Last week I tore apart the inside of our chicken coop. It wasn’t on the to-do list for this fall, but the girls made it pretty clear the setup wasn’t working anymore. Here’s what was wrong, what I changed, and what’s coming next.
The problem: eggs in all the wrong places
Our coop had a poop shelf under the roosts, which is supposed to make cleanup easier. Instead, our hens decided it was the perfect place to lay eggs. If you’ve ever pulled an egg out of a pile of chicken droppings, you know exactly how gross that is.
The same thing was happening on a shelf I’d put up high to store extra bedding. The chickens figured out they could fly up there, and soon it was another spot for laying eggs and pooping. Worse, I couldn’t easily reach it to clean it or check for eggs. On top of all that, the flock just plain needed more room to roost.
Out with the poop shelf
First, the poop shelf came out. Underneath it is our quarantine cage zone, where we keep a bird that needs to be separated from the rest of the flock, so I didn’t want to leave that area exposed. I covered it with a metal panel that works as a roof of sorts. The quarantine area stays protected, and there’s no flat, cozy ledge left to tempt anyone into laying there.
The high bedding shelf came out too. Bedding storage can live somewhere else; I’d rather be able to see and reach every surface in the coop.
More roosts, and a better way to build them
With the shelf gone, I had space to rethink the roosts. I added angled roosting bars and went from 3 bars to 5, so everyone has a spot at night without squabbling.
I also flipped the 2x4s so the wide side faces up and their feet sit on the flat part. Chickens don’t wrap their toes around a perch the way wild birds do, and a wide, flat roost lets them settle down and cover their feet with their feathers. That’s a nice bonus heading into a Wisconsin winter.
My new favorite cleaning tool
While I was at it, I cleaned out both the chicken coop and the duck house. That’s where I made a discovery: my EGO cultivator attachment is the best tool ever for turning over the bedding and freshening it up. No more bending over, and no more back-breaking pitchfork work. If you’ve got one sitting in the garage, try it in your coop.
What’s next: 12 roll-away nesting boxes
The project isn’t done yet. Next up is reworking the nesting boxes. I’m adding 4 more, for 12 total, and converting all of them to roll-away nesting boxes. With roll-away boxes, the egg rolls out of the nest after it’s laid, so it doesn’t get stepped on or dirty. Cleaner eggs and fewer broken ones.
I’ll share how the nesting boxes turn out once they’re built. If you’ve tried roll-away boxes in your own coop, I’d love to hear how they worked for you.
