Bought a coop now need to figure out best place to do water and feed

atlchicks said:

Thanks! To secure the bottom of the coop, I was going to attach a plywood floor and then put vinyl over top the plywood. Does that seem like a good idea?

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For the bottom of the actual coop, that would work.

You'll want something around the outside of the run though. Just something to prevent animals from digging under the wall, getting in the run, then opening the door to the coop (if it doesn't lock). Whatever you use should probably run out 12-18 inches from the edge.

atlchicks said:

Thank you! So if I add on an extra run, do you think this coop can hold 4 chickens? And if I secure the run, would I have to lock the chickens up in the coop at night or could I leave the door open to let them go in and out? Thank you!

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if you turn this coop/run combo into a coop then yes.. it can hold 4 chickens but remember to add/leave room for ventilation at the top of the coop to prevent respiratory problems

we are having a heat wave right now 115-117 in my city... it's a good thing i left 3 in gap on 3 sides of the coop +2 rows of 1in holes for ventilation in my coop . i'll put some frozen water bottles inside the coop at night for them to help cool down the coop a bit when they sleep.

and yes.. if you can secure the run there's no reason to lock the coop at night

this is my coop/run combo 4 3/4' x 8' (run) made with 70% off lumber from home depot (i'm on a budget) i made a lot of mistakes with this coop since i didn't follow any plan.. just put things together as i go..:/

as you can see.. i didn't create a door for the coop.. the chickens will go in and out on their own ... out at 5:15AM and in at 7:38pm each day i'll let them out of the run each day around 6PM to free roam around the yard while i clean out the run/coop + refill the feeder+waterer

depends on your area.. since around here i already have 6ft concrete wall surrounding the house.. so beside my 10lb dog and the neighbors' cats.. there are nothing to worry about it

but it will depend in your area.. my chickens are outside on day one when i brought them home from the pet store.. they are a couple of weeks old already (picture below)

my dog chased after my chickens the first few times since she was curious about them. since i didn't clip my chickens' wings.. my dog can't catch them so she she gave up after a few attempts

but to be safe i'll only let my chickens out when i'm also outside in the yard.. if not.. the dog will stay in the house with me as the chicken roam the yard.etc

Your hens would roost at night & wouldn't roam around. Not knowing where you are & what kind of predators you're dealing with that would be roaming is the biggest concern. Make sure your coup and run is secure, not so much keeping chickens in but keeping predators out. Another good thing about Hawaii, we got the Hawaiian Hawk & Owls, roaming dogs & cats, mongoose & wild pigs but not all the rest....Guess I need to count my blessings

I have not been a participant on this forum for all that long, but long enough to see there is a desperate need for a few sets of basic plans for coops for small back yard flocks. These could be designed with input from experienced moderators and posters on this forum. Goal would be to put them into the public domain for all to see, use and modify as they see fit, but still plans that if built as designed, would work and work well. As is, a lot of folks wind up re-inventing the wheel, and are doing an incredibly bad job of it.

The small coop "chicks" found and purchased was likely expensive for what it was, yet for the same money, could have been made so much better. So why didn't they? Probably out of ignorance. I am beginning to doubt that 90% of the builders of these coops have the slightest clue what they are doing. Not in building........most seem to be skilled craftsman who are highly capable of building something well, they just don't know anything about the role and function of what it is they are building. The unfortunate thing is that the buyers of these coops.......folks like "Chicks", take it for granted and trust that these builders know what they are doing, when they don't. Ironically, both are wrong, yet neither of them is at fault. They simply didn't know. The same could be said for the backyard coops built by the owners themselves. These folks do an incredibly good job of building coops that feature mistakes galore. Again, not on purpose........they simply didn't know.

I do applaud the efforts of the long time and experienced forum participants, many of which must have the patience of Job.

Just take a look through the "Coops" section. There are tons of coops with step-by-step guides.

Thanks for the reminder. That is an excellent resource. I can remember spending hours wading through all those, fascinated with what folks decided to build.

I still think it would be a good idea to take a handful of those, (one of my favorite basic tried and true designs is the Wichita style) and go into some detail on each feature.......what each feature is and what it does. The pros and cons of each part and how to go about sizing them to get them in the right proportions, etc.

I'm not much of a crusader for any cause, and one of the things that truly makes me cringe is to hear someone say....."there ought to be a law"......but having said that, if there was a way to do it, I'd wave my magic wand and rid the unsuspecting world of ill conceived, poorly laid out and poorly made commercial coops for backyard flocks. Lacking that, about all I can think of is to put together some plain vanilla basic coop designs, talk about what is important and let folks take it from there.

Let knowledge and informed consumers drive the commercial guys into doing better.

I recommend a PVC waterer and feeder.

The waterer takes up no space at all.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/651102/my-pvc-true-auto-waterer

The feeder has several versions out there. The simpler the better if you are working with a small space.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/109158/pvc-pipe-feeder

If you are sticking with only 4 hens, then that coop is all you need, but as most of us on here will tell you, once you get a few, you just can't stop. And you might find that you are forced to buy 6 chicks from your local seller - I'd recommend having backup plans for expansion / covered run.

Good luck and enjoy your chickens!