Shelter/nesting house for free range chickens

[ChickNgal96]

I am trying to find a solution for housing for my chickens. This is my first time raising them and so far it has been great. When they are old enough I am wanting to free range them during the day and them put them up at night. I have a barn that I could use For shelter and make a stall into a cooo but also thought about just buying a hen house with a run and putting them up at night but leave the house open during the day to go in and out of. Anybody have any thoughts or suggestions. If I did the just the hen house shelter is that enough for winter time?

 

[lazy gardener]

Save your money. Do the stall retrofit into a predator safe coop. Pre fab coops are poorly designed, made of inferior materials, falsely advertised, and will not meet the needs of your birds. Plan on at least 4 s.f. of space per bird, walk in style is best, cover all openings that you could push a quarter through with 1/2" hdw. cloth, give them at least 1 s.f. of ventilation per bird, and lots of natural lighting in the coop. Next boxes: 1 per 4 birds, make them AT LEAST 12L x 12W x 14H. Community nests are a great option as well.

 

[ChickNgal96]

Save your money. Do the stall retrofit into a predator safe coop. Pre fab coops are poorly designed, made of inferior materials, falsely advertised, and will not meet the needs of your birds. Plan on at least 4 s.f. of space per bird, walk in style is best, cover all openings that you could push a quarter through with 1/2" hdw. cloth, give them at least 1 s.f. of ventilation per bird, and lots of natural lighting in the coop. Next boxes: 1 per 4 birds, make them AT LEAST 12L x 12W x 14H. Community nests are a great option as well.

 

[ChickNgal96]

Okay thanks. Was just looking for the most efficient solution. I only have 5 hens and two ducks.

 

[CJreef]

I agree with lazy gardener. We live in PA and have a sturdy stone barn. Don't know what kind of barn you have but in our case using one of the stalls to make a coop worked really well. We made sure to plug up any possible entry hole as it doesn't take much of a hole for a mink or other small predator to sneak in. We have 10 chickens, 5 of them bantams and two guineas who share the space. They all go home by themselves by sundown and are very safe.
We use a deep bed of pine shavings and maintenance is minimal except for under the roosts which are just tree limbs.
Enjoy your birds, they are so much smarter than many people think and all with different personalities.
We also have a pair of ducks. Except for going to the barn a couple times a day to snitch some chicken food, they pretty much stay on their pond. I'd be careful about letting them stay in the coop with the chickens. I am under the impression that if the ducks try to mate with the hens, they actually may kill them because of their different anatomies.

 

[lazy gardener]

You'll never have too much space.

 

[lazy gardener]

Agreed with CJR. Ducks with chickens can be a recipe for disaster, especially if you have a drake.

 

[Krazyquilts]

I agree with lazy gardener. We live in PA and have a sturdy stone barn. Don't know what kind of barn you have but in our case using one of the stalls to make a coop worked really well. We made sure to plug up any possible entry hole as it doesn't take much of a hole for a mink or other small predator to sneak in. We have 10 chickens, 5 of them bantams and two guineas who share the space. They all go home by themselves by sundown and are very safe.
We use a deep bed of pine shavings and maintenance is minimal except for under the roosts which are just tree limbs.
Enjoy your birds, they are so much smarter than many people think and all with different personalities.
We also have a pair of ducks. Except for going to the barn a couple times a day to snitch some chicken food, they pretty much stay on their pond. I'd be careful about letting them stay in the coop with the chickens. I am under the impression that if the ducks try to mate with the hens, they actually may kill them because of their different anatomies.

My drakes completely ignore the hens (chickens). They have lots of lady ducks that are way pretty than any chicken could be. Chickens don't even have bills, or proper webbed feet! ;-)

Honestly, as long as the Drake has at least 2-3 adult female ducks, I think it would be fine.