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

[Sea Wolf]

Regardless of all the aforementioned suggestions, make it twice as big as you think you need.

 

[Spiritsmeadow]

I added on a nursery to my coop ~ a 6x6 room with a chicken wire door and roosts, so my young hens grow up first in a small trough, then running around and then roosting when they can jump/fly up onto the shelf. I do not ever use pole roosts, I raise heavy breeds and they love the wide shelves I provide. #1 thing I wish I had is, of course, more room for storage. My coop is 8x16 and I house 20-24 chickens and I built an enclosed yard with a chicken wire roof, and that is inside a large fenced yard full of bushes to provide shade and cover from predatory birds. Think big, build big...and make room for a chair so you can sit in there with them in the winter and talk about things! Good Luck!

 

[kubotafoot]

What would I want that I don't have? 1) More space. Over kill on square footage is grand.
Weighing in on floor conversation. Non concrete floor for me here. I ran chain link fence for the floor 3 inches below the floor elevation (got it real cheep ....FREE on the side of the road) covered it with crushed rock and sand. Use EM1....no muss, no fuss, no smell!!!

2)The last think I'd want is a potty for me! Nothing fancy......a small camp toilet would work, but a spot in the walk in pen for just that. Seems every time I walk out to the barn and start working, I need to hustle back fairly soon, and yes, I use the facilities BEFORE I trek to the barn. Could put it in a kind of closet/closed in shed corner to keep it clean and store all the tools I use daily/weekly for coop cleaning, liquid and powdered cleaners and sprays for the hens along with a safe rodent proof place to store feed. Things are organized and away, clean and safe and I'd just use a tiny spot of it for me! Just a wish.

 

[ptapat]

I have over 100degree summer days. My coop is insulated with door open during day and small window on opposite side of coop. Door is a heavier wire and closed at night.
I go in and out of coop during day to collect eggs. I is quite comfortable. We did add a thin metal across insulation because girls were having great time with foam board.

 

[Herbanfarmer]

I can give more than one. I live in the suburbs, have new hens, and when we got them as chicks we totally tore down and rebuilt our chicken setup. Because we'd had problems with rats and mice getting in the old run, we dug out the floor of the 8'x8' run and added 1/2" wire mesh to the entire bottom and then replaced with 4" of new dirt. The run is now completely enclosed with this mesh and no more pests! We also made it 4' tall, as the old one was 3' which made getting in there to clean really difficult. Added light colored corrugated plastic roofing which provides shade, and rain and snow just pour off the end. Replaced the old standard feeder with a rodent-proof metal one that has a pedal to open the top. It holds more food with no waste. Replaced the old standard waterer with a 3 gallon Premier heated waterer with side nipples. Bought a new Snap Lock coop, which is bigger than the old wooden one and it's absolutely amazing! We placed it on the opposite site of the run (the old coop would get buried with snow dropoff from our house's solar panels). The new coop is so easy to clean! We finally added a stationary "tractor" on the lawn and made a wire mesh tunnel from the run to the tractor. So with this new setup, we fixed multiple things that we didn't like about the old one.

 

[Colette Waddell]

Hi Peeps!
I'm planning a coop build and I'm hoping to take a few lessons from the BYC community before I start. So, please share one thing you wish you had included in your coop.
Thanking you!

I think I would have put in an easier way to provide water in my coop. If the weather is nasty outside my girls stay inside. I have a chain hanging down the middle where I can attach their food feeder, but I have to hang their waterer off one of the perches using bungee cords. It's a clumsy solution and sometimes leaves water on the coop floor.

 

[Folly's place]

Welcome! Nice rebuild too.
Mary

 

[ptapat]

We don’t have mice and rat problems anymore with 3 cats that are great hunters. The cats bring a kill of a small snake, mice or rats as we live in the country but not seeing any in immediate area of our house or chicken coop.

 

[Coop Z-ville]

Hi Peeps!
I'm planning a coop build and I'm hoping to take a few lessons from the BYC community before I start. So, please share one thing you wish you had included in your coop.
Thanking you!

One thing I would have included is larger overhanging eaves or gutters and downspouts. When I am collecting eggs (my nesting boxes stick out on the sides of the coop) and it is raining, my head gets wet. Also I get soaked when ice is melting off the coop roof.

 

[SandyK]

I absolutely love my coop. Bigger is always better and mine is already big. It would have been nice to have a separate area for babies and also hens who want to sit r to break them from sitting.

What I love about mine is electricity, running water including sink, auto poop door opener, brand new huge windows all around, porch where my girls can go when it rains or snows, under porch is great for dust baths, linoleum down on the floors makes it easy to clean, poop boards keeps the coop cleaner.

Good luck with your new coop!!