[gracie]

New Chicken home is coming on a treat. Two sides have just been insulated with work still proceeding as I type. I will attach a photo and would seriously like suggestions from you all. I have read as much as I can but think it would be nice to know what actually works from your experiences.

How high and how many perches should we have?

We have 6 chicks at the moment that havent been sexed, so not sure how many chickens i will end up with, my ideal is 4, but certainly wont be sending any spare hens back.

The tray at the bottom is stainless steel and will pull out easily for cleaning. My intention is to line that with cross shred paper as i can get that in abundance. Reading an earlier design on here there was a slatted ? design for the floor that the chickens would walk on then hopefully alot of the poo will fall through to the paper below. Any sizes of slats etc, greatly appreciated.

I think i am intending to block the nest boxes off until they get nearer egg laying age, is that a good idea to prevent bad habits, as they wont know what they are for at the moment.

Not sure what sort of thing for them to have to climb jump up to the door for them to get in. Straight wood, Runged ladder or jumps?

Will treating the inside with stain help with the cleaning at a later date?

Im sure i shall have more questions. Thanks everyone

[bantam novice]

I think you have done some great work on this.  I like the pull-out tray and the coop is easy to access for cleaning.
The run space seems a little cramped to me for 4 or more hens but not entirely sure of dimensions from picture.  Are you intending to let your hens free range?
If you type perch height into the search box in the top right hand corner there have been some threads about how high perches should be and you may find some useful information.
As I understand it they should be above the height of the nesting boxes but not too high that the hens can hurt themselves jumping up an down from them.
Good luck with your new girls and I'm sure they will love their five star accommodation 

[gracie]

Yes I am pleased with it, hubby has done all the work though, I am just the foreman. We had every intention of having 4 hens, and hoping we wont end up with more, but we deliberately placed the house at that end because it can easily be extended onto my vegetable garden which is the soil you can see. The end panel has been screwed on so can easily be amended.
The vegetables are going to be cordoned off and then a removable barrier put between the trellis so they will free range on the soil that is left and round the back of the shed when we are in the garden with them. Not sure if i would want them out otherwise due to Mr Fox.
Thanks for the tip on finding out about perch