Building a chicken coup ...HELP?

[April Manier]

So I am building my chicken coup here in a few months. SO what I would love is for those of you who have these precious birds to give me what you love and hate about your coup. Pictures would be wonderful.

Thanks!

 

[lesa]

I love having an easy clean up area under my roosting poles. Every morning, I can very quickly clean up the nights poop and keep it separate from wood chips for the garden. (You can compost the wood chips, but they take a long time..... ) The other thing that is super important is lots of ventilation. I have a barn vent in the roof of the coop and windows. I also have a fan for extra air exchange. Chickens are so easy to please. They don't care about fancy! I re-purposed wooden crates for nesting boxes and I use old wooden ladders for roosting. Since I am a big fan of "cute", I have a window box which I plant with annuals- and I have a wreath on the door! Would love to see pics of your progress. I think you will really enjoy chickens! I presume you are already a member of BYC?

 

[Ridgerunner]

Have you been on the sister forum, BackyardChickens? The link is at the bottom of this page. It has a good coop design section on the top. This thread is from over there and sounds like it may help.

http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=140561

There are so many different kinds of coops kept in so many different conditions I hate to say much unless I know more about your specific plans. My response will be totally different in many aspects if it is a small elevated coop for a few hens in a small suburban backyard versus a big walk-in coop for a free ranging flock in the country. The kinds of things that would be useful to know are how many chickens, only hens or maybe also a rooster or three, will they free range or stay penned, a rough idea of your climate, will you be hatching, getting baby chicks, or start with grown chickens either to start with or to add new chickens in the future, size and breed or at least type (Full sized or bantam).

I'll also give you some links to Pat's articles. I think the ventilation and muddy run articles should be required reading for anyone planning a coop. The cold weather one is also pretty good but may not apply.

Pats Big Ol' Ventilation Page
http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-VENTILATION

Pats Cold Coop (winter design) page:
http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-winter-coop-temperatures

Pats Big Ol' Mud Page (fixing muddy runs):
http://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-fix-a-muddy-run

 

[digitS']

I like that there is an indoor room and an outdoor room. There is a pen out in the yard but those 2 rooms are under 1 roof.

Originally, the outdoor room was the pigeon side of the Bird House but I haven't had pigeons in quite a few years and the hens make good use of that room now. The indoor room can be closed off from the outdoors and it is fully insulated.

I don't like that I built the Bird House so that it could be carried elsewhere on the bed of a pickup. Not only haven't I moved it anywhere in the dozen years it's been around so there was no reason to have built it that way, but I ended up with very little floor space and a rather difficult to clean "porch."

You can see the Bird House on my BYC page (click). At the top of that page is a link to another page where I have a simple plan for a very simple coop.

Steve

 

[Southern Gardener]

I just finished (well except for paint) my coop and I love that I put it further away from the house than the first one. I down sized from 15 hens to just 8. Instead of shavings I use straw now - it's cheaper and the straw breaks down more quickly in the compost pile.

 

[lesa]

I forgot to mention that I also have a "sun room". When I first researched and got my chickens, I was under the impression that they would come out in the snow! Yeah right! I quickly built a sun room made from recycled windows, and lined with straw. Now, when the weather is really bad- they come out of the coop and into the sun room. Keeps them out of the wind, and they don't have to walk in that terrifying snow!

 

[Marigold]

We built ours up off the ground so the birds could walk underneath it, and ran fencing around that. In the summer, I take an extra piece of siding and lean it against the south fencing there to block some of the sun. In the winter, I move it to the north side to block some of the wind. That way, they can still be outside, yet out of some of the weather.

There is a totally enclosed run on the back of the coop, and just a fenced 'front yard' in front of the coop. At the time, I thought that I would replant grasses, etc in the front and be able to keep them out of that area while it recovered. But I just didn't get it done.

Anyway, the hens go out into the back run from the coop, so if we're going to be gone, I know that they are secure from predators if it's late when we get home. The rest of the time, they can go under the coop, out a little door that I open to have access to their front yard.

Another thing that I really like is that we built the coop right next to the garden. Easy to dump coop litter in one area, easy to let the hens in the garden for fall cleanup and light tilling.

I looked at a lot of coop designs over at Backyard Chickens before we went with this plan. I'm glad I did!

This is my first post, glad to be here!

 

[ninnymary]

I love my automatic chicken door. I wished I had gotten it from day 1. It would have eliminated many worries.

Mary

 

[Stubbornhillfarm]

One of the things that I am most happy about in my coop is the storage that we built on top of the nesting boxes. I borrowed this idea from someone on BYC and am so happy I did. It serves a two fold purpose. It creates a slope on the top of the boxes so the chickens can't roost up there. And, it is were I keep my bag of oyster shell, chick waterers, chick feeders, nipples and bottles for the calves, etc.

Can't wait to see your progress!

 

[vfem]

I hate I built ours in one location, then decided to move it! It was bulky and crazy heavy, I had to get people over here to help move it. Build it where you want it to stay if you're going BIG!

I also have to say my favorite was that we built the coop off the ground and made the run go under the coop some... when its hot or the see a hawk, they are covered under the coop and I'm glad its shady there too since we don't have any trees where the coop ended up.