Woods Fresh-Air coop build

[Beej7]

I’m starting this post to document, and get advice about the chicken coop I’ll be building this summer. This will be my first real construction project and I’ve got very little experience building anything really. But I’ve got a bunch of rough sawn red pine at my disposal and chickens that need a bigger and more winter appropriate coop, so I’m excited to get this project underway hopefully soon.

Some background information: We are in Michigan’s upper peninsula (USDA zone 3/4 border) and get feet of snow and temperatures as cold as -40F in the worst of winters. This coop is a (roughly) 100 year old design that I stumbled across somewhere online. I believe Prince T Woods was the original chicken keeper who came up with this design and utilized it in parts of the Northeastern US and some parts of Ontario. According to his book, chickens did exceptionally well with this open front coop built to his specifications and so we’re giving it a try. Heres a link to an online version of the book. We will be building the 6x10’ coop and primarily using it for winter.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924003138272&view=1up&seq=1&skin=2021

We’ve still got some snow on the ground and its mud season, so I wont be building for a bit. But I’m in the planning, sketching and asking questions phase so hopefully some of you will be able to help me with that if needed.

The site is pretty flat and has a decent amount of sun in the winter. The open front will face SSE. I’m going to build it on skids and I plan on using rough sawn red pine for as much of it as possible. I will probably either char the skids or coat them in some preservative poison but leave most of the rest of the wood untreated and rough most likely. Also thinking of putting the skids on some concreteblocks to keep them off the ground.

Some preliminary questions:

1. Theres quite a bit of buckthorn that’s growing in the area. Ive cut a lot of it down but that just makes it grow more. What would you all recommend, if anything, as far as keeping it at bay underneath the coop? I’m not sure if I should just set concrete blocks down, level them and build, or if I should dig little stumps up, lay gravel, compact it and then lay the blocks and start building. Also considering sheet mulching with cardboard first and then either gravel, sand or woodchips for brush suppression.

2. Would you all let your chickens underneath or not? I dont know if I should give it enough height to let them under (and provide good air flow) or keep it low enough to the ground that nothing but a weasel or rabbit could get under. I’d almost feel better with more space underneath than less.

Also, here are some other links to similar coops:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-6x10-woods-coop.1305803/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/woods-colony-house-portable.1104954/

 

[aart]

Would you all let your chickens underneath or not? I dont know if I should give it enough height to let them under (and provide good air flow) or keep it low enough to the ground that nothing but a weasel or rabbit could get under. I’d almost feel better with more space underneath than less.

With feet of snow you might want it higher rather than lower.
Keep in mind you need to be able to get under there if the chickens can,
to grab eggs or a broody or injured bird....not likely bit still.
You could always block it off with 1/2" HC to keep everything from getting under there.

The Woods is prefect for your climate, I look forward to watching your build.

 

[Beej7]

With feet of snow you might want it higher rather than lower.
Keep in mind you need to be able to get under there if the chickens can,
to grab eggs or a broody or injured bird....not likely bit still.
You could always block it off with 1/2" HC to keep everything from getting under there.

The Woods is prefect for your climate, I look forward to watching your build.

With our current coop, the chickens spend a lot of time underneath it. It’s about a foot off the ground and they have nice shade underneath in the summer. In the winter I block it up to about 16” off the ground and wall off 3 sides with hay bales to make a cave for them. The love it and never lay eggs underneath. But I suppose that can change! I’d hate to have to crawl through mud and shit to get a hen or eggs out! I just figured with it low to the ground, critters could dig underneath and be hard to stop. But if its a foot or more up, not much will feel too safe under there. Id hate to invite skunks, weasels, opossums or other predators to live directly under our coop!

 

[Auntiejessi3]

 

[Ted Brown]

Very good design choice.

I have a 10' by 16' Woods elevated 3'+ off the ground. The area below is adjacent to and part of my run. Strongly recommended!!

