The girls seem to like it too.

Here is a link to the thread where I posted photos and information if you're interested.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=549569

 

[Patricia Jane]

I'm pretty happy with mine except I didn't allow for chicken math. I've only had my 4 girls since Jan and have already expanded it once. I am now up to 10 chickens. Mine sits up about 2' from the ground for extra run space. I have a big door for easy cleaning. Outside nesting boxes, doesn't take away floor space for the coop. My run is covered with shade cloth. Expensive but very worth it. Love that. It stays cooler in their run. I can see my coop and girls from my kitchen window. Only regret is not installing an automatic pop door. Getting up eary early sucks. Thinking of going solar. I did alot of reading books, research and joined BYC and learned a great deal. I felt pretty confident when I decided to start my venture and happy I did.