What would you have done differently?

[Kat2141]

Why wood walls instead of metal? Our coop has galvanized metal walls and floor and it works very well in terms of cleaning and keeping down mites and other insects. It has to be galvanized not the type of colored metal used for the outside of buildings. That type of metal is banned in industrial chicken farming because it puts off fumes that poison the meat. We don't eat chicken but used metal for health reasons. Mites will reside in wood.

I also prefer wood - the cold doesn't seem to go through it so much in the winter and since we have a lot of cold months, it makes a difference here. It may be the same case for Chicksandchores. I believe environment will make a difference in housing and care just as much as personal preference does.

 

[danceswithronin]

Update to what I would have done differently:

When pinning up netting on 1x2''s for a netted-in run, I would leave myself plenty of extra netting on either end of each panel. Like, six inches on either side. Because being barely too short on anything sucks.

For the love of God people, don't do what I did. Don't be lazy. Use a tape measurer.

 

[Chickywolf]

Like most here, I definitely would have gone bigger with the coup. So now I'm contemplating adding on to it because like MROO I went to TSC when the chicks were there and came home with 6 more to add to my 18. Definitely need more room now.

 

[Blooie]

Why wood walls instead of metal? Our coop has galvanized metal walls and floor and it works very well in terms of cleaning and keeping down mites and other insects. It has to be galvanized not the type of colored metal used for the outside of buildings. That type of metal is banned in industrial chicken farming because it puts off fumes that poison the meat. We don't eat chicken but used metal for health reasons. Mites will reside in wood.

True, but they’ll also thrive in litter, in and under roosts, and even in nesting material. They don’t need a wooden structure to live and reproduce. If you’re gonna get ‘em, you’re gonna get ‘em.

 

[trudyg]

My biggest regret is TIME. I never seem to take the time to think it thru and do it right, seems like I'm always rigging a temporary solution to some problem. Do I have time to do this or that before the chicks come? Big is better. Think of your coop from how will I clean the whole thing perspective, then from where do I put a sick/broody perspective, then will my old birds have a hard time getting up and down perspective. So I rig with duct tape and baling wire to make a temporary fix. And everyone knows, temporary lasts a very long time.

 

[chicksandchores]

Why wood walls instead of metal? Our coop has galvanized metal walls and floor and it works very well in terms of cleaning and keeping down mites and other insects. It has to be galvanized not the type of colored metal used for the outside of buildings. That type of metal is banned in industrial chicken farming because it puts off fumes that poison the meat. We don't eat chicken but used metal for health reasons. Mites will reside in wood.

I have wood beams (2x4s) that the metal is attached to. The bottom 2ft of my coop is open as well as the top just under the roof and the entire front wall. Ventilation is great, but LOTS of condensation. Frostbite on comb tips because my birds don’t like me enough to let me handle them much. I still have mites, the coop is cold in the winter and hot as blue blazes in the summer, and I personally don’t think the pros outweigh the cons. At the very least I would have put a layer on the inside as well rather than just wrapping the frame with metal. The mites reside behind the framing, in the nest boxes, all around the roost poles, etc.

 

[Kathy Sistare]

This spring is two years since getting six little Wyandotte chicks, then ten more, and we had, we thought, built a big enough coop with a laying box for each. Well, now we know they use maybe four of the fourteen we built. So would make the actual coop bigger, easier to clean and made the attached yard bigger. We have since covered the yard, and fenced off an area for our new additions, six pearl white Leghorns! and their personal coop with ONE large laying box, roosts, and great ventilation, big window and its easy to clean out. If we had the financial resources we would have run electricity, water, and made a bigger enclosed run. Now we are just waiting for our original layers to get with it and lay us eggs again!!