First time coop. Critique my plans.

[21hens-incharge]

Yes to building in closers for the vents. You would want to close them if the wind is blowing a certain direction bringing moisture in like rain or snow.

If you make the doors flush to the bottom of the coop so that you can put your wheelbarrow there to clean out plan to make a removable board 6 in high to keep the bedding in when you need it kept in. I sometimes have to open the door on my small coop and having that bedding falling out is kind of annoying.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I see a lot of coops have flaps that can optionally close off ventilation. Should I design so that my ventilation can be closed off? If so, when would I want to close them?

This would be optimal especially if you sometimes get sideways blowing winds or strong winds in general that may come from different directions.

 

[DIYchickMama]

I was thinking that if we did corrugated metal then we wouldn't have plywood underneath it (just some 2x4 joists instead). So there would be gaps between the peaks of the corrugation and the coop walls.

Rats can get in those gaps… ask me how I know. It’s better to close those gaps (my metal roof came with foam strips shaped to fill the gaps) and design ventilation that can be screened.

 

[Penpal]

If you are going to use plywood on the roof, use marine board. Otherwise, cover it with tar paper before adding the metal roof.

 

[MrRaccoon]

Rats can get in those gaps… ask me how I know. It’s better to close those gaps (my metal roof came with foam strips shaped to fill the gaps) and design ventilation that can be screened.

I ended up using a different kind of steel roofing that has less places for rats to get in. For the channels above the eaves where a rat could slip in I added rolled up hardware-cloth, held in place with some deck screws:

Along the ridge I was a bit more lazy and just have one or two screws blocking the channel:

The picture makes the gaps look bigger than they are, but I'm still not 100% sure that this will keep out the rats.

Anyone have a good rule of thumb to decide if a gap will fit a rat? A quarter sized gap? Smaller?

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Quarter. Just also make it not attractive to a rat. Don't have any feed or water in there. I think the biggest reason I don't have rats is there is nothing for them....

 

[MrRaccoon]

Just also make it not attractive to a rat. Don't have any feed or water in there. I think the biggest reason I don't have rats is there is nothing for them....

Do you mean not having feed/water in the coop? I figured that is where feed should be, since it is the most secure part of a chicken living situation.

 

[Penpal]

If rats get in then it is not secure. Keep your feed in metal garbage cans, regardless of where you keep them.

Chickens sleep at night, so there isn't normally a real advantage to keeping food and water in the coop.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

Do you mean not having feed/water in the coop? I figured that is where feed should be, since it is the most secure part of a chicken living situation.

If you don't want rats in the coop, definitely no feed or water in the coop. You're going to attract rats to the coop with feed and water in it so unless it's made of steel, they're going to find a way in. It's close to impossible to seal it up so tight that a determined rat won't find a way. I put my feeders up every night in galvanized garbage cans outside of my coop. I would never feed my chickens inside my coop.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Anyone have a good rule of thumb to decide if a gap will fit a rat? A quarter sized gap? Smaller?

1/2" wide gap with a bit extra in height is big enough for a very small rat to squeeze into. Yes I've actually found a rat with its head shoved through a 1/2" opening (the rest of it didn't fit, but it was close). A quarter is closer to 1".