Woods Open Air Coop Design - Amish Built

[Howard E]

This is the sketch I drew from which I built my Woods house. If you show this to your builders, it should clear things up.

Note.....with an 8' height to the monitor, my back wall height is 56 inches.......or 4'8".

BTW, I started my roost height out at about 36 inches but eventually moved it up higher, as the birds could see the top plate of the back wall framing and kept hurling themselves at it so as to try to get higher. So I moved it up to about 48" or 4 feet, and up that high, they could see there was no place to land so quit trying.

Roost bars must be higher than the nest boxes. Nest boxes should have at least 45 degree sloped roof so that can't perch up there.

 

[Jenny Loves Chickies]

This is the sketch I drew from which I built my Woods house. If you show this to your builders, it should clear things up.

Note.....with an 8' height to the monitor, my back wall height is 56 inches.......or 4'8".

BTW, I started my roost height out at about 36 inches but eventually moved it up higher, as the birds could see the top plate of the back wall framing and kept hurling themselves at it so as to try to get higher. So I moved it up to about 48" or 4 feet, and up that high, they could see there was no place to land so quit trying.

Roost bars must be higher than the nest boxes. Nest boxes should have at least 45 degree sloped roof so that can't perch up there.



View attachment 1279877

Thank you so much for this and great job!!! That makes complete sense now. And great tip on the nest boxes and not being higher than the roost bars. I just spoke with them today and they already built the frame - more pictures soon to come I can't wait!!!! Neither can my chicks

 

[Howard E]

This picture shows nest boxes in relation to roost bars. Roost bars are 2 x 2 and both are level to each other (NO LADDERS!)



Nest boxes are 14" x 14" with 1 x 4 on front to create lip to hold in nest material. Nest boxes are not permanently mounted.....they only rest on the wall brackets, so they can be removed for cleaning. Bottoms are not solid.....they are 1/2" x 1" welded wire.....so any droppings, dirt, dust, broken eggs, etc. fall through the bottom to the floor. One age old solution for dealing with nest mites was to remove the nest boxes if need be and pass them over a fire to fry their sorry little butts. Wire bottoms enable you to do that.

When birds were young, I put a hay bale in there to create an elevated platform of sorts to enable them an easy hop to the roost bars or to the nest boxes. Most use it for the nests......only half of them use it to fly up to the roosts.

Birds roost on the ends in the corners. Either all of them in one corner or sometimes 1 or 2 will split off and move to the other side. When they go to roost there is about the same level of drama as you might find on an 8th grade pom squad......and it often resembles a rugby scrum.

 

[Jenny Loves Chickies]

This picture shows nest boxes in relation to roost bars. Roost bars are 2 x 2 and both are level to each other (NO LADDERS!)

View attachment 1288040

Nest boxes are 14" x 14" with 1 x 4 on front to create lip to hold in nest material. Nest boxes are not permanently mounted.....they only rest on the wall brackets, so they can be removed for cleaning. Bottoms are not solid.....they are 1/2" x 1" welded wire.....so any droppings, dirt, dust, broken eggs, etc. fall through the bottom to the floor. One age old solution for dealing with nest mites was to remove the nest boxes if need be and pass them over a fire to fry their sorry little butts. Wire bottoms enable you to do that.

When birds were young, I put a hay bale in there to create an elevated platform of sorts to enable them an easy hop to the roost bars or to the nest boxes. Most use it for the nests......only half of them use it to fly up to the roosts.

Birds roost on the ends in the corners. Either all of them in one corner or sometimes 1 or 2 will split off and move to the other side. When they go to roost there is about the same level of drama as you might find on an 8th grade pom squad......and it often resembles a rugby scrum.

Thank you thank you thank you!!! This is so helpful! Any thoughts on how much of an overhang to have on the roof?

 

[aart]

Any thoughts on how much of an overhang to have on the roof?

The more the better IMO......well, within reason...
12-18" would be good......and all the way around!

12" looks good here, eh?
Helps protect the windows, vents, and me at the door in the rain.

 

[Howard E]

On my house, I used 6" overhangs off the roof edges.......front, back and the monitor. On the sides, since the house was 8' wide and I was using 8' plywood decking, I have no side overhangs. Actually to have any at all, I had to reduce overall width from 8' (96 inches) to 93 inches......that left barely enough overhang on the back roof edge for drip edge and a piece of 3/4" trim. So all sideways framing (sills, plates, monitor framing, etc) in the 8' width had to be trimmed from 96 inches to 93 inches. Leaving perfectly good lumber scraps on the ground.....and doing so intentionally.....kinda sucked, but that is what I had to do.

BTW, one other change I made was to use opaque poly roofing over the front scratch shed. This blocks something like 80% of the sunlight.....so it lets in ample light, but not the heat. Makes it light and bright inside and so far has not been damaged by hail or wind. Get the premium stuff. You are not buying much of it so cost is not a serious issue.

Same stuff pole barn builders use as skylights on a pole barn will work fine.

 

[JackE]

My coop has 6" eaves(As the book called for), off of the front and back. No eave over the monitor windows,(Don't want to shade them, want all available light in the coop) and none off of the sides. I did not cut down my floor's 4X8' plywood at all. Put down the full sheets, placed the wall frames right on top of that, them used full sheets for the roof. The only overhang is an inch or so, of shingles.