 

[Ktlyn 41]

Just finished building mine (6*10' build) a little over a month ago, it's a very satisfying build. I actually live in Southwest Michigan so hello from the Trolls . I started building mine in November And I can tell you his design works wonders. There were days where I was working out there and It was close to zero outside and I could work inside the coop without gloves . My best advice is make sure you build your window openings for the windows you have lol. I had gotten it into my head that I was going to follow his plans exactly and build my own windows and everything.... Yeah, my ambition was a bit bigger than my abilities to say the least. So I ended up having to reframe my window spots in the coop. Another trick I used is I used clear plastic sheeting, 3mil, to wrap the coop (like poor man's house wrap) before putting on my siding and roofing to cut down the drafts as much as possible and to try and prevent leaks. I used fence pickets, 1*6*6, to board up my coop though so there were plenty of small gaps that I wanted to have covered.

 

[gtaus]

I have an elevated coop, so nothing can dig underneath the coop and then into it. But I don't let my chickens go underneath the coop. IMHO, I must be able to access anywhere my chickens might go.

At my age, I don't want to be crawling around on my belly trying to pull out a dead or sick chicken, and I don't want to have to bend myself in half to clean out an area that the chickens may be littering with their poo.

I do like the idea of having a chicken coop elevated enough to provide shade for the chickens, and if you are limited in space available for the chicken run, then you gain all that space under the coop as more run area. I think it would work better with a small coop where it would be easy to clean out if you only had to reach in maybe a couple feet from any side, either with your hands or a rake. For a larger coop, I did not want to have to crawl underneath.

I suppose whether you decide to let your chickens under the coop will determine what method you will choose for growth suppression under the coop. Chickens are going to scratch up all the dirt, so I would lay down a nice layer of wood chips and clean and maintain as neccessary. If you don't let your birds under the coop, then maybe some good quality weed blocker mat and something on top (sand?) to keep it down.

FWIW, I think the best litter to go inside the coop is to have a deep bedding/litter system. I only clean out my coop twice a year, once in the spring after the snow melts, and then right before the snow starts in late fall. I could probably easily get by with only cleaning out the coop in the spring, but I am using the spent coop litter for making compost. I think you will find that frozen poo is as hard as concrete, and you probably will not be cleaning out your coop during the cold winter months.

Everyone I know around here uses dry deep bedding in their coops. I start off with maybe 3 inches of litter in the fall, and then add additional litter throughout the winter to cover the poo and keep the coop looking clean and smelling fresh. By spring, I might have 10-12 inches of litter in the coop. With deep bedding, the chicken poo mostly automagically disappears into the deep bedding. I designed my coop floor to hold up to 12 inches of litter because I wanted to use deep bedding from the start.

I can get all the free wood chips I want from our local county landfill and that worked great for me the past two winters. This winter, I used paper shreds I shred at home and that has worked out really well. I am a big believer in using as much free resources you can because those "free" eggs will cost a lot of money if you don't watch out how much you spend on your setup and maintenance.

I have heard good things about the Woods coop design, so I hope you come back and start a thread on your build and share your progress.

 

[Beej7]

Very good design choice.

I have a 10' by 16' Woods elevated 3'+ off the ground. The area below is adjacent to and part of my run. Strongly recommended!!

Couple questions for you:
1. Is your coop on skids, piers or how is it elevated?
2. What did you do underneath it? I mean, landscape fabric, mulch, plastic, gravel or just plain old yard underneath?

 

[Beej7]

Just finished building mine (6*10' build) a little over a month ago, it's a very satisfying build. I actually live in Southwest Michigan so hello from the Trolls . I started building mine in November And I can tell you his design works wonders. There were days where I was working out there and It was close to zero outside and I could work inside the coop without gloves . My best advice is make sure you build your window openings for the windows you have lol. I had gotten it into my head that I was going to follow his plans exactly and build my own windows and everything.... Yeah, my ambition was a bit bigger than my abilities to say the least. So I ended up having to reframe my window spots in the coop. Another trick I used is I used clear plastic sheeting, 3mil, to wrap the coop (like poor man's house wrap) before putting on my siding and roofing to cut down the drafts as much as possible and to try and prevent leaks. I used fence pickets, 1*6*6, to board up my coop though so there were plenty of small gaps that I wanted to have covered.

