Wichita Style Chicken Coop - In Progress Now! Design Ideas Welcome!

[Lazarus718]

Just wanted to get my thread going on my coop design. My wife and I chose to build a "Wichita Cabin" style coop since it will be in the center of our backyard and we felt that design offered a great deal of functionality as well as is aesthetically pleasing. Construction on the coop started two weekends ago but was limited to mostly the weekend since I have a busy schedule. It is taking longer than planned like others have mentioned but I am sitting well within budget which means the time I spent drawing the design by hand is paying off on my estimate.

Tonight I am going to post you all up a photo of where the design is at currently. Once it is completed I'll get a whole reel of the process and you can watch it start to finish. Still have to cover the egg box, put two sides on the hen house, cut a window into the front door of the hen house, build the "human" door into the run, figure out the chicken trap door, build the ramp, put on the wiring to the run, fill the thing up with play sand, trim out pieces here and there, and the wife gets to paint (she got to spend Labor Day Weekend down at the lake, I put 20 hrs into this). Our girls are ready for their new home! Here is our version of the Wichita Cabin coop design.

 

[chicksbunsdog]

Looking great - I love the Wichita Coop Design! I still don't know why I didn't go with that when we started building our coop, though, I like our coop too. I just wish we did a covered run. Good luck with the rest of your project.

 

[Wissa38]

We built this style of coop and love it. We did end up with a large attached, uncovered run as well. The large, off the ground door is great for cleaning out the hen house.

In the winter we put up boards around the bottom under the hen house to give the girls a wind break. Works great.

On sunny,warm days we actually leave the large door propped open to air the place out. The girls use a cement block near the door to hop in and out rather than going around and entering in via the coop door.

Good luck!

 

[Lazarus718]

Looking great - I love the Wichita Coop Design! I still don't know why I didn't go with that when we started building our coop, though, I like our coop too. I just wish we did a covered run. Good luck with the rest of your project.

I was looking at the pictures of yours, you could definitely attach a covered run to your coop. I liked the paint job, my wife is still figuring out colors for ours. Thanks for commenting =]

 

[Lazarus718]

We built this style of coop and love it. We did end up with a large attached, uncovered run as well. The large, off the ground door is great for cleaning out the hen house.

In the winter we put up boards around the bottom under the hen house to give the girls a wind break. Works great.

On sunny,warm days we actually leave the large door propped open to air the place out. The girls use a cement block near the door to hop in and out rather than going around and entering in via the coop door.

Good luck!

The board idea is a good one, I have seen that on other coops before and I might either do that or staple plastic down in spots during the winter. The coop has fairly good protection from the north and west due to the fences but if we get the winds out of the south they can get fairly bone chilling. I have to figure out my venting on the hen house still as well...my thought was to bore out some holes with either a hole saw or a bit then fasten a track to the backside with a wooden sliding door so that I can adjust how much airflow is entering and exiting. Every time I start working on the thing again I come up with a new idea on something to add.

 

[chicksbunsdog]

I was looking at the pictures of yours, you could definitely attach a covered run to your coop. I liked the paint job, my wife is still figuring out colors for ours. Thanks for commenting =]

Another project to add to my list! I thought of that too and we just may if the run gets too yucky with rain/snow,etc. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to build a portable tractor with one of our little red wagons so that I can bring the chickens around the yard for foraging. The list seems to grow longer and longer...

 

[TROPIC HENS]

Your coop is looking great! Did you use T1-11 for your siding? Mine is still a work in progress. I'm also drawing pencil sketches as I go along. I'm actually considering doing the hens' door on the bottom of the coop instead of the side. I figured that should keep a lot of the rain water out and the coop dryer. We get a lot of rain with gusts down here.

 

[Mass Mike]

very nicely done. We used a Wichita-style design when we built ours. My one suggestion would be with the run roosts....we built diagonal roosts along with the one high width-wide roost to make it easier for us to get in the run to clean/feed/water without maneuvering an obstacle course in there. Also, I ended up making the high roost removable...I found that at night the girls would hang out up there instead of going into the coop and I'd have to take them, wake them up, and put them in by hand(we like to lock our hens in at night....lots of predators 'round here)...now, I go out at dusk and take the run down and by nightfall they are all safe and sound inside and I just drop the coop>run door (using a pulley system, rope, and boat cleat). You can see the roosts and the rope/cleat in the pic below. Good luck with the rest of the build....it looks great!!

 

[Lazarus718]

very nicely done. We used a Wichita-style design when we built ours. My one suggestion would be with the run roosts....we built diagonal roosts along with the one high width-wide roost to make it easier for us to get in the run to clean/feed/water without maneuvering an obstacle course in there. Also, I ended up making the high roost removable...I found that at night the girls would hang out up there instead of going into the coop and I'd have to take them, wake them up, and put them in by hand(we like to lock our hens in at night....lots of predators 'round here)...now, I go out at dusk and take the run down and by nightfall they are all safe and sound inside and I just drop the coop>run door (using a pulley system, rope, and boat cleat). You can see the roosts and the rope/cleat in the pic below. Good luck with the rest of the build....it looks great!!

With you on the run roosts...was already planning on adding two at different heights. That's good to know about the tall roost that you had problems with the chickens staying up there all night instead of going inside the house. I'll keep that in mind when I am mounting mine. I'll bring back some pine branches next time I'm out in the woods and use those. That Wichita Cabin design in my book is a real winner. Very functional and nice to look at, you did a great job with yours!

 

[Lazarus718]

Your coop is looking great! Did you use T1-11 for your siding? Mine is still a work in progress. I'm also drawing pencil sketches as I go along. I'm actually considering doing the hens' door on the bottom of the coop instead of the side. I figured that should keep a lot of the rain water out and the coop dryer. We get a lot of rain with gusts down here.

Not sure what the designation on the siding is, I got it because I liked the look of it. I'm hoping the thing will be warm enough for them in the winter. I know people that keep theirs in things that have just been thrown together with scraps, so they should be alright. It should be completed by Sunday! Stay tuned!