What should I do with all this space?

[Gypsi]

I'll be uploading an image as soon as I get the camera pics copied. It wasn't Easter Sunday - it was Mother's Day, but I finally got my coop most of the way completed. I coated the interior surfaces with Kilz2 latex primer, and tacked the front wall on to keep the ladies out of the wet paint.

The floor will be covered with 45 mil epdm rubber, easy to take out and dump on a compost pile. I won't be using the deep bedding method. Not with a front wall that I plan to cut in half (actually 1/3 or 2/3, with the popdoor coming out of the bottom of the large door) for full access doors. But with the full access doors comes the problem: How do I mount my perches? I don't want to anchor them to the floor for support - will make the coop to hard to clean - either to the side or the roof. (roof isn't there yet, a pic is worth 1000 words..)

And how many perches do I need, I definitely have lots of space (4 ft by 5 ft with no feeding or nest boxes in the way) - for 7 chickens

Anyway, thanks for all the tips. Courtesy of the tips from here I have 3 nest boxes not inside the coop, and I will be keeping my old feeding station, my hens first home, the brooder box that I thought was big enough for a chicken coop. (My gals were very small when I got them)

Gypsi

 

[ChickenToes]

Nice coop!

I would put up 3 or 4 roosts on one wall.

 

[patandchickens]

For 7 chickens, 7-8' (linear feet) of roost space is plenty; you might build in more if you're considering more chickens in future or if you are concerned about Social Issues amongst your chickens.

Mount the roosts to the walls. I'm not totally grasping where they will go, but if they will go somewhere against/along MESH walls (you might consider replacing that chickenwire someday, it is not very predator-safe and dogs and raccoons can rip it right apart) then it is an AWFULLY good idea to put plywood or 1/4" hardwarecloth generously on ALL those parts of the walls (the region of wall that the ends of roost attach to, and any part of wall that runs within about 2-2.5' of the roost). Reason being, you do not want raccoons or etc reaching through to grab handfuls of live dinner when they're asleep on the roost. It happens. It's gruesome.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Gypsi]

Thanks for the replies.

The windows have 1/2 inch hardware cloth. I guess I could put the roosts along the back wall from side to side - then I wouldn't have an issue with opening the front doors because of roosts attached to them. The side windows are 10 inch by 23 inch, which leaves open space for about a foot along the back without having the chickens right next to a window, and below the windows as well. Someone said 8 inches apart at an angle so they can hop up them and the top ones don't excrete on the bottom ones? How far off the ground should the first roost be? I figure it would be toward the front, and I could angle up, so the high one is at the back but below the back window (which is 4 x 24 inches sitting high)

The run still has 1 inch chicken-wire, which my dogs could easily tear through if they were truly interested, but they are far more interested in walks, ball and staying in my good graces. I found homes for the 2 dogs I figured would hunt chickens before I got my chicks. The ones I kept do a good job of keeping critters out of the yard, although they do sleep in the house at night. Still takes a pretty brave critter to come in with all that fresh dog smell, and I have 6 ft privacy fence. I've bought heavy guage 2x4 fencing 5 ft tall, but don't yet have the staples to attach it to the run. I work a lot, help is in very short supply to even manipulate that roll.

Oh, do you think light blue semi-gloss interior paint will give the hens any issues? It should make a cleanable coat on the interior, and it's the only color and type of semi-gloss sitting in my garage at the moment.

Gypsi