So, based off of what you said, should I go window hunting before I even start framing the walls? I assumed that windows would be something to consider towards the end but I see what you mean and how that could be a problem. Also on the topic of windows, do you have any in the back half or just the 2 windows in the front “scratch shed” part?

And just making sure Im understanding this right, but you wrapped your coop in plastic and then used 1x6” boards as siding over the plastic?

 

[Beej7]

I have an elevated coop, so nothing can dig underneath the coop and then into it. But I don't let my chickens go underneath the coop. IMHO, I must be able to access anywhere my chickens might go.

At my age, I don't want to be crawling around on my belly trying to pull out a dead or sick chicken, and I don't want to have to bend myself in half to clean out an area that the chickens may be littering with their poo.

I do like the idea of having a chicken coop elevated enough to provide shade for the chickens, and if you are limited in space available for the chicken run, then you gain all that space under the coop as more run area. I think it would work better with a small coop where it would be easy to clean out if you only had to reach in maybe a couple feet from any side, either with your hands or a rake. For a larger coop, I did not want to have to crawl underneath.

I suppose whether you decide to let your chickens under the coop will determine what method you will choose for growth suppression under the coop. Chickens are going to scratch up all the dirt, so I would lay down a nice layer of wood chips and clean and maintain as neccessary. If you don't let your birds under the coop, then maybe some good quality weed blocker mat and something on top (sand?) to keep it down.

FWIW, I think the best litter to go inside the coop is to have a deep bedding/litter system. I only clean out my coop twice a year, once in the spring after the snow melts, and then right before the snow starts in late fall. I could probably easily get by with only cleaning out the coop in the spring, but I am using the spent coop litter for making compost. I think you will find that frozen poo is as hard as concrete, and you probably will not be cleaning out your coop during the cold winter months.

Everyone I know around here uses dry deep bedding in their coops. I start off with maybe 3 inches of litter in the fall, and then add additional litter throughout the winter to cover the poo and keep the coop looking clean and smelling fresh. By spring, I might have 10-12 inches of litter in the coop. With deep bedding, the chicken poo mostly automagically disappears into the deep bedding. I designed my coop floor to hold up to 12 inches of litter because I wanted to use deep bedding from the start.

I can get all the free wood chips I want from our local county landfill and that worked great for me the past two winters. This winter, I used paper shreds I shred at home and that has worked out really well. I am a big believer in using as much free resources you can because those "free" eggs will cost a lot of money if you don't watch out how much you spend on your setup and maintenance.

I have heard good things about the Woods coop design, so I hope you come back and start a thread on your build and share your progress.

With our current coop, the chickens hang out underneath all the time. They never lay eggs under there so I’ve been fortunate, but its only 4x8’ so not a huge problem if I did have to reach under. Run space isnt an issue as they are practically free range with the amount of space I give them. So with that in mind, they really wont NEED that space. I just feel like keeping critters out from under it might me more of a hassle than the occasional chicken problem underneath, but I could definitely be wrong. If I dont let them under, then I’ll probably layer cardboard and then gravel or sand. If I do let them under, I might just leave the ground as is for them and monitor the growth of weeds and brush to see if I need to do something about it.

I learned about deep litter shortly after finishing our current coop (which wont allow deep litter). I intend on deep litter for the new coop but am still wondering how to account for that with the design process. Also wondering what to put on the floor between the wood and the litter. Maybe linoleum?

I also make great use of free resources. Ive actually got a list titled “freesources” with all the free resources I’ve found in the area. Woodchips, shredded paper, pine needles and leaves are all unlimited and free!