Chicken Coop Design

When I lived in a neighborhood, I was concerned with chickens tearing up my backyard. My solution was a chicken tractor. Basically, a coop with wheels so I could move it around the yard to spare my lawn. It served me well, but I now have land in the country and I don't have to worry so much about the neighbors and their opinions. I still don't like the idea of chickens filling their area with poop, but I don't want to build a mobile coop. I was trying to figure out how to avoid this and I decided to do something different:

Imagine a coop suspended 4-5 feet above the ground from surrounding trees by cables. I could build a trapdoor with a ramp below and raise the ramp at night to keep out predators. I could design the whole floor to swing down on a hinge for cleaning and just mow up the mess with my tractor or a push mower. The top beams would be 4x4, as they will be supporting the whole coop. The rest would be 2x2 frame and metal skins for light weight. Doors and vents would be covered with hardware cloth for security and the door would have a mountable cover for Winter. I might wire it for electricity for a light inside or outside.

I can't find any pictures of this having been done. Is it a stupid idea? Do you have a better idea? Let's hear them.

There is an "organic" farm on the west side of the island. There coop is about 3 feet off the ground. I think that is mostly due to flooding as opposed to predators. I don't remember the dimensions, but it was at least 15x5.

I always let my chickens out during the day to peck around wherever they pleased. I only locked them up at night to save them from foxes.

I found a picture of a hanging coop. I want walls with closable hardware cloth doors and windows. I like that an animal can't push or pull at the doors without moving the coop and taking away their leverage.

Sounds a good idea. I've had chickens but a fox got them.

Have heard of an idea to insulate the roof.
Using a sloped roof (skillion) made of corrugated tin.
Put another layer of tin above it with an air gap of 50 - 100 mm.
Use vertical wooden studs between the sheets of tin for construction and leave an open channel between the top and bottom between the sheets of tin so air can move upward.
The top sheet of tin gets heated by the sun, the heat under it causes air between the sheets to rise and escape out the top gap
Air is sucked up and goes out between the sheets, cooling the lower sheet

Crusader wrote:I found a picture of a hanging coop.  I want walls with closable hardware cloth doors and windows.  I like that an animal can't push or pull at the doors without moving the coop and taking away their leverage.

Build a central house above ground with a mesh floor and nesting boxes so the crap can fall through it, and be harvested for the compost heap , keep it dark as chooks prefer it that way , have several areas fenced off that are connected to it so that you can rotate their grazing, chickens and chicken shit is hard on the land , they do a lot of scratching

Crusader wrote:I found a picture of a hanging coop.  I want walls with closable hardware cloth doors and windows.  I like that an animal can't push or pull at the doors without moving the coop and taking away their leverage.

If I had a dream about the worst chicken house I could build that would be it, I had chooks for 20 years and ran a small operation breeding and selling them ,had a few incubators, really enjoyed it. didnt make a bundle ,but it paid its way

Crusader wrote:I found a picture of a hanging coop.  I want walls with closable hardware cloth doors and windows.  I like that an animal can't push or pull at the doors without moving the coop and taking away their leverage.

People build coops like that and wonder why the chooks head into the bush to lay their eggs lol

Mine won't be transparent. I may use leftover metal skins from the house.

Crusader wrote:Mine won't be transparent.  I may use leftover metal skins from the house.

You might cook them lol