You have received some very sound advice. Remember that our birds have to survive a Maine winter - which is not usual circumstances in other parts of the country. Our birds are some days confined to the coop due to weather (active blizzard or bad wind chills) - so your coop needs to be big enough to accommodate that without your birds killing each other when they're cooped up. There are ways of reducing the picking at each other (ie lots of food/flock block) but it's not a lifestyle that you want to continue day in and day out. You will want a minimum of 4 square foot per bird. You will want more if you don't plan on getting up early every single day and letting them out to roam their run or free range at sunrise or if you don't plan on shoveling out the run after each snow storm. Those two examples means they'll be cooped up more and will require more space.
My neighbor bought a fairly nice coop from Roots, Coops and More. However, any time you buy a pre-fab coop you'll find the construction is skimped a bit. It might not be made out of the best lumber, or the right size lumber (ie 2x4 instead of 2x6 or not pressure treated so it will sag eventually) or even right spacing (they might go every 18 inches instead of 12). If you have the will, the money and the tools, I suggest looking here and finding a coop that you like and build it to suit your needs.
As far as "cold" breeds go - I have had a wide variety of birds, from leghorns with huge combs, to banties, to naked necks to showgirls, and everything pretty much survives the winter, with some good fall preparation. I don't heat my coop, either. But my coop is solid, blocks wind, and my birds are well taken care of. There may be small nips of frostbite in the winter on some birds, but they all survive. I'm actually surprised that on really cold days it's my leghorns and banties that are out and the "fat girls" - brahma, orps, etc - are inside. As long as you research and educate yourself and PREPARE and WORK pretty much most breeds will work here.
My neighbor bought a fairly nice coop from Roots, Coops and More. However, any time you buy a pre-fab coop you'll find the construction is skimped a bit. It might not be made out of the best lumber, or the right size lumber (ie 2x4 instead of 2x6 or not pressure treated so it will sag eventually) or even right spacing (they might go every 18 inches instead of 12). If you have the will, the money and the tools, I suggest looking here and finding a coop that you like and build it to suit your needs.
As far as "cold" breeds go - I have had a wide variety of birds, from leghorns with huge combs, to banties, to naked necks to showgirls, and everything pretty much survives the winter, with some good fall preparation. I don't heat my coop, either. But my coop is solid, blocks wind, and my birds are well taken care of. There may be small nips of frostbite in the winter on some birds, but they all survive. I'm actually surprised that on really cold days it's my leghorns and banties that are out and the "fat girls" - brahma, orps, etc - are inside. As long as you research and educate yourself and PREPARE and WORK pretty much most breeds will work here.
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