What's the one thing you wish you had included in your coop?

[fldiver97]

Coop #3 has most of what I found helpful after a few years.... freezing water is annoying but manageable. I have big pavers, 16x16 all around the coop and run and the coop is a few inches off the ground with a solid floor. The run has a dirt floor. Nothing has gotten in: dug in/under, roof is solid and 1/2 inch hardware cloth on entire run sandwiched between wood so it can’t be pulled off. My previous run had a skirt of hardware cloth buried around perimeter but for my current one I decided to use pavers. Poop board at a comfortable level makes cleaning easy. Solar light in case I have to go in after dark. Bears are not around here so I think I have it covered

 

[jlwquilter]

I've just realised I should make the human door wide enough for the wheelbarrow so cleaning out is easier.

I’m did this. My north doors are huge. Hubby was scratching his head over the width I wanted. But I am so happy every single day I have those big doors! So easy to wheelbarrow sand in, rake poop out, carry stuff and not bang my hands or shoulders, etc.

 

[Chef JimmyJ]

Dutch Doors are nice to toss in treats and dinner scraps, without risking opening the run or coop door and chasing escapees...JJ

 

[Aussie-Chookmum]

Perhaps a "poop door" at floor level in the wall against the roosts. Wide enough to get a rake in easily and drag dirty litter outside.

 

[jlwquilter]

Dutch Doors are nice to toss in treats and dinner scraps, without risking opening the run or coop door and chasing escapees...JJ

The free prefab coop I was given that the leghorns are now in came with a Dutch main door. It’s very handy for exactly the reasons you stated. The leghorns are not happy with their new home yet. They’ve flown up to try to get out on my husband more than once the past few days (it’s a new move for them). They don’t do that to me funny enough. But with the Dutch door it was easy for him to block them.

 

[aart]

Solid roof on run, for shade and snow.

 

[HuffleClaw]

A run.
My biggest coop has no run. Then again those girls do get to free range often, so it’s not a HUGE deal... but would be nice to have.

 

[jreardon1918]

I spent a long time planning the coop. My brother did most of the building. It had served us well. But, i wish i spent more time planning the run. Both have worked out. Planning both would have given us a better "finished" product. The birds shown a lot of time in the run.

 

[MaryJanet]

I'm planning to keep 9-12 chooks at a time, with a new pair joining every 2-3 years. I'm thinking of coop + run of 20-24m2. It'll be rooved to prevent hawks and I'll put down a paved apron to deter digging. We don't have hardware cloth in Australia (that I know of) but we do have panels of galvanized mesh, quite heavy gauge and with small apertures. I'll be making walls and half the roof from these panels. I plan a long wall down the middle of the run for separating new birds. I'll put a little prefab coop in that side for nesting and roosting. The other side will have access the big coop. Usually the flock will be able to use both sides of the run.

 

[Uff Da]

You can sometimes keep hoses and pipes from freezing by allowing them to leak a little. We had a cold snap of -20C the winter I decided it was time to move somewhere warmer again, I had a leaky bathroom faucet, just a drip every 2 or 3 seconds. I was one of the few people in town with any running water (no heat tape or insulation under the mobile home I was renting back then)

Yes, we use the leak trick too, but -20C is just regular winter cold here--our cold snaps are -40C or so. Leaky hoses don't cut it at that cold.