What is your ideal coop interior layout? Help me plan the next step.

greginshasta

Songster
13 Years
Jul 26, 2007
463
1
154
Mount Shasta, CA
OK, so the shed exterior is nearly done and I'm about to build the coop area inside. You can see in the images that I provided a cleanout and a pop hole. The coop will be connected to the run via a tunnel formed from hardware cloth and a ladder/ramp.

Enlarged photos here: http://www.gbdg.net/g2/main.php?g2_itemId=174&g2_page=10

Here's
some background, and I'm hoping to get some ideas. See below.

When you walk in the door, to the left will be a divider wall formed from plywood - probably 5'-6' tall. In that divider there will be a narrow door for entry to the coop area, doors for the nesting boxes, and a metal hog feeder which allows us to load 10# of feed.

The ceiling of the coop area will be framed strong enough to form a storage loft. That will allow at least 7' to the peak of the roof, and I suspect I'll place shelves up there for said storage.

A portion of the coop ceiling (loft floor) will be hinged so that in the summer we can open it for ventilation. There are windows on all sides and those will be operable within the coop area.

Inside the coop area we will have vinyl flooring covered with straw and/or shavings, and there will be a ladder perch thing above a screened poop-box. From outside one will be able to pull the poop-box out on drawer slides for cleaning.

Power has been provided to the shed, and the outlet in the coop area is operated by a built-in timer. That will allow operation of a light bulb for heating if things get way cold. (There's also a timer for the Xmas lights, a porch light and a motion-activated light to detect predators.)

With that said, and I know it's already a lot, I'm wondering what else? More perches? I guess a hanging waterer... What else? Toys? TV? Radio? (kidding) If I'm getting this silly with the thing, what are the niceties that spoiled birds will enjoy?


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The one thing I wish I had a little more room for was a brooder area for chicks. That way I wouldn't have to keep them in a rabbit hutch until they are old enough to go to the big coop. I have a small space I could use in the main coop but once they get a couple months old it would be to small. But I think you've done a great job so far. My coop was my daughter playhouse that wasn't finished so I was already limited on size from the start.
 
If I'm getting this silly with the thing, what are the niceties that spoiled birds will enjoy?

I'm not sure that it is niceties for chickens as much as it is ease and convenience for you. Sounds like a pretty good set up you have. Have you considered inside storage for food and an automatic watering system so you aren't always lugging water out there?

How about inside storage for food?

I like the idea of inside the coop brooder space. Having it divided with wire would allow the chickens to get used to each other before you actually put them together. I'm sure this would make it easier for you to integrate munches. You could also use the space for a broody if you needed to.
 
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Well, yes - the structure is large enough that between the area on the right as you walk in through the door, and the loft above the coop area, there will be storage space for bales of straw, food, etc.

I purchased (used) a 10x10x24" metal feeder. It opens at the top. I'm planning to mount it on the "person side" of the divider that encloses the coop area and cut an opening that allows the birds to get to the feed.

As for a waterer, I'm probably going to do the cookie tin thing. The automatic feeder calls for a constant water supply and I don't presently have water pulled to this location. Could have done it when we trenched for power, but we didn't think of that, so it will have to wait for next year. Also, it freezes hard here and if I do provide water to the coop, I'm going to have to deal with insulating the pipe that comes out of the ground.
 
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so what you are saying is to frame in a seperate caged area for them, inside the coop area but isolated by wire?

yes that way they can be seen by the big girls to make it easy to introduce them later on. I just use a small dog kennel now but it would be really nice to have nursery set up inside.
 
ok, here's my plan. All of this gets built tomorrow, so I'm hoping/interested in anyone's comments before we start carving up lumber.

The shed is 10x12 and there will be a divider down the middle. In the exterior photos you can see the chicken door, the cleanout door and the exterior door. So those elements in the image below, I hope, are self-explanitory.

The divider between the coop area and people area will be a 2x4 wall sheathed with plywood. An opening 28" wide will allow us access to the coop area for cleaning and such.

With the 4x4 roost/cleanout area and the 28" opening in the wall, there is less than 3' of remaining wall space.

We found a aluminum feeder on CL that opens at the top and can take several pounds of feed. The closest photo of the feeder I have found is this one except that it should be open at the bottom where the feed flows out.

This feeder will be installed adjacent to the door, then we will place nesting boxes to the right of that. With 9 birds, we plan to install 2 boxes above/below each other, and providing perches in front of each.

So... Comments??? Insults???


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Greg,
This looks great!! Have you considered making the door between the two sides a sliding door so as not to take up a bunch of extra floor space where you swing a door open?
 

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