 

[Jenny Loves Chickies]

My coop has 6" eaves(As the book called for), off of the front and back. No eave over the monitor windows,(Don't want to shade them, want all available light in the coop) and none off of the sides. I did not cut down my floor's 4X8' plywood at all. Put down the full sheets, placed the wall frames right on top of that, them used full sheets for the roof. The only overhang is an inch or so, of shingles.

Thank you! I was trying to find in the book where it specified the eaves and I couldn’t. So just eaves on front and back, do you regret not having any eaves on the door side or not a bid deal?

 

[squadleader]

I'm with @aart on this one, eaves everywhere, the wider the better.

Keeping moisture off the structure, slows down rot, and extends its life. If the eaves are wide enough, they allow you to open your windows, even in the rain, without wetting your bedding or the building framing.

Eaves will have no negative effect on the Woods system, only a positive effect on the durability of the structure itself.

Eaves will never block winter sun, which is warmth you want, because the sun is too low in the sky, the sun is coming in sideways in winter, not from above.

Summer is the opposite, the sun is directly overhead, so eaves keep the hot summer sun out.

It's inexpensive and easy to overrun the sidewalls and create eaves, so considering all the benefits, I would.

I've read Woods book, he has a great system, which he was proposing for mass adoption. He wanted to keep it as simple, and inexpensive, to implement as possible, to have a larger appeal, he stressed how inexpensive his houses were to build.

Adding eaves increases the cost and trouble a little bit, isn't necessary for his ventilation system to work properly (the main point of his book), but does offer extra benefits to the owner. As expensive as building things is today, personally I'll spend a little extra upfront, while it's easy to do, to head off long term maintenance issues like rot.

I'd also keep everything salt treated, again it'll last longer.

Anything on the south face of the structure is going to face a lot more weathering than the other sides of the building, because it gets more UV, so the monitor windows, and its framing, is a weak point, because of that UV and moisture degradation, and the fact there's a good chance the framing wood is lighter and less able to stand that assault over the years. Keeping the moisture, and the summer UV off them with eaves will extend their lives.

I've spent most of my career selling land in the country, go look at any old barn, there's significantly, and very noticeably more, UV damage on the south sides of those buildings, with siding boards cracked and curling, and that's with significantly better wood than we have available today.

The wood in those days was old slow growing, first growth wood, denser than the fast growing yellow pine we use so much today.

I'm a huge fan of the Woods design, in my opinion it's the very best design in looks and functionality. You're making a very good choice selecting it. @JackE and @Howard E have done a tremendous service to this community, by building, and sharing with us the Woods concept. They've both spent a great deal of time and effort, helping others understand the concept, people like that, make this board great.

People attracted to the Woods design aren't slap dash people, they want the best design possible, eaves improve the functionality and durability of the design. You're going to have a significant investment in a coop as nice as a Woods, protect it with eaves.

 

[Jenny Loves Chickies]

I'm with @aart on this one, eaves everywhere, the wider the better.

Keeping moisture off the structure, slows down rot, and extends its life. If the eaves are wide enough, they allow you to open your windows, even in the rain, without wetting your bedding or the building framing.

Eaves will have no negative effect on the Woods system, only a positive effect on the durability of the structure itself.

Eaves will never block winter sun, which is warmth you want, because the sun is too low in the sky, the sun is coming in sideways in winter, not from above.

Summer is the opposite, the sun is directly overhead, so eaves keep the hot summer sun out.

It's inexpensive and easy to overrun the sidewalls and create eaves, so considering all the benefits, I would.

I've read Woods book, he has a great system, which he was proposing for mass adoption. He wanted to keep it as simple, and inexpensive, to implement as possible, to have a larger appeal, he stressed how inexpensive his houses were to build.

Adding eaves increases the cost and trouble a little bit, isn't necessary for his ventilation system to work properly (the main point of his book), but does offer extra benefits to the owner. As expensive as building things is today, personally I'll spend a little extra upfront, while it's easy to do, to head off long term maintenance issues like rot.

I'd also keep everything salt treated, again it'll last longer.

Anything on the south face of the structure is going to face a lot more weathering than the other sides of the building, because it gets more UV, so the monitor windows, and its framing, is a weak point, because of that UV and moisture degradation, and the fact there's a good chance the framing wood is lighter and less able to stand that assault over the years. Keeping the moisture, and the summer UV off them with eaves will extend their lives.

I've spent most of my career selling land in the country, go look at any old barn, there's significantly, and very noticeably more, UV damage on the south sides of those buildings, with siding boards cracked and curling, and that's with significantly better wood than we have available today.

The wood in those days was old slow growing, first growth wood, denser than the fast growing yellow pine we use so much today.

I'm a huge fan of the Woods design, in my opinion it's the very best design in looks and functionality. You're making a very good choice selecting it. @JackE and @Howard E have done a tremendous service to this community, by building, and sharing with us the Woods concept. They've both spent a great deal of time and effort, helping others understand the concept, people like that, make this board great.

People attracted to the Woods design aren't slap dash people, they want the best design possible, eaves improve the functionality and durability of the design. You're going to have a significant investment in a coop as nice as a Woods, protect it with eaves.

Thank you so much for your reply, it makes a lot of sense to me. I talked to the Amish about it this morning and we are going with 6 inches and a drip edge, it should be done this weekend I really can't wait!!! I too agree about @JackE and @Howard E, @WthrLady and all the others that have shared their Woods coop journeys with us. I just love the support I get on this forum.