New coop considerations

[K0k0shka]

So I was thinking 8 x 8 or maybe 8 x 10 with overhanging roof and vents, closable vents under the nesting boxes, three windows and a people door and a chicken door. Our 24 x 12 porch roof blew off just before we closed on the property (good timing!) and the salvaged 2 x 6 joists are going to be used for the coop, as well as the metal when I get around to harvesting it from the neighbor's yard where it still lays. So my material costs won't be too bad. Also the flock will be reduced to no more than 10 birds as excess roosters become dinner. So that makes 4 sq ft initially, per bird, increasing to 6.4 sq ft per bird more or less, when I am down to no more than two roosters, if they get along, and one if they don't. If I luck out end end up with 10 hens, well, even that one rooster is optional. 16 straight run chicks gives me a statistical expectation of 8 hens, more or less. if I have at least 6 I will be happy and there will be plenty of room for the girls to share a boyfriend. 10 or more, we will just do without a rooster the first year. There will be an enclosed yard for them, too, and I might also put up an open air shelter with roost space. I don't think they will be too crowded.

I think I will go with 16" nest boxes just to make everything tie in well with standard 16" stud spacing on the walls. Originally I was gonna use 24" studs and 12" wide boxes.

The coop size sounds good. What climate do you live in? Do you have winters? Are you able to leave the vents/windows open permanently? What sizes are they? It's still unclear what your total open vent area is. Vents are best up high. The one under the nesting boxes may get blocked by bedding or allow rain to be blown in. Up high at the top of the walls, protected by the roof overhangs is best. And be generous - there's no such thing as too much ventilation, but too little can cause problems.

 

[Growley Monster]

I dislike words like best and optimum in this context. 12x12x12 work. 16x16x16 work. 12x20x14 work. Yours sound fine to me but I don't consider any one better than the others.

Thanks. I changed my mind, going with 16" wide to tie in with 16" studs.

1" diameter is small. Unless you have bantams I'd want a minimum if 1-1/2" diameter. My main roosts are tree limbs anywhere from 4" to 1-1/2" diameter. My juvenile roosts are 2x4's on edge.

Some people consider round roosts best or optimum. Others prefer wide and flat. Some are OK with a 2x4 on edge which means 1-1/2" thick. You notice I said people. People care about this. From what I've seen and from experiments carried out with the results posted on here, the chickens don't care.

Good point.

What you are describing is not a roost. A roost is where they sleep at night. What you are describing is a perch for them to land on and make it easier to get into the nests. Many people provide perches for this reason or ramps for chickens to walk up. I don't. Mine fly up to my nests and land on the 1/2" thick plywood that makes the face of the nest and then step in.


Most chickens like to sleep on the highest spot available. That means your roosts need to be the highest things available.

The way I determine elevation in a coop. First determine floor height, including any bedding. Then cut your pop door a little higher so they don't scratch bedding out of the pop door.

Then position your nests. Some people put the nests at floor level. Some put them higher. If you have a bad back you might want to be able to gather eggs without bending too far. Make them convenient for you. The chickens can adjust.

Okay. 2' high, so I can have a nice big vent underneath, and harvest eggs easily. No ramps or perches. It's a plan.

Then make the roosts noticeably higher than the nests or anything you don't want them sleeping on or in.

Then make your winter ventilation higher so a cross wind does not hit them when they are on the roosts.


My main roosts are over my brooder built into the coop. The top of the brooder is plywood that acts as my droppings board. I have a juvenile roost a little lower than the main roost to give my juveniles a place to sleep when the adults won't let the juveniles sleep on the main roosts. My juvenile roost is above the nests. The nests have a top on them that act as a droppings board. I have no problems with the poop getting in the nests. If my nests did not have a top on them then it would be a problem, but they have the top.


These are good points, both about being able to comfortably pick them off of the roosts at night and reducing the landing area required when they fly down. My main roosts are 5 feet high, which is convenient for me.

I think I will go chest high and use the 2x4 turned sideways.

 

[Growley Monster]

Will this be an open-air coop?

By open air, you mean all screen walls? That is an idea. I can always slap on some plywood in December when it starts getting cold, and take it back off in February. Or you mean not enclosed at all?

 

[Ridgerunner]

16 straight run chicks gives me a statistical expectation of 8 hens, more or less.

