Please help re-design my walk-in coop

[ChookaPete]

My current coop is inside a corner of my tool shed, on its concrete slab. As I am getting three more chickens to add to my flock, I want to expand it and add an area for nesting boxes, but am unsure how to improve the layout.

The chickens only sleep here, and one or two occasionally lay eggs here. During the day they are outside in either the back or front yard as one giant chicken run.


I don't know whether to build a timber frame with netting for each new 'long wall' and 'short wall', or use wooden pallets and netting like at present.

An adult-sized gate will go on the new 'short wall'.



The following photos and videos show the current layout:


Pic 1: The outside of half of the tool shed - this faces the westerly afternoon sun, so it will be covered by shade cloth soon.

Pic 2 - Here is the current layout. Chicken entrance in the back corner (leads through the first coop they had since chicks), a tree log across one corner as their perch, a branch ladder for them to climb up and also double as a secondary perch, and a human entrance with the green plastic netting. Night-time poop falls straight to the floor amongst the straw, where it gets mucked out in due course. There are lights along one wall connected to a power socket timer, so they switch on at sunrise & sunset to guide the chickens to the entrance/exit.

Pic 3 - View across the current coop. I feel that this will become cramped when I add three more pullets. So I want to expand the width to 2.6 metres and the length up to 3.6 metres.

Pic 4 - The current position of the log perch allows night-time poop to collect on the edge of the wall.

Video of Clover and Cumin popping into the current coop. You can see they like to hop on and off the ladder:
https://streamable.com/t6ystp


Video of my Hy-Line hens in the garden just outside of the current coop, showing the actual entrance/exit. The 'porch' or 'foyer they walk through is actually the first coop, made out of old wood pallets (I have cut a hole in the shed wall).
It has a feeder trough loaded with mixed grain and crumbles, while the garden has a water bucket fitted with a hose that runs periodically: https://streamable.com/beivw0

The front yard has another feeder trough filled with layer pellets, and another water bucket fitted with a garden hose.


Some questions I have:

• Should I re-position the perch along the far long wall or short wall?
• Is it worth having one log perch along the long wall, and another log perch along a short wall, as an L shape?
• Can the ladder be re-positioned diagonally?
• Should I have two log perches opposite each other, one on each long wall?
• Can the ladder go just in front of the chook entrance/exit, along the far short wall?
• Where could the nesting boxes go? (As it is a walk-in coop, I don't need access from outside)

 

[Debbie292d]

Hi! You've got a lot of potential in there.

I think the roosts you have are pretty cool, and you can do with those and your ladder how you wish, always keeping in mind where the poop is going to go. You could make poop boards to catch the poop. We put stall refresher where ours poop, which makes cleanup easier. Here's a short thread discussing poop boards. There are many if you want more ideas on that idea.

Many chickens will go for the higher perches, but having a couple of different heights accommodates them all. Your L-shape idea is fine, but I think I'd do separate; one log at one height, the other a foot or two higher or lower and either 18" out from the first one, or on another wall. You could try an arrangement that seems good, and just see how they like it.

Nest boxes can be on the floor or all the way up like ours, with ladders so they are 4' off the ground. The avg recommendation is around 2' off the floor so they don't lose foot space. You'd just want to make sure they are lower than your perches or they'll be pooping up there like ours do (silkies). Also, be sure to make this as convenient as possible for you to fetch eggs. If you do not like bending over to get eggs, make them higher as long as they are lower than your lowest perch. That should keep them off them. You could also finagle something on top of them to prevent roosting.

I couldn't answer some of your other questions, but maybe someone else will come along to throw their two cents in.

This looks like a fun project! You'll have to post a picture when done.

This actually looks like a fun project.

 

[ChookaPete]

^^ Thanks for chiming in!


I have straw on the floor below the perch - the poop falls straight down so when required I just muck out the old straw and replace with new straw.


Last week I bought three Light Sussex pullets, and they are already roosting with the other chooks on the perch. So there is enough room, but does seem a little bit squishy when they want to spread out when it is still warm at night. This is why I want to set up a second perch in an L-shape, so they can spread out when they want.

Even in the current coop, there is *just* enough room for them to fly down, though they have to navigate around the ladder which is at an angle to the perch. I think once or twice some of them have bumped into the wall but they have recovered with no issues.
But this is why I want to expand the coop - so I can provide more room for them to fly down safely, as well as a 'Nesting Nook'.

I don't feel comfortable putting the nesting boxes high above the floor - my chooks would just lay their eggs underneath them. They have laid eggs in patches of weeds, behind old sacks against a wall, in the pumpkin patch, on patio chairs...At the moment they (except Chamomile who has just come out of broodiness) are all laying their eggs inside my front porch cupboard, which is only a few inches above the porch floor.

 

[ChookaPete]

For a quick update: I have installed one pallet wall - the 'long wall'.

I am wondering whether to fix that wall to the floor with Dyna-Bolts, or use wood along the floor to fix it to the opposite shed wall. I need to leave a gap for a doorway and door that I can walk through easily.