New Coop

sharon1955

Chirping
6 Years
Apr 18, 2016
46
3
89
Oregon
Got this in a box at my local feed store, only took me about and hour to put together by myself. love the way it looks. I have put paver stones under the perimeter of it as a foundation to keep varmints from digging under it. My chickens will free range as I have 5 acres for them to run on. There are 4 Rhode Island reds, 2 Silver Laced Wyandottes, and 2 eggers, one turning out to be a cockerel, for the first time this morning he was trying to crow, was pretty funny, they are about 14 weeks old now. Can't wait for some nice fresh eggs and my 2 year old grandson will love gathering the eggs. I have a dozen blue Cochin eggs in the incubator so I will be having to get
another coop as this one is at capacity now. Hoping for a better hatch this time as my last only yielded one lone chick. Poor thing in the brooder all alone. Shipped eggs just don't do well.
 
The coop portion looks to be about 3' x 3' - that's 9 sq ft for 8 birds. That is very tight for that many chickens.
If you aren't going to use the little attached pen as a pen, I'd make sure it is strong enough and expand the coop to be the entire thing and enclose more of it.
 
I've only had chickens for a couple years now but I've learned a few things. First of all, you always want more chickens. And second, I would have saved a whole Lotta money if I would have built a coop from the beginning that was big enough for my future plans. Figure out what your true, realistic maximum for chickens is and then build a coop for that number. Even if it takes you a while to get to that number you will save money in the long run.
 
I have raised chickens for over 15 years. Their free range, their not going to be locked up in it 24/7. Just at night to roost. They are not going to stress.i have raised a lot of chickens over the years. I didn't post the picture so it could be picked apart and critisized.
 
I have raised chickens for over 15 years. Their free range, their not going to be locked up in it 24/7. Just at night to roost. They are not going to stress.i have raised a lot of chickens over the years. I didn't post the picture so it could be picked apart and critisized.

You already know you're going to need another coop. So you can have two or three coops or just one big one. It's up to you, but if money is an issue I just gave you my opinion about what might be a less expensive in the long run.
 
Something that may be useful for this site would be a space under our avatars where one can add number of years experience. This would help us know whether members were new to chicken keeping, or had lots of experience. Just a thought...
 
I am on my own,I could have built a coop I have done it before but I don't feel like spending hours building one or hauling all the lumber and fencing for it.I have a small farm (5 acres) and spend hours taking care of 8 horses,2 pigs, chickens, cats , dogs and grandkids, that's why I opted to buy a prefab coop. I do plan to get another one or two , Hayneedle has a lot of them on sale right now. I will need at least one more since I have a dozen eggs in the incubator right now. Not expecting a large hatch since they were shipped eggs and that usually causes a low hatch rate. My last one only yielded one lone chick. Also I wanted the smaller coops in case I had to ever move them, and beings they are smaller I can have them closer to my house (I live in Oregon) which in the winter when it is pouring down rain every day for weeks at a time it is much more convenient for me to take care of them,
 

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