For those who have chickens and chicken coop will be interesting. I am re-thinking several factors of my chicken keeping. One of which is having 2 flocks instead of one. 2 less crowded smaller coops, over one large coop.
I plan to house no more than 6 birds per coop. Things to consider are snow and wind loads, as I live high up in the rocky mountains where snow blankets the ground more than it does not. I will place each coop on opposite ends of the run with a door to the yard and with one to the run. This will allow me to alternate range time and run time, it will also allow me to have better control over my breeding program.
I am not fully sure what I want to build, I do know that both coops will be placed so to have a large south-facing window. I will be building a small car port-style roof over the top of the run to keep the snow out of the run.
One thing I learned last winter was that my current coop has a lot of unused open space that would be better served in floor space. This open-air resulted in less efficient coop temps and some of my birds did get small amounts of frostbite in the coldest periods.
Rather than a 4x8 shed-style coop I have currently which is over-engineered and more than required, I am going to build 2 6x6 coops. rather than building them so I can walk in to clean, I will make it much shorter and will make it so one-half of the roof opens for cleaning. I would also redesign the roof adding some pictures with a heat press machine.
Doing this will allow me to fix a few issues I had come up with water as well. 6x6x4 or 5 feet at the peak of the roof. I hope good for 6 birds.
I plan to house no more than 6 birds per coop. Things to consider are snow and wind loads, as I live high up in the rocky mountains where snow blankets the ground more than it does not. I will place each coop on opposite ends of the run with a door to the yard and with one to the run. This will allow me to alternate range time and run time, it will also allow me to have better control over my breeding program.
I am not fully sure what I want to build, I do know that both coops will be placed so to have a large south-facing window. I will be building a small car port-style roof over the top of the run to keep the snow out of the run.
One thing I learned last winter was that my current coop has a lot of unused open space that would be better served in floor space. This open-air resulted in less efficient coop temps and some of my birds did get small amounts of frostbite in the coldest periods.
Rather than a 4x8 shed-style coop I have currently which is over-engineered and more than required, I am going to build 2 6x6 coops. rather than building them so I can walk in to clean, I will make it much shorter and will make it so one-half of the roof opens for cleaning. I would also redesign the roof adding some pictures with a heat press machine.
Doing this will allow me to fix a few issues I had come up with water as well. 6x6x4 or 5 feet at the peak of the roof. I hope good for 6 birds.
