What Do You Wish You Had Known Before You Bought/Built Your First Coop?

[3KillerBs]

As I look at the 4x8 structure that I'm about to convert to an outdoor brooder and thinking of how uncomfortable it will be to hunch down in there (it's between 4 1/2 and 5 feet tall), I remember the backbreaking agony of the half-height run that was originally attached to my Little Monitor Coop.

We made it easy to detach, thinking that we would be able to pull it away to clean out.

NOPE. Not even considering the annoyance of moving the blocks, once the run litter started to build up it would have taken a team of strong men with prybars to get it loose and move it -- which is what happened when we needed to take it off to move the coop to the new property.

Cleaning in there was awful! I had to shovel and fork bedding while bent almost double. Backache doesn't being to describe it. Additionally, not having room to really turn around and pitch the used litter out the door but, instead, having to move it in stages, meant that cleaning took longer than it needed to.

I wish I had known that the cost of the extra lumber and hardware cloth for a full-height, walk-in run would have been paid for in ibuprofen and time saved.

I wish I had known to really THINK about how I would clean under less than ideal conditions -- walked through it step-by-step looking for problems in the design.

What do you wish you'd have known before you bought or built your first coop?

 

[sourland]

That you must always make it far bigger than you think you will ever need.

 

[aart]

What do you wish you'd have known before you bought or built your first coop?

Not much I missed....
But I spent beaucoup time(6mo at 4-6 hours a day) researching and planning.
.....and I had 20 years experience in the design/build arena.

 

[MadamContrary]

Larger coop, larger and heavier run, longer and wider roosts! And yes definitely taller! I think most of us start off thinking about chicken height requirements rather than our own comfort getting thier areas, if only for cleaning. More ventilation, I wish I had gone with a completely open air design from the beginning because it gets so hot where I live.
And this year I got Brahmas... So yeah... Have to go bigger yet again.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

Prefabs suck!!! And a WHOLE bunch of other stuff

 

[U_Stormcrow]

That my goats would prefer its raised floor to their own goat shed?

Ok, more useful for others - I set the floor just high enough that a cart or wheelbarrow could be rolled under it (accounting for deep litter) so that I could simply rake out the spent bedding periodically straight into the cart and roll it off for use elsewhere. That was good.

I failed to consider that ducks nest on the ground (Ok, I did, that's why I made it two level - chickens on the raised floor, ducks below). I failed to consider that ducks NESTED on the ground, where I would daily have to crouch down and walk/crawl/waddle/shimmy something to get the eggs they left at the far corners of the house, out of my reach from the central access.

Unless its planned as a walk-in shed, a dual duck/chicken coop is a load of problems - I'd have been better off using the materials I spent on the raised floor extending my walls another four feet (at least), and adjusting their height to provide more under eave ventilation.

 

[ReelFaster]

That you must always make it far bigger than you think you will ever need.

This....Larger Coop and Run....

 

[Banana01]

That is a beautiful coop. I wish I knew I would need a seperate space for hens to lay eggs and nest. My first coop was too small, then I rebuilt a huge open air coop and realized I am still needing a new coop for my hens to lay eggs. I settled on building them their own boxes, which of course don't fit in my coop now.

 

[3KillerBs]

But I spent beaucoup time(6mo at 4-6 hours a day) researching and planning.

*nods*

I read about chickens and learned about chickens for over a decade before I ever got chickens -- including joining BYC years before I got my first flock. I credit this for making my first coop such a good one (though it was DH who brought up the Monitor Roof idea, which is the very best feature).

More ventilation, I wish I had gone with a completely open air design from the beginning because it gets so hot where I live.

It's hard for people to really get their minds around how little protected shelter and how much air livestock actually need. I once read an article where a livestock expert at an ag college said that calves would die in a barn that had as little fresh air as our houses have and that's stuck in my head for over two decades.

I failed to consider that ducks nest on the ground (Ok, I did, that's why I made it two level - chickens on the raised floor, ducks below). I failed to consider that ducks NESTED on the ground, where I would daily have to crouch down and walk/crawl/waddle/shimmy something to get the eggs they left at the far corners of the house, out of my reach from the central access.

Ouch. Not unlike my half-high run problem.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Thankfully I made my mistakes earlier on with a prefab before committing to a shed, so I planned for a walk-in and lots of ventilation and all that with the bigger build.

I still wish the run was bigger. The birds are fine with the space but it would've been even better to give them another 200, 300 sq ft. (and a little less lawn to mow!)