Please Help: Coop Design Considerations For Silked Easter Eggers

[Avyona]

I found a local who is building us a Chicken Coop. I have never owned chickens but have been nerding out on everything I can get my hands on. The coop will be started in about 2 weeks and so I have time to request a change if its needed. I will post pictures below. The breed I have chosen are the Silked Easter Eggers from My Pet Chicken. I purchased 4 baby chicks that ship on Monday next week. I wanted the chance at blue eggs, and the many wonderful traits of a silkie bred with an easter egger. From the description on the website, this breed look to be a little bigger at 3-3.5 lbs. The easter egger in them means they can be more feathered than a traditional silkie.

1) What can I do to the coop to make sure they can easily roost as I have read silkies have a hard time getting up high? I'm hoping the "easter Egger" in them might help them be able to get around better.
2) Is a 6 x 14 foot run big enough as I will NOT be free ranging. I live on 150 acres in the country and we have every predator you can possibly imagine: hawks, owls, raccoon, skunk, copperheads (and other snakes), bobcat, fox, coyote, opossum and mice and rats.

The coop is 6 x 4 and I plan to have him leave out the droppings board as I do not think I will be able to reach in there to clean them without climbing in (ewwww). Is that a mistake? Instead, I plan to just do the entire floor in a deepish layer of granular Sweet PDZ.

For my run, I plan on doing coarse sand mixed with a LOT of Sweet PDZ, 70% sand, 30% granular PDZ. I understand this is expensive to do so. I do not want a smelly coop and I do not believe enough in myself to do a deep litter method properly.

Lastly, we have to prepare the foundation before delivery. We plan on doing a leveled cinder block base 1 course tall with cinder "cap" blocks on top to cover the holes in the block. Inside the rectangle we will put 1/2 hardware cloth,then thick landscaping fabric and then fill with coarse gravel 4-6" deep for drainage and then 6-8" of the sand/PDZ mix.

 

[Kiki]

I would recommend changing the plans and building a coop you can walk in to to clean.
A coop won't smell if it stays dry. Is the run going to be covered?

 

[Avyona]

I would recommend changing the plans and building a coop you can walk in to to clean.
A coop won't smell if it stays dry. Is the run going to be covered?

I dont think we can afford that We splurged onthe additional run space. The run WILL be covered.

 

[Kiki]

I dont think we can afford that We splurged onthe additional run space. The run WILL be covered.

Drop the coop part of the picture above down to the floor instead of having ir raised up. And add a larger door. Not too much to change.

 

[StinkyAcres]

I don't know about other peoples' experiences with Sweet PDZ, but I tried using it in my duck coop in a deeper layer underneath some straw bedding and when it got wet it stayed wet. I switched to only fluffy pine shavings (Top Bedding, not the stuff from Tractor Supply) and it's SO much drier! Sweet PDZ might be better for chickens as they are not nearly as messy as ducks, but I wasn't a fan of it, especially in a deep layer. Just thought I'd share my experience.