What's the difference?

[fiddlebanshee]

Quote: Not necessarily My second coop is 10x14 and is raised at least 2 ft off the ground at the lowest spot and 3 ft at the highest. It is 7 ft tall (above the amount that it is raised) and is walk-in. I just made steps that go up to the people door. My design was dictated by the terrain which is not level, and the fact I wanted to give them space under the coop. I screened off the area under the coop to become part of the run, so now they have an additional 10x14 ft space to run in. They actually prefer being under the coop on many days, in spite of having an additional area of 7x16 next to he coop.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I'm with fiddlebanshee, my birds are almost constantly under the coop excepting early morning sunning or dust bathing.

Having a coop raised keeps rodents at bay and if in a snow belt adds longevity to the coop. Also I'll likely never have a walk in coop so it does make cleaning and egg collecting easy as I don't ever bend over- external nest box and large clean out door to shovel out the liter.

 

[madicakes]

Not necessarily My second coop is 10x14 and is raised at least 2 ft off the ground at the lowest spot and 3 ft at the highest. It is 7 ft tall (above the amount that it is raised) and is walk-in. I just made steps that go up to the people door. My design was dictated by the terrain which is not level, and the fact I wanted to give them space under the coop. I screened off the area under the coop to become part of the run, so now they have an additional 10x14 ft space to run in. They actually prefer being under the coop on many days, in spite of having an additional area of 7x16 next to he coop.

Fiddlebanshee. I am so glad to see your post. I am planning on building an 8'x7' coop, and raising it off of the ground 2 feet, with steps leading up to the door so that I can walk in. I want to get the most run space on the least amount of land, using the least amount of hardware cloth The shed plans that I am using are for a barn-style shed that sits 8' high at the tallest part of the gambrel roof. I'm guessing that will be okay. I can always shorten the walls a foot or two if it would be too tall as is. I was wondering if it was something that others had done. I figured, if they can build houses on stilts then a chicken coop should be okay. What did you use for the posts and framework on the base of the coop?

 

[Sonya9]

My design was dictated by the terrain which is not level, and the fact I wanted to give them space under the coop.

As mentioned you wanted to give them the space UNDER the coop.

 

[debid]

There are pros and cons for both ways. We went with a 4x8 coop for maximizing bang for the buck (standard lumber sizes lend themselves to dimensions divisible by four) intending to have six chickens... which turned into ten. I raised the coop 2' for ease of cleaning and because a small gap underneath would be a red carpet for rodents. I would do it again. I based the height on my wheelbarrow. I put the wheelbarrow by the doors and use a pushbroom to sweep dirty litter out. The 4' sides are all door so it really opens up. I don't go inside except for periodic scrubbing (and I generally have the kids do that). Eggs are collected via a door on one of the long sides and food/water are positioned for easy access from the side doors. The space under the coop is a favorite dust bath area. Works for us.

 

[fiddlebanshee]

We used the square concrete footer blocks that have the space for a 4x4 in them. Then we put 4x4 in them and leveled them off with a 2x6 frame, which became the deck for the floor. We had quite a bit of drop on the site in all directions so all four posts were a different length. The joy of living on a mountain!

 

[debid]

We used the square concrete footer blocks that have the space for a 4x4 in them. Then we put 4x4 in them and leveled them off with a 2x6 frame, which became the deck for the floor. We had quite a bit of drop on the site in all directions so all four posts were a different length. The joy of living on a mountain!

Yeah, we have a pretty good slope here and boulders everywhere so two legs are on rock, two are on footer blocks dug down with a bit of gravel to level. The run was a big challenge... You do what you have to do! We basically built a stand and then put the building on it.

 

[jonsccm]

Smart ideas! OKnev are we helping at all? I thought I had it pretty good but now I'm thinking some of these others are not to bad! Let us know what you end up doing.

 

[madicakes]

We used the square concrete footer blocks that have the space for a 4x4 in them. Then we put 4x4 in them and leveled them off with a 2x6 frame, which became the deck for the floor. We had quite a bit of drop on the site in all directions so all four posts were a different length. The joy of living on a mountain!

I live on a mountain too....not too far from you actually, and this is what we were planning on doing to level our floor, so ours will be a minimum of 2' high in some spots, and higher in others. Nice to hear of it working for others!

 

[AtholCoop]

Didn't see it mentioned so just another data point. Mine are raised off the ground because I don't need one more thing to dig the snow out from around. With the doors a couple feet off the ground I almost never have to dig out just to open the door.

Since you're looking at 4-6 birds.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/small-coop-tutorial

This stretches nicely to a 4x8 I've built several including both of mine as 4x8.