What would you have done differently?

[chickitychickity]

I would have made my enclosed run bigger. When they have to stay in, they get very bored. My solution was a temporary fence that I can move around, but this is not predator proof.

 

[Anime2lover]

Only thing id do differently is build broody boxes with separate little runs for my broody hens to safely hatch out chicks. Id probably put about 6 of them.

 

[debid]

Everything. My biggest frustration is that the run isn't hardware cloth so I am forever battling rodents and I fear the day that I find the mink have visited.

And ditto everyone who said build it much bigger than you think you need. The chickens won't mind the extra room and it's so much easier if you can, say, stand upright inside the coop. I'd love to have a place to store the feed where it's handy and the those chick supplies that are only used occasionally...

 

[Fatherdowling]

The one thing would have done different is to make the coop taller. A down sloping roof that goes from 5.5 feet to 4 feet works, but it would have been better if it was taller.

 

[Nardo]

I think I may have spent the time to make a really nice (and lightweight) mobile tractor. We have hawks and it is a tedious process to let the hens free range on our property and meanwhile I have to weed and hand pull grass from some places. I was not aware that there was another option rather than the traditional walled chicken coop. Now, my time is taken with other things (and the coop and run work out fine) so I doubt it'll ever make it to the top of my 'to do' list. But if my coop gets taken in a storm then I believe that I'll replace it with a tractor coop.

 

[danceswithronin]

I would not buy one of those cutesy prefabricated chicken coops from Sam's even though they are adorable, I would build my own large custom chicken coop right from the start and save myself the grand hassle of having to build everything twice.

Those prefabs are so shoddy and badly designed. The hinges are so weak I could wrench the doors right off the thing like the Hulk if I wanted. Plus they don't hold the amount of chickens they say they do. Mine held four bantam silkies barely last summer. Now that I have ten large standard fowl? GTFO.

 

[woodmort]

My coop is over 30 years old and still a work in progress--I added an automatic pop door, a corrugated, metal roof, electricity and an outdoor water hydrant in the years since I built it. Initially I should have made it bigger and enclosed all the walls and ceiling with hardware cloth to make it rodent proof. I have just rectified the latter and am starting on the former--adding an 8 X 12 section this summer. Also I'd have specifically made a small section that was inaccessible to the birds to hold feed barrels and supplies. Again I just rectified this but it took away from some of the interior room. Also I would not have located the manual pop door under the eaves--again I've moved it. My coop is built on a side-hill so the front is at grade and the back about 2 feet above ground. Although I laid cinder block around the base I should have built it on a slab or gone down a couple of feet with the block to prevent rats from tunneling under it.

Everything. My biggest frustration is that the run isn't hardware cloth so I am forever battling rodents and I fear the day that I find the mink have visited

I've had both a mink and weasel find their way through rat holes and savage my flock, hence the hardware cloth.

 

[Celticdragonfly]

Oh, where to begin! The floor to my coop is unsealed particle board. That'll get fixed this summer. Exterior nesting boxes would be awesome! But the biggest, worst, most horrible mistake, which I hate to confess, and hang my head in shame as I do, is this: there is no foundation under the building.

Help me learn from your mistake? I'm going to have a coop built for me this month, by the people from Little Coop on the Prairie
https://lccotp.wixsite.com/coops/coop-and-run-in-one
because there is no way I'm building my own, don't have the skills or the physical strength. We're currently planning a 6x12 overall, 6x4 coop. We're allowed to have 3 hens here officially, but I'm building for the 6 that I hope the state law goes through that will override the city restrictions.

What kind of foundation would there be? Would it be under the edge all around where the walls meet the ground? Are you talking about something that goes under the whole thing?

Our current plan is for the coop to be up at the half height, so that there will be more run under the coop that will be dark and shady - we're in north Texas, it gets HOT here. So the coop itself won't actually touch the ground.

Explain the foundation thing more?

Also, I saw people wishing they'd made their coop walk in - will I regret the half height thing?

Going to be following this with great intensity, as now is when I can make any changes. Already spending a LOT of money on this, hate to make it more, but want to get it right.

 

[21hens-incharge]

Help me learn from your mistake? I'm going to have a coop built for me this month, by the people from Little Coop on the Prairie
https://lccotp.wixsite.com/coops/coop-and-run-in-one
because there is no way I'm building my own, don't have the skills or the physical strength. We're currently planning a 6x12 overall, 6x4 coop. We're allowed to have 3 hens here officially, but I'm building for the 6 that I hope the state law goes through that will override the city restrictions.

What kind of foundation would there be? Would it be under the edge all around where the walls meet the ground? Are you talking about something that goes under the whole thing?

Our current plan is for the coop to be up at the half height, so that there will be more run under the coop that will be dark and shady - we're in north Texas, it gets HOT here. So the coop itself won't actually touch the ground.

Explain the foundation thing more?

Also, I saw people wishing they'd made their coop walk in - will I regret the half height thing?

Going to be following this with great intensity, as now is when I can make any changes. Already spending a LOT of money on this, hate to make it more, but want to get it right.

The only issues I had with a raised coop was not being able to easily access the underneath to fetch eggs or hens out.
Oh and being out in the cold or wet to clean it or tend birds.

If you have access panels built into your fencing getting things from under will be much easier.

 

[TropicalBabies]

LOTS. Higher fencing (flighty birds in and out), hardware cloth for coops (sleep better), smaller dimensional wire for run (chicks), bigger, bigger, bigger (happier hens) Broody/time out/intro boxes (peace). Completely enclosed run to keep from feeding every darn bird in the hood ($$$$ + disease). More shade, Lower nesting boxes= lower roosts (comfort, girls got fluffier and older and struggle with height) Will be modifying and expanding main coop and roost for more ease. I will also be adding a automatic door I saw @woodmort sharing nice! I built knowing things would be a work in progress because I had/have lots to learn, and also trying to conform a little with county ordinances or being able to modify quickly if busted.