Coop help.

Hey everyone! Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday, I am sitting at work hoping no one calls 911 so I can keep looking at chicken stuff!

So here is what my post is about. I currently have 4 5-7 week old chickens in their temporary home inside my house until it warms up outside (last weekend it was 80, today it is about 30 -- and here I thought NC was going to be a warmer place to live than NY!). One of our young crew is a silver laced Wyandotte, 3 are silkies - don't know what sex they are yet so this number may change if there are roosters due to the whole rooster law in my area. I am getting 2 more silkies and 2 sizzles tomorrow. I have one of those premade, bought of Amazon because we were only going to get 2 chickens coops. I was just going to add a bigger run -- but then 4 chickens happened, soon to be 8... I see things that say 1 square foot per chicken, which to me means I need a much bigger coop. What I am wondering is just HOW big of a coop I should get. I was pricing some online that are better quality because although I am the handiest, most tool loving daughter out of my dad's 3 girls, I don't have much time (mostly patience) to build my own, plus it seems what I would build will cost a lot more than what I could fork out in a day. So any suggestions as to what size, company etc would be greatly appreciated!


*I know this is the wrong post for this, but was I nuts for getting a Wyandotte with all the rest being silkies and sizzles!?!*

4sq ft per bird in the coop and 10 in the run is what I see posted a lot.
I would consider buying a shed from lowes or Home Depot and converting it. Pre fab coops get horrible real life reviews

My flock a month away, I built a huge coop so no experience yet just lots of reading!

Good luck

Gary

Yes, I agree w IdylwildAcres.....getting a garden shed might be the way to go. Then it's big enough for you to walk in. You'd just have make a couple windows, roosts, add crates or something similar for nest boxes. And make the run as big as you can as well....Good luck!

IdyllwildAcres said:

4sq ft per bird in the coop and 10 in the run is what I see posted a lot.
I would consider buying a shed from lowes or Home Depot and converting it. Pre fab coops get horrible real life reviews

My flock a month away, I built a huge coop so no experience yet just lots of reading!

Good luck

Gary

Click to expand...

Do you think I would need something larger than an 8'x12'?

8x12 for just a coop would be a palace for 8 hens. You could split it with a wire wall and have 1/2 for storage. Feed, yard tools...

Stop buying more chicks!

Chicks are cheep(haha)..... coops are not.

Percheron chick said:

8x12 for just a coop would be a palace for 8 hens. You could split it with a wire wall and have 1/2 for storage. Feed, yard tools...

Click to expand...

This is what we have, a 8' x 18' shed split with a wire wall (+gate). Half for the chickens, half for storage. We have 6 chickens. It's a great size.

Also, to OP... 5-7 week old chicks are old enough to be out in a coop with no heat source. The should be pretty well feathered other than a little fuzz left on their heads. As long as they are out of drafts and dry, night time lows in 30s with rebounds to warmer temps during the day won't hurt them.