Coop plan review for smallstands and werf layouts
Send a rough sketch or a photo of the stand. We check run orientation, door swing, nest access and where the wind hits in winter, then mark up what to shift before you cut timber.
This is where Gotchickens lays out what we actually do beyond the shop counter: reviewing coop plans for smallstands and farm werf layouts, checking cutting lists in millimetres, sorting ventilation and shade cloth for Highveld heat, guiding predator mesh for mongoose and caracal, setting up feeders and drinkers, and getting incubators and brooder plates ready for the spring hatch. Flock health questions land with people who muck out coops, and new keepers get starter-kit guidance before they buy a single hen.
Most keepers arrive with a photo, a rough sketch or a half-built coop and one nagging problem. Here is the order we work through it, from the first message to the point where you can get on with feeding the flock.
Tell us the stand size, how many layers or broilers you run, and what is going wrong. A photo of the coop corner, the run fence or the feeder line saves a lot of guessing.
Smallstand or farm werf, Highveld heat or Cape wind, mongoose pressure or just a leaky roof. That decides whether the answer is shade cloth, predator mesh, a different nest position or a ventilation change.
If you are building, we go through your sketch or our plan against your timber. Cutting lists stay in millimetres, and we flag where a door swing, nest height or roof overhang will fight the frame you already have.
Feeders and drinkers sized to the flock, brooder plate and incubator prep for the spring hatch, or the hinges, latch plates and mesh needed to close the gaps. New keepers get a starter kit walkthrough instead of a shopping list.
Dirty eggs, feather loss, soft shells, a hen off her feed. We say what we would check first in our own coop and when it is time to call a vet rather than keep guessing.
You leave with a clear next step: cut the frame, hang the door, set the brooder, or add the items to your cart. If something does not fit on the day, come back with the measurement and we adjust.
Building from scratch? Start with the laying nest and coop hardware range, or send your sketch through the advice desk and we will work through it with you.
The shop is only half of it. These are the jobs keepers bring to us most often, and what comes back once we have looked at the layout, the hardware or the birds.
Send a rough sketch or a photo of the stand. We check run orientation, door swing, nest access and where the wind hits in winter, then mark up what to shift before you cut timber.
Bring your own measurements and we go through the cutting list line by line, flagging where a 50 mm feed bin or a nest bank will not clear a doorway, and where a brace is missing.
We work out where to open high vents and how to hang shade cloth so air still moves through the run. The aim is a coop that stays dry in a storm and bearable at 34 degrees.
We walk the perimeter with you, point out the gaps that get tested first, and explain how deep to bury the mesh skirt. Most losses happen at ground level, not through the roof.
From hanging a 50 kg feed bin off the floor to running an incubator and brooder plate through the spring hatch, we set out the daily routine and the checks that keep chicks alive in week one.
Describe what you are seeing and we tell you what to look at next, what to separate, and when to call a vet. No scripts, no guessing from a call centre.
New to hens? Ask about the starter kit before you order, or read the galvanised laying nest bank page to see how the hardware fits a smallstand. For anything else, the contact desk is where flock questions land.