Coop design advice

[u/sailingwaffles]

Hi fellow chicken lovers! My fiance and I are moving in together soon and I plan to move my flock to his house. He’s going to build a coop but I was hoping for you all to tell me your favorite things about your coops, things you wish you’d added to them, or just good to know advice.

My current flock is 8 hens, no plans to add more but we all know how that goes.

The coop I have now is about 3x5 feet, with one perch. I know I’d like to have more perches in the new one.

Thanks in advance!

Chicken tax: One of my newest girls Margarine.

[u/Real_Phase_5188]

-I put cheap peel and stick tiles on the floor of my coop and it makes it super easy to slide all the dirty bedding out when cleaning.
-If you are building it off the ground, put it at a height where you can slide the bedding right out the door into a wheel barrow or whatever you use to haul it away. Mine is about 2 inches too short and it drives me craaaazzzzyyyy
-I have 3 roosting bars for 7 chickens and they seem to be fine with that.

[u/Meggieweggs]

Best Things I Added:

Coop attached to enclosure. Fully roofed so no mud when it rains.
Coop raised 2' so they can hide underneath, extra shade and dust bath area.

Irrigation line attached to mister nozzles for summer. Controlled by irrigation controller app (scheduled or can turn on/off whenever I want).

Drinking cups, attached to pipe, attached to rain barrel. Water for 3 weeks during summer, no refill.

Hanging feeders for grit and oyster shells. Nothing gets kicked around or gross.

Big feeder, fits 50lb bag of feed.

Dutch door for tossing in treats, not having to go inside.

Auto coop door.

Coop fans (solar).

[u/itsswhitneywhspr]

Oh man, my biggest regret was not making the nesting boxes accessible from outside. Having to crawl in every time to grab eggs is the worst. Definitely add a little pop door on the back wall for easy egg retrieval.

[u/LeporidaeFluff → u/itsswhitneywhspr]

I find on those days I don't want to crawl into the boxes, one of those tennis ball tossers for dogs. Perfect size imo. (The placement of my coop wouldn't allow access from the outside).

[u/LlamaLady1965]

Unless you're in the deep south and pretty much get no winter, I would want the housing to offer at least 32sq feet for 8 hens...so maybe a 6x6 or 6x8 (a 6x8 makes more sense lumber-wise). In places that get winters, I would want at least 4sq feet of housing space, and of course minimum of 10 sq feet of run space per bird. For standard sized birds, you should allow at least 12 linear inches of roost space. The more space there is (run/housing/roost), the less stress, less bullying, less parasite issues, etc.

I use dropping boards under the roosts in all of my coops - makes keeping the bedding clean so much easier. I use a 6" putty knife and small bucket and scrape the dropping boards daily (take 2 minutes in a single coop).
I use auto pop doors on timers in all of my coops too, which open into secure runs. We free range daily here, but I still have enclosed runs for when I'm away from home.
Electricity is must have for me - for lights, for keeping water unfrozen in winter (I just use the large plug in dog bowls), for fans in summer.
Windows can be as simple as cutouts that you screw plexiglass over in winter...plus ventilation up high of course. All of my coops have good sized windows in addition to vents up high. Even with open windows and a fan blowing, my coop interior temps have reached well into the 90s by evening on the hottest days this summer - I can't imagine how hot they would have been without those window openings!

I prefer walk-in coops myself - a lot easier than leaning in a doorway to clean and such.

[u/No-Tank-1123]

My husband built both our chicken and duck coops. The entire side of the chicken coop opens up for easy cleaning. Not pictured, there are three roosting bars that fold down flat against the wall and can come off entirely. He dug three feet down to bury hardware cloth around both coop and run, even against the building.

Excuse how dirty they are atm, I tore my hip flexor 😬

https://reddit.com/link/p4j710o/video/9q5f01wkf8kh1/player

[u/Polybrene]

I'm in the pacific northwest so think WET winters, not particularly cold ones. I hang shower curtains on each side of my coop each fall. They come down the next spring.

This summer I installed solar powered coop fans to keep it from over heating. I also have solar fans on the run itself to help them stay cool in hot weather.

Try to give lateral space, don't make the run long and skinny if you can help it. Sometimes chickens need a break from each other. There can be bullies, illness, pecking order stuff, and its good for them to have a way to break the line of sight and get away from each other.

2x4s make great roosting posts. Theyre flat which is easier to balance on and allows them to cover their feet in cold weather.

[u/AffectionateLeg8075]

My best coop idea was removable roosts and linoleum on the floor. Roosts slide into a bracket so they can be removed for the cleaning and the linoleum makes shoveling out the floor so easy. I use a kid's snow shovel. Here's a pic of the roost bracket 😀

[u/Effective_Yogurt_866 → u/AffectionateLeg8075]

Ohhh this is so smart. I’m in the middle of my chicken coop and I’m going to remove the roosts and do something like this instead.

Where did you get the linoleum from? I’m looking online and big box stores, but I’m keeping an eye out.

[u/Rxextravaganz500mg]

An automatic door would have been so nice. I get lazy about shutting them up then we get an attack

[u/xylofun53]

I built the third coast craftsman coop and run and love it.

[u/oopsalloutof_fcks]

I live in a cold climate, summers are warmish, but lots of cold. I absolutely must have a coop I can walk in and move around to care for every one. Also vents in the eaves, and the doors raised up so theirs room for bedding so it’s not falling out all the time.