Chicken Coop Design

[B-Guy]

I’m just getting started building a walk-in 8X10’ chicken coop with some room for storage. Currently we have a very small one that isn’t anywhere big enough. My question is what design thoughts do you have as far as layout? Things you think must be included, and the nice to haves’ options. What has worked well for you as well as ones that didn't workout as planned?

 

[braumeister]

How much storage does a chicken need?

 

[B-Guy]

How much storage does a chicken need?

Ok, storage for feed, bedding, etc.

 

[BooBoo]

You may want to consider wheels, you can move and fertilize different areas.

 

[Flyfish1]

What are you doing for flooring? I had a bad experience with rats tunneling in from outside and into the coop area. All I had was an earthen floor where the birds were and the rats were impossible to remove. Eventually gave up and gave the chickens away.

Nice to have easy clean out , that was always not a fun job. I agree some storage is nice although tight fitting metal trash cans for feed and cracked corn worked well. Are you in a cold area where water warmers are necessary, thus electricity would be needed.

I'm assuming you are not in bear territory because that's a whole separate discussion.

 

[B-Guy]

You may want to consider wheels, you can move and fertilize different areas.

The coop will be too big and heavy to move unless absolutely necessary.

 

[ImThinkin2019]

We have a pretty big chicken coop that was already on the property when we moved here. It was built with a poured foundation, but about half of the floor area (one end) is dirt. We have their roost and their water over the dirt floor and it stays much less stinky than when it was over the concrete. But the concrete is nice to have for the feed bins (plastic trash cans with locking lids), and the nest box to sit on.

Critters do get in and eat some of the food but they don't bore into the feed bins. Apparently there's enough spilled feed and accessible feed in the feeders to satisfy them.

We also have chicken tractors which we use in the summer. We consider the birds to be "indentured servants" - they till and fertlize the ground in exchange for food, water, and a place to sleep. Plus protection from the hawks and the nightime predators.

 

[B-Guy]

What are you doing for flooring? I had a bad experience with rats tunneling in from outside and into the coop area. All I had was an earthen floor where the birds were and the rats were impossible to remove. Eventually gave up and gave the chickens away.

I'm planning on doing the deep bedding method, over plywood. I will have 1/2X1/2" hardware cloth sandwiched between the plywood and the floor joists. This should keep the undesirables gaining access from underneath the floor. We have several cats that keep the rodent population under control also. The cats may be another issue as they hunt everything their size and smaller.

Nice to have easy clean out , that was always not a fun job. I agree some storage is nice although tight fitting metal trash cans for feed and cracked corn worked well. Are you in a cold area where water warmers are necessary, thus electricity would be needed.

It will have an access door on the back side to allow shoveling the bedding into the bucket of the tractor to compost and put on the garden. Feed storage will be a metal can of some sort. We do live in a cold area and will have electricity to it for brooder, heater, lights, electric fence, and whatever else may come along.

I'm assuming you are not in bear territory because that's a whole separate discussion.

No, we are not in bear country. That thought hadn’t even crossed my mind until I read your post. We have honey bees also so bears would absolutely be an issue!

 

[B-Guy]

We have a pretty big chicken coop that was already on the property when we moved here. It was built with a poured foundation, but about half of the floor area (one end) is dirt. We have their roost and their water over the dirt floor and it stays much less stinky than when it was over the concrete. But the concrete is nice to have for the feed bins (plastic trash cans with locking lids), and the nest box to sit on.

Critters do get in and eat some of the food but they don't bore into the feed bins. Apparently there's enough spilled feed and accessible feed in the feeders to satisfy them.

We also have chicken tractors which we use in the summer. We consider the birds to be "indentured servants" - they till and fertilize the ground in exchange for food, water, and a place to sleep. Plus protection from the hawks and the nighttime predators.

We do have possums, skunks, racoons, coyote, badgers and bobcats. I'm hoping the electric fence will detour them. There is an abundance of red-tailed hawks that I hope will be detoured by shade netting over the run. I have thought of making a chicken tractor just to put them where I would like them outside of the run.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

I was watching a public TV program where the homesteaders converted an old travel trailer into a coop.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

Even if you make it quite large, just make sure that there are only two doors to it if you want a proper chicken coop. If you put four doors on it, it will be a chicken sedan.

 

[Jerry1]

You probably already know this but the one thing that I recall from my father-in-laws adventure with chickens was that it was near impossible to keep raccoons from getting them. Sad and disgusting. One time the raccoon literally pulled the chicken through the fencing. I won’t go into details. You definitely need a secure place for them to go at night.

 

[NgineER]

We keep chickens and have a few things we’d do differently should we build a new coop/run.

What we’ve done right:
Hardware cloth on the sides and buried 10” below the dirt on all sides.
Electricity for water to stay liquid in -25F Minnesota winters.
Electricity for lighting when we have less than 15 hours of sun. Not just one light in the coop to keep them awake, but lights in the run so they can remain active.

What we’d do differently:
6,5’ ceiling height in the run to be able to stand up when cleaning it out or turning compost.
Run facing south for birds to enjoy the sun, instead of facing west.
Bigger feeder system when going away over several days.

 

[B-Guy]

Even if you make it quite large, just make sure that there are only two doors to it if you want a proper chicken coop. If you put four doors on it, it will be a chicken sedan.

Bwahahahaha!

 

[B-Guy]

You probably already know this but the one thing that I recall from my father-in-laws adventure with chickens was that it was near impossible to keep raccoons from getting them. Sad and disgusting. One time the raccoon literally pulled the chicken through the fencing. I won’t go into details. You definitely need a secure place for them to go at night.

