Opinions on Coop Design

[I Love Layers]

My parents gave me the ok to start drawing plans for a breeding coop. Nothing to extravagant as I will be moving off to college in a few years. I wanted it big enough for my dad to use for a shed when I go to college, unless he says i can have it back after i come back.

This is a rough draft, I personally like it and it's my favorite design I've drawn so far.
Any suggestions on what I can do to improve It?

The whole thing is 10x12 and the roost will just be board elevated a few inches off the ground as the birds will be LF Cochins



Edited by Staff

 

[SilkieSanctuary]

It looks good! I hope to have a coop that size one day. Right now I have a 5x5 coop with seven chickens. In the past I have had about that size of coop and it works out very nicely! Hope your coop turns out great!

Edited by Staff

 

[I Love Layers]

It looks good! I hope to have a coop that size one day. Right now I have a 5x5 coop with seven chickens. In the past I have had about that size of coop and it works out very nicely! Hope your coop turns out great!

Thank you! Currently I have a 10x12 coop but it will be used for laying hens

 

[Ridgerunner]

I don’t see any feeding area in there. Where do you plan to feed them in your winters?

Is the waterer far enough away from the roosts so they won’t poop in it from the roosts? I’d consider swapping the nests and roost locations.

With those low roosts you may find them sleeping in your nests instead of on the roosts. If you get your LF Cochin from a hatchery it’s unlikely they will be so big that you have that much to worry about them injuring themselves by flying down from the roosts. If you are getting them from a breeder that is breeding to the SOP, those chickens will be larger and more prone to injuring themselves getting down. If they are hatchery Cochin, I’d just raise the roosts. If they are large breeder Cochin, I’d consider a ladder type roost or just try it and see what happens. In either case the higher the roost the more clear area they need to land so they don’t fly into walls, nests, feeders, ort other things.

I don’t see a height on that. Whether as a shed or coop, it needs to be high enough for you to walk in and work without bumping your head. But you know that.

I don’t see a window. You need at least one so you and the chickens can see in there during the day with the main door closed. It does not need to be bright but it does need some light.

Where is your pop door? You can use the human door, but you need to lock it open so the wind doesn’t blow it shut. A human sized door can let a lot or rain or snow blow inside. That’s the big advantage of a pop door, it keeps a lot of environment out.

Don’t look at any of these things as something you absolutely have to do, look at them as things to think about. What you have should work fine, though the height of the roosts concerns me some.

Good luck and enjoy college when you get there.

 

[I Love Layers]

I don’t see any feeding area in there. Where do you plan to feed them in your winters?

Is the waterer far enough away from the roosts so they won’t poop in it from the roosts? I’d consider swapping the nests and roost locations.

With those low roosts you may find them sleeping in your nests instead of on the roosts. If you get your LF Cochin from a hatchery it’s unlikely they will be so big that you have that much to worry about them injuring themselves by flying down from the roosts. If you are getting them from a breeder that is breeding to the SOP, those chickens will be larger and more prone to injuring themselves getting down. If they are hatchery Cochin, I’d just raise the roosts. If they are large breeder Cochin, I’d consider a ladder type roost or just try it and see what happens. In either case the higher the roost the more clear area they need to land so they don’t fly into walls, nests, feeders, ort other things.

I don’t see a height on that. Whether as a shed or coop, it needs to be high enough for you to walk in and work without bumping your head. But you know that.

I don’t see a window. You need at least one so you and the chickens can see in there during the day with the main door closed. It does not need to be bright but it does need some light.

Where is your pop door? You can use the human door, but you need to lock it open so the wind doesn’t blow it shut. A human sized door can let a lot or rain or snow blow inside. That’s the big advantage of a pop door, it keeps a lot of environment out.

Don’t look at any of these things as something you absolutely have to do, look at them as things to think about. What you have should work fine, though the height of the roosts concerns me some.

Good luck and enjoy college when you get there.

Feed and water position is undecided as I am not sure what systems I am using.

They are SOP cochins which is why I don't want high roosts. The nest boxes will have a board that can go across to close it off at night from them.


My dad and I have to go over the height once he approves my plan. As for the Windows that will also be decided once we go over the height. We want to make it so we can rotate the coop by picking it up with the tractor.

As for the pop door these are show birds also so I don't want them outside other then for a few hours every once in a while in which they will be put in a bottomless cage. I am also planning on having a full screen door behind the actual door so i can open that in the evenings in the summer.

 

[I Love Layers]

So tonight I was bored and drew up something I would definently build in the future. I will post it tomorrow as I'm considering it my best coop rendering yet! And I think I had a few good ideas in it also that I'm excited to share!!

 

[Howard E]

Since you are still playing with numbers and sketches, you might find these entertaining..........chicken coop designs from North Dakota State:

https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/extension-aben/buildingplans/poultry

Scroll down to design #6248 to see how they laid out and designed a coop of this size. Or one of the others of similar size. Even if you change yours some, these give good staring points and tips on how to build them.

NDSU probably has one of the best collection of design sketches for these older historic chicken houses that can be found on the Web. Designs that would be a good fit for a lot of backyarder's today. Kudos to them for keeping them alive.

 

[I Love Layers]

Since you are still playing with numbers and sketches, you might find these entertaining..........chicken coop designs from North Dakota State:

https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/extension-aben/buildingplans/poultry

Scroll down to design #6248 to see how they laid out and designed a coop of this size. Or one of the others of similar size. Even if you change yours some, these give good staring points and tips on how to build them.

NDSU probably has one of the best collection of design sketches for these older historic chicken houses that can be found on the Web. Designs that would be a good fit for a lot of backyarder's today. Kudos to them for keeping them alive.

Thank you so much!! I am actually planning on going to NDSU! I have never found these and they are really cool and seem to be pretty efficient

 

[I Love Layers]

Here's the best design overall I've ever done.
It is 14x16 but I am not sure the height. It will be a one slant though.

I was thinking maybe 16x16 makes more sense and that way you could maybe even have some room for cages, for keeping birds out of the flock or whatever reason you have, on the wall. Currently with the size I would just keep barrels of feed and other things back ther

 

[aart]

Is that drawn to scale?
Looks pretty close.
Can you get some graph paper?
Floor plan view looks pretty good.
I'd do some elevation views too.

Do you plan on using poop boards?

4' wide can be pretty tight for moving around in to handle birds and do chores,
as well as for birds to get down from roosts.
I thought I was brilliant for designing a 4' partition in my coop,
and it does work pretty well, but with a roost 1' from the wall,
4' became 3' of navigation space and it's tight.
I really wish it was wider.