Chicken Coop Design, feedback please.

[JeffUK]

Hi There!

We're new to chickens, and having looked at the quality of chicken coops on sale vs price, we've decided to make one ourselves and would really appreciate any feedback. Mostly on the day-to-day practicalities of this design, it certainly looks pretty but would x,y, or z become a pain the backside as soon as we got the chooks in?



It's designed for 3 (maybe 4?) small hens (silkies or similar). The main focus is on trying to keep the inside as easy to clean as possible, so no supports inside, and almost the whole back will hinge down. The floor is one piece and relatively easy to remove for replacement in the future. We'll add detachable roosting bars and nesting boxes when we're done.



The dimensions for the coop are 1.4m x 1m x 60cm high. The main box is 40cm off the ground.



We're also attaching a 2metre run to the front, which will have a door into an outside picket-fenced area for them.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts/hints/tips/etc.


Jeff...

[jessmorris]

Hello there,
the only thing I can think of is that your porch is huge and needs supporting. If its Onduline, it will droop! Your coop is also enormous! You could get a lot of bantams in there - its roughly the same size as mine and I can get 10 small banties in it. I would make your big door into two doors with hinges at the side or you'll constantly be treading on the door when you are tying to clean the coop out. If you make your coop high enough ie top to bottom you can fit a self closing door, thereby saving yourself lots of bother!
Good luck, it looks great!
JM

[JeffUK]

Hello there,
the only thing I can think of is that your porch is huge and needs supporting.
JM

Oh yeah, that'll be over part of the run, and supported by it too somehow, not worked out how yet


Huge is good! Thanks for the reply Will post up some photos when I've put it all together!

[elizajay]

Also thin you should go up rather than wide. Remember hens like to roost high so if the perches are lower than the nest boxes they will roost in the nest box. I agree with the automatic pop hole, expensive but a life saver.

[RichmondHens]

Overall design is good. I would suggest using single sheets of water/weatherproof ply to form a "box", rather than tongue and groove planks, to minimise hidey holes for red mite. Sealing the inner joints with silicone is also a good mite preventative.

[petal]

Great images and yes the porch can reduce in size. the fact it is on legs means they can shelter under the house anyway. The silicone sealant for joints is a really good idea too as is painting it in creocote to start with! Minimise your joints. Keep it nice and roomy- there are many houses out there completely unfit for purpose and squashing loads of hens in can't be good for their breathing- even if they do seem to 'fit.'

[chris]

Regarding the silicone - make sure it's a smooth finish all the way around, or you'll no doubt be chasing one of your chooks around the place, and then pulling it out of them when you spy them running around with a huge worm.. no wait, yes that's the silicone!

[chris]

Oh, and my only point to say would be, is make sure you're able to bend down and clean it easily enough - I've lowered my coop now, from hip height, down to a foot off the ground - the door opens out fine, but it means I have to lean in. I'm thinking of raising it up another foot so my door will open down fully.

Pic here for ref:

http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...tos_62713.html (2nd pic of coop)

[JeffUK]

my only point to say would be, is make sure you're able to bend down and clean it easily enough

Great point, so we mocked something up to practice, and it turned out to be a bit too deep, so we've changed the main box from 100x100 to 80x120. at that size the height is ok for now.

We've also then had to put the nest box on the back rather than the side, but that means we can have the roof overhanging as far over it as we want, so all worked out quite well

Maybe a mistake, but for technical reasons (it wouldnt fit in the car!), we've gone for T&G over ply; but the gaps will be glued, filled, primed and painted over (twice)... I'll shake the hand of any mite that can find a way in without the use of power-tools!

[Scarlet]

Just wondering if you have enough ventilation in there?

[JeffUK]

Just wondering if you have enough ventilation in there?

With my carpentry skills lack of holes will not be my main concern


but seriously, the gaps between the top and the roofing won't be sealed, which should be perfectly placed for hot air to escape at the top.

If it starts over-heating, we have a few options!

[chris]

I just use onduline as my ventilation in my coop, and it's more than adequate. If you find condensation forming on the inside then you can drill some holes near the top, but I'm sure it'd be fine.. mine is with 6 in that sort of size.

Also regarding the T&G - a good liberal coat of creocote on the inside will sort the issue of mites out, obviously make sure it's properly dry before putting the chooks back in. I've just had a small mite problem - one coat of creocote on the perch ends - problem solved (so far, fingers crossed).

It does take an age to dry though, even when you think it's dry, make sure when you touch it is dry I found that when I thought it was dry it was still rubbing off on my hands.

[jessmorris]

Even though T & G is a nightmare for harbouring mites, I do love sturdy wooden coops made from it. they seem to last forever and are slower to rot than ply. Creosote/cote is a wise precaution though.

[janeyo]

Our first coop we built with removable slide-out side and bottom. Made it MUCH easier to clean.
The second we built slightly differently, and the whole back hinges out so you can get access to the inside really easily. I have a piece of lino on the floor which gets taken out and hosed down and scrubbed from time to time. Then the shavings go on top. Our nest box has a slide-out door so you can lift it up a little and see if there any hens in there before you open the whole thing and spook them.
We have 2 nest boxes inside and the partition slides out as well, again for easy cleaning.

We found with the first coop which was big that the hens all huddled together on one perch, so smaller was best for the next one!

And rasing it high enough so you don't have to bend down too much to clean is a good idea, I am now 6 months pregnant and have had to pass the chooks over to OH to look after as can't squat down now!

make sure your onduline roof slopes the opposite way so you don't get wet whilst a) checking for eggs and b) cleaning - nothing worse than ending up all soggy! And the hens won't want the water to drip on them as they come in and out either!

We put our first one on wheels so we could move it about to a new patch of ground too.

OH made our first automatic opener himself but it was really temperamental and was constantly going wrong and the battery running out so now we have a solar bought one and it's been brilliant - worth the money for sure. He has also made an automatic feeder that opens when they stand on it and rigged up an automatic waterer (a dustbin and some pipes basically), I will see if I can find the pics of these too.


I have some plans for it somewhere but can't find them, will post if I find them later.

[jessmorris]

An automatic watere is a good idea. It basically just needs to be a tank thats higher than a small trough and a pipe from the tank to the trough that remains submerged. It tops itself up and doesn't overflow and the chooks always have fresh water. Smart!