To keep most critters out I'm going to have an electric fence. It has kept critters out of our garden for years, including keeping raccoons away from the sweet corn. I may have to modify if needed,

 

[B-Guy]

NgineER

Great points! We are in Nebraska and it sounds like your winters are similar to ours. The coop will be insulated so that should help. The finished ceiling will be just over 7’ and I’m 6’ tall so I should be good.

• What are you using as a waterer and what are you using for a heater?
• How big is your coop and what is the wattage of the light bulb? I’m trying to get a starting point for brightness and if I’ll more than one light.

 

[ncbill]

Are chickenhawks a problem where the OP lives?

Here one guy I knew had to fence the overhead of the chickens' yard to guard his layers from the above.

 

[B-Guy]

Are chickenhawks a problem where the OP lives?

Here one guy I knew had to fence the overhead of the chickens' yard to guard his layers from the above.

We do have a lot of Red-Tailed Hawks around here. I have been thinking what I wanted to use to detour / prevent the hawk from getting the chickens. Most of the time I see them eating something, it's usually a mouse, snake or something small.

I have seen several people that just randomly ran string on the top of the run. Supposedly hawks don’t like the string and avoid it. I’m not sure how much faith I have in that idea.

My thought was to stretch from side-to-side poultry netting to protect them, unless I can find something better.

 

[Trailwalker]

We do have a lot of Red-Tailed Hawks around here. I have been thinking what I wanted to use to detour / prevent the hawk from getting the chickens. Most of the time I see them eating something, it's usually a mouse, snake or something small.

I have seen several people that just randomly ran string on the top of the run. Supposedly hawks don’t like the string and avoid it. I’m not sure how much faith I have in that idea.

My thought was to stretch from side-to-side poultry netting to protect them, unless I can find something better.

I had a dozen Ameraucauna chickens a few years ago in a portable 8' x 10' shed that we used as a chicken coop. I only lost one chicken to predators, and it was a hawk ripping the head off a young chicken. I witnessed the end of it, but there was nothing I could do by that point. Once they were full size, it was never a problem. They would head inside when a hawk was in the area, and no hawk ever tried to enter the building. I ran a heavy duty outdoor extension cord into the shed to power the heated water in the winter and for lights.

 

[B-Guy]

I had a dozen Ameraucauna chickens a few years ago in a portable 8' x 10' shed that we used as a chicken coop. I only lost one chicken to predators, and it was a hawk ripping the head off a young chicken. I witnessed the end of it, but there was nothing I could do by that point. Once they were full size, it was never a problem. They would head inside when a hawk was in the area, and no hawk ever tried to enter the building. I ran a heavy duty outdoor extension cord into the shed to power the heated water in the winter and for lights.

We have Black Sex-link’s, but plan to add some Road Island Red’s to the mix at some point.

Good to hear you didn’t have much issue with hawks, I hope I fair the same.

There will be power to the coop and will likely run a heavy-duty outdoor extension cord, t least for the time being.

 

[frank]

with the work involved and the investment, do you think raising chickens is good economically or for some other reason? just curious as it seems with egg prices and chicken prices what they are, do you do it to save money or to get fresh homegrown products?

 

[B-Guy]

with the work involved and the investment, do you think raising chickens is good economically or for some other reason? just curious as it seems with egg prices and chicken prices what they are, do you do it to save money or to get fresh homegrown products?

Having chickens for most people is net loss, even if you exclude the cost of the coop. You still won’t likely break even. However, when the egg shortage was going on and prices were over $5.00 a dozen, you could likely make a little change.

With that said, we know where the eggs came from, we compost the bedding and manure to fertilize the garden, and my wife and I enjoy having them around. Farm eggs taste better than the mass produced eggs in a commercial egg barns. IMO

 

[NgineER]

NgineER

Great points! We are in Nebraska and it sounds like your winters are similar to ours. The coop will be insulated so that should help. The finished ceiling will be just over 7’ and I’m 6’ tall so I should be good.

• What are you using as a waterer and what are you using for a heater?
• How big is your coop and what is the wattage of the light bulb? I’m trying to get a starting point for brightness and if I’ll more than one light.

As far as chicken waterer, this is a little complex, but let me try to break it down.

I used a 3 gallon galvanized metal pail that i wrapped a heat tape around, put a couple of nipples in the bottom of it and then placed it inside a five gallon plastic bucket.

I cut a hole in the bottom of the five gallon bucket ~9" diameter, and fixed the metal bucket in place about 1" from the bottom of the five gallon bucket.
This way the bucket can be put down on the ground without breaking the nipples.
I then used spray foam to insulate the bucket and fix the metal bucket in place inside the five gallon bucket. I also lined the metal bucket with tape to prevent corrosion. This all might have been overkill, but it has worked well for the last eight years.

For lights, I had until last year only a single light bulb in the coop at night, and egg production definitely slowed down in the winter. This year I had a set like these left over from a property renovation, and egg production remained the same as last summer. I have the lights set in both the coop and the run and the chickens stay active until they turn off.

https://www.amazon.com/GT-Lite-LED-String-Light-Set/dp/B01M6YZ777

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

We kept a handful of chickens for about 10 years. DW is a city girl, so they ended up having names and enjoying status as pets. The neighbors' granddaughter loved them.

We never had a problem with predators because we have had farm collies that watched over them. Cats won't do much against raccoons. To me, a fence is a barrier but not a deterrent. To this day I see raccoons in the area all the time, but not in my yard.

 

[B-Guy]

As far as chicken waterer, this is a little complex, but let me try to break it down.

What great idea for the waterer. You did a great job describing it, and I can see it clearly in my mind.

Those lights should produce a lot of light. For the run lighting, I’m thinking of putting motion sensing flood lights on the coop.