Stumped here need suggestions on 8x14 coop floorplan.

[teddyjames]

I have a 8'x14' raised coop and ready to get started with nesting boxes and perches/poop catcher and a small brooder somewhere. Looking to house 10 or 12 birds. Space is limited. I'm thinking to put the perches on the west wall, north of the chicken door. Nesting boxes lined up 2 high along the east wall with a small brooder on top of those, or brooder in center of east wall with nesting boxes on north and south sides of the brooder. What would you do? (drawing almost to scale) Note: ventilation is closer to top of coop.

 

[RojoMarz]

Is it a walk in coop? If so, you could do roosts over poop boards, then have brooder under poop board. That's what my setup is and it works well. If it's not a walk in, there may not be enough head room for that.

 

[StinkyAcres]

Photos of the inside and outside of the actual coop would be helpful. We need to know the height of the coop as well. It doesn't appear you have enough ventilation for 12 birds. 1 square foot per bird far above their heads is recommended.

 

[Penpal]

How many nest boxes will you have. With 12 hens you need 4 boxes. Maybe even 3.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

The other 3 posters asked all the questions I was going to ask. I will add that I like an L shape roost system and highly recommend poop boards.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You are in West Virginia so north of the equator. That's good to know. You say 10 to 12 chickens but you are adding a brooder. Does that mean you may have more than 10 to 12 at some point? It sounds like you already have your ventilation installed. What does it look like? You do not want your roosts lined up so you get a breeze between ventilation openings in winter. In summer it doesn't matter.

Is it shaded or out in the sun? In summer the south and west walls can get really hot in the afternoon if it is in the sun. I'd try to keep the nests and brooder on the East or North walls because of that. I don't worry about the roosts because it should have cooled off sufficiently by the time they go to bed.

I'd want the roosts positioned on a wall well away from the front door. You don't want them in your way when trying to work in there. You want to leave yourself good access to the pop door from inside the coop so don't block it with the roosts or anything else.

You said a small brooder. Brooding outdoors you will have temperature swings. You want one area of your brooder to stay sufficiently warm in the coldest temperatures and another area to be sufficiently cool in the warmest temperatures. Depending on your heat source and number of chicks you want it big enough so you can manage that.

That will have quite a bit of room for 10 to 12 chickens if that is all that you will have, but room can always be precious. You will probably want to make modifications later, having room can make that a lot easier. I put my brooder under the main roosts and used the top of the brooder as a droppings board. Just something to consider.

Since you have a brooder you might be integrating chicks later on. I put in a juvenile roost on a separate wall so it was physically separated from the main roosts. It's over my nests so the top of the nests are a droppings board. This juvenile roost is about a foot lower than the main roosts so the adults don't use it and is a few feet away horizontally. This gives the juveniles a safe place to go that is not the nests if the adults won't let them sleep on the main roosts.

I'm not going to try to suggest a specific layout, there are several that can work. I've tried to just give you a few things to consider when laying it out. I assure you, what I ended up with looks different that what I started with. I think a whole lot of us could say that.

Good luck!

 

[teddyjames]

Is it a walk in coop? If so, you could do roosts over poop boards, then have brooder under poop board. That's what my setup is and it works well. If it's not a walk in, there may not be enough head room for that.

Yes.. walk in... 6'6" low end 8' high end.. slanted roof.

 

[teddyjames]

How many nest boxes will you have. With 12 hens you need 4 boxes. Maybe even 3.

only that few? 10 hens? I would at least say build 5 and let them fight over 2 or 3 I do think i might be planning too many nesting boxes... good observation.

 

[teddyjames]

You are in West Virginia so north of the equator. That's good to know. You say 10 to 12 chickens but you are adding a brooder. Does that mean you may have more than 10 to 12 at some point? It sounds like you already have your ventilation installed. What does it look like? You do not want your roosts lined up so you get a breeze between ventilation openings in winter. In summer it doesn't matter.

Is it shaded or out in the sun? In summer the south and west walls can get really hot in the afternoon if it is in the sun. I'd try to keep the nests and brooder on the East or North walls because of that. I don't worry about the roosts because it should have cooled off sufficiently by the time they go to bed.

I'd want the roosts positioned on a wall well away from the front door. You don't want them in your way when trying to work in there. You want to leave yourself good access to the pop door from inside the coop so don't block it with the roosts or anything else.

You said a small brooder. Brooding outdoors you will have temperature swings. You want one area of your brooder to stay sufficiently warm in the coldest temperatures and another area to be sufficiently cool in the warmest temperatures. Depending on your heat source and number of chicks you want it big enough so you can manage that.

That will have quite a bit of room for 10 to 12 chickens if that is all that you will have, but room can always be precious. You will probably want to make modifications later, having room can make that a lot easier. I put my brooder under the main roosts and used the top of the brooder as a droppings board. Just something to consider.

Since you have a brooder you might be integrating chicks later on. I put in a juvenile roost on a separate wall so it was physically separated from the main roosts. It's over my nests so the top of the nests are a droppings board. This juvenile roost is about a foot lower than the main roosts so the adults don't use it and is a few feet away horizontally. This gives the juveniles a safe place to go that is not the nests if the adults won't let them sleep on the main roosts.

I'm not going to try to suggest a specific layout, there are several that can work. I've tried to just give you a few things to consider when laying it out. I assure you, what I ended up with looks different that what I started with. I think a whole lot of us could say that.

Good luck!

I plan to cover my ventilation in cold weather. I intend to order 12-15. I figure a small loss so I figure I end up with 10-12 at most. I want no more than 2 roosters for 10 hens. I doubt I will get my ideal ratio right off hence the brooder. I also plan to give away or sell some at times - brooder. Expansion later - brooder.

 

[teddyjames]