Woods coop dimension questions

[HomeSlice]

Hey everybody. I'm pretty new here, though I've been reading quite a bit. I bought the :Fresh Air Poultry Houses" book, and we're considering building a 16x10 woods-style coop. I know the dimensions for this design are pretty important, and the 16x10 should fit well where we want to put it.

I'm curious about the height, however. The drawing on page 45 has the front at 4'3" and the rear wall at 4'6". Is there any harm in making the front and back, and consequently the center, one foot to 18" taller? I'd like to be able to stand up inside, and 4ft seems a little short for me.

If we do this, should we make the front windows, and the side windows each a foot taller as well?

Thanks for looking...

 

[JackE]

You would find that there is no problem as it is. The front section is almost 6' tall at the back of it, and you are not going to go all the way to the front much anyway. I just duck in there to access the feed storage can, and top off the oystershell bin. I've found that it's not any kind of inconvenience at all. As for the rear wall height. Because of the sharp roof pitch, as the roof height over the top of the monitor section is almost 9' high, there is no problem with headroom. The back section is where the roosts are, so again, you are not going to be back in there much anyway. When the roost bars are removed for cleaning, there's plenty of room, unless you are over 7' tall. There is, around the middle of the book, a revised plan for the Woods. And if I remember correctly, the front and rear wall heights are a bit taller. Not much, but a bit taller. But, unless you are a giant, I'm 6' and have no problem, the coop is fine as designed.