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

[jgarner1327]

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 would like an electric hatch opener from the coop to the run so I could operate it from outside.

 

[Carol McLaine]

I agree about the smell but due to rat and predator problems I have found the concrete helps keep my birds safer in the long run. The foxes and raccoon used to just dig holes into my coop to steal my birds.

hardware cloth around the rim helps keep predators from digging. At least so far for me.

 

[Russ Kiddy]

What ever else you do, make it tall enough to stand up in. That will make everything else that has to be done inside easier.

 

[BantyChooks]

I already knew what I wanted when I built my 12 x 12 walk-in coop, so all of the below features are included in mine. They've worked quite well.

1. Removable roosts.
2. Nest boxes that are easy to clean, remove, and treat against lice and mites.
3. An area where chickens can't reach to store supplies, medication, lumber, etcetera. A separate area for feed is also quite nice.
4. A frame around the windows that nails can be driven into. This makes winterizing the coop quick and easy.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Light switches.
I've built lots of coops and the first ones didn't have enough and large enough open windows. They all have huge ventilation now.

 

[BantyChooks]

Light switches.
I've built lots of coops and the first ones didn't have enough and large enough open windows. They all have huge ventilation now.

I have solar powered lights in my coop that run off the excess produced for powering the goat fence. They have been most useful.

 

[msmidwick]

My pen area is dirt and the coops are raised 3' off the ground, on stilts, so the hens can get under it for shade and cool. Every air vent has chicken wire over it. But, the whole perimeter has an apron of cement about 2' wide and 2" deep and fencing wire up the sides 4' high, then the chicken wire up to 6' attached to 4x4s. We put a 4x4 in the middle of the pen and draped nylon netting over the entire pen to keep the hawks and squirrels out. We had a opossum once but I had left the door to the pen open for about 2 hrs after dark. We have had no other predators harm our hens. I cannot keep the snakes out, but they eat a couple eggs and that's it. The hens let me know when there is a snake in the coop and my husband removes them for me! I hate snakes!!!

 

[Parront]

The one thing I will be doing on my next coop that I did not do before will be using electric fence. More of my birds would have lived if I had learned about that sooner.

 

[Folly's place]

My coop isn't situated where an electric fence could be added, and that's not best. The coop works great otherwise, but fencing a big area would be nice.
Mary

 

[merrymutts]

If I was going to build a new coop, I would include solar powered ventilation fans that automatically open and close with the temperature. I would also want automatic waterers and more outdoor roosts