Woods-style house in the winter

[FiveHens]

Very nice coop. I'm impressed! It looks so airy and spacious. Do you have to clean all the dirty shavings out through that door? It looks a little small..

 

[JackE]

Very nice coop. I'm impressed! It looks so airy and spacious. Do you have to clean all the dirty shavings out through that door? It looks a little small..

Thanks, it IS very airy and roomy. The door is 2.5'X5', plenty of room to get in and out. I clean out the coop using an old coal shovel. I take the return spring off the inside screen door, open it fully, remove the roost bars, then shovel everything into a waiting cart. Very fast and easy.
Jack

 

[Brookliner]

My coop is also open all across the front with hardware cloth 1/2". I do have a plywood awning that is hinged at the top that I lower and clip shut at night. When it rains during the day the coop stays dry. This is more for predator proofing since we have black bears and fisher cats close by. I have had this coop for 25 years and have never had any draft issues. I will be building a second coop this summer basically the same only larger. I have a broody coop that is a permanent section of the coop. I put a sheet of plexiglass over the hardware cloth to keep the chicks warm I also have a heat lamp so I can regulate the temp.This coop is 4'x8' floor space and the front is 4' by 8' with the back smaller to accomodate the roof line (to shead snow). The yellow buckets are my nest boxes (Tidy cat litter pails without the lids). We used to free range but the hawks have invaded this year and I am building a covered run that is hawk proof. I also keep my geese in the fenced area that surrounds the coop as a deterant to racoons, mink, skunks, and any thing else that tries to bother the chickens.

 

[Diann88]

This thread is pretty old so I hope someone notices... I love this chicken house and I'm going to try to replicate it.
I'm curious, what is the white square to the right of the door toward the back of the house? What is the pitch on the roofs? I'm guessing it to be about 4:12.

Thanks!

 

[Leahs Mom]

This thread is pretty old so I hope someone notices... I love this chicken house and I'm going to try to replicate it.
I'm curious, what is the white square to the right of the door toward the back of the house? What is the pitch on the roofs? I'm guessing it to be about 4:12.

Thanks!

Hi Diann88. Just in case the person that you are addressing the questions to doesn't see your post, you can message them directly using "personal message". If you put your mouse over their name on their post, a list will drop down and one of the options you can choose is "send PM". If you click on that it will open a window to send a message just to that person.

Just letting you know that as I see you're new on the forum and I wasn't sure if you knew you could do that!

 

[Diann88]

Thanks! I'll try that if I don't see a response pretty soon. I thought maybe others might like to know the answer, too, so I asked where everyone could see it.

 

[Leahs Mom]

Thanks! I'll try that if I don't see a response pretty soon. I thought maybe others might like to know the answer, too, so I asked where everyone could see it.

Good! I do that too... thinking the same thing

Might be a little slow around here the next few days.

 

[Boonie Adjacent]

• 
  Nice work. Woods' book is a great read.

 

[KHaws]

im pretty sure i just figured out the coop i want my DH to build.. downloaded the books and we are going to read them, or at least i will. Lol. those are all amazing coops. good job everyone.

 

[GWG2013]

Greetings. Here is a picture of my recently completed interpretation of the "fresh air poultry house" incorporated into the tractor port of my old log barn. Open front faces very slightly south/east. I read Wood's book and looked at JackE's very impressive coop on this site to get ideas. It is built out of rough cut lumber from a local mill. Measures 8'x18'.
It get's very cold here in eastern Ontario in the winter, but I am confident from what I have read that this should work out very well. I will have to resist the temptation of placing a heat lamp over the roosts in January.