Yes, statistically you will get 8 or more females a little more than 50% of the time. Statistically you will get less than 8 females just under 50% of the time. But that is just statistics. One time I ordered seven straight run Buff Orps and got 7 pullets, no boys, 128 to 1 odds. I actually wanted a couple of boys.

Statistically hatching is equivalent to straight run. Over a 2 year period I typically hatch about 90 chicks in 6 to 8 hatches. The total split is usually real close to 50-50 but any one hatch is typically 2/3 or 3/4 of one sex or the other. Odds is odds, you just don't know what you will get.

I have no direct control over how many of any sex in an individual hatch, but when I order chicks I order what sex I want. Statistically you get 90% odds on each chick.

I think I will go with 16" nest boxes just to make everything tie in well with standard 16" stud spacing on the walls.

That's why my nests are 16", the stud spacing. Plus if I cut a 4' or 8' section into 16" lengths or width there is no waste.

 

[Growley Monster]

The coop size sounds good. What climate do you live in? Do you have winters? Are you able to leave the vents/windows open permanently? What sizes are they? It's still unclear what your total open vent area is. Vents are best up high. The one under the nesting boxes may get blocked by bedding or allow rain to be blown in. Up high at the top of the walls, protected by the roof overhangs is best. And be generous - there's no such thing as too much ventilation, but too little can cause problems.

We have winter, and it is variable. Some years no frost at all. This last winter we had a brutal blizzard, 8" snow for the first time in about 100 years, icicles all over the place, and the water main up the bayou broke. I had to melt snow for drinking and cooking for three days, and get water from the bayou for washing. Anyway we saw freezing temps three nights in a row. Typically we get a couple of light freezes every year, just bad enough to kill late vegetables or sometimes cause some of the citrus trees to die. We usually don't need the air conditioner between Christmas and Valentines day. Summers can be rather hot but most years not getting over 100°F.

Coop is not built yet and I don't have an exact square footage of ventilation decided yet. I might just screen it all the way around for the top 3 feet or so of the walls, and hang plywood panels in cold spells to make it a little less drafty. They won't freeze. Coop will also be close enough to the house to run a light out there.

 

[K0k0shka]

We have winter, and it is variable. Some years no frost at all. This last winter we had a brutal blizzard, 8" snow for the first time in about 100 years, icicles all over the place, and the water main up the bayou broke. I had to melt snow for drinking and cooking for three days, and get water from the bayou for washing. Anyway we saw freezing temps three nights in a row. Typically we get a couple of light freezes every year, just bad enough to kill late vegetables or sometimes cause some of the citrus trees to die. We usually don't need the air conditioner between Christmas and Valentines day. Summers can be rather hot but most years not getting over 100°F.

Coop is not built yet and I don't have an exact square footage of ventilation decided yet. I might just screen it all the way around for the top 3 feet or so of the walls, and hang plywood panels in cold spells to make it a little less drafty. They won't freeze. Coop will also be close enough to the house to run a light out there.

Seems like everybody's been seeing unpredictable weather. Wind and moisture are more of a problem than freezing temperatures themselves, in the winter, so having the plywood panels will really help with that, even if you still leave the tops of the walls open. The tops of my walls are open year-round, and I'm in the Northeast where it gets pretty cold. As long as rain/snow doesn't blow in, they don't have to be closed, ever. If you go with just screens in the summer, think about your usual wind direction and if the wind can blow rain in from the sides. Getting the bedding (and the chickens) wet would suck.

 

[K0k0shka]

One time I ordered seven straight run Buff Orps and got 7 pullets, no boys, 128 to 1 odds.

A couple of years ago I hatched 7 chicks that ended up being 6 males and just 1 female... Small numbers can have really skewed ratios. They only even out on a larger scale.

 

[StinkyAcres]

By open air, you mean all screen walls? That is an idea. I can always slap on some plywood in December when it starts getting cold, and take it back off in February. Or you mean not enclosed at all?

More like a structure with three solid walls and one screen wall. Open-air coops are ideal where it gets very hot in the summertime and stays warm throughout the winter, but from your description of your weather you may not need that. No matter the climate, though, you will need ventilation open year round - about 16 square feet for your coop away from the roosts.