Thank you so much to those of you that have taken the time to submit your pictures, plans and experience. This website has been the BIGGEST as we await the incubation of our new little chicks. Step by step this website and the forums have provided more information than all of the books we could read.
Hopefully we can someday contribute to the threads with our own expertise! Thank you thank you!!
I agree with these comments....this site is soooooo helpful. My biggest problem is the fact that there are more great ideas than I can possibly incorporate into my first coop.
Thanks for all the ideas, we start our coop project officially today! We had chickens about 20 years ago, and have recently purchased 10 beautiful chics who need a new home in the yard. We have scrap material around our place that thanks to this site, we will nail together to make the best coop ever! Thanks again!
What a great sight. I will soon be a chicken owner, and this sight has given me some great ideas for building my chicken coop. How does one choose? There are so many cute coops!
Fantastic resource of ideas. Mine is made out of concrete blocks on a reinforced concrete base. I don't see any made like that. The big advantage is...no rot! I can wash out the house and run with a hose and it all runs away down a ditch. I can also shovel or rake the sh...manure out into an adjacent composter without worrying about damaging the coop. I'll post photos shortly.
i love all of them but i have got dad to build me the eggplant with a few adjustments first being its going to be painted sage not purple and the roof is going to be different and inside is going to be painted white to add light as there is going to be no windows to stop roosters crowing as we have a neighber who told us off because one of our 118 cows was mooing all night.lol she even phoned up council.and do you know what dad told her she shouldnt have brought a house next to a farm lol.
I love this site, it really helped me to decide how I wanted to build our coop. I also really enjoy the forum and every one's ideas, comments, and advice. Thanks for building this site.
Newbie to the site, I am planning on getting my baby chicks the 11th of this month and I am totally lost. They are all hens 25 of them Rhode Island Reds. I live in the southern part of WV so the weather is going to be a problem I don't know if I should isolate the coop house or place a heat lamp inside after I get the electric installed. Hope I haven't bit off more than I can handle. I wanted to have the experience of the eggs and for my grandchildren. I don't have any roosters. So I hope I can handle it all. can anyone tell me about how many nest boxes I would need at first I thought I needed one for each bird. Now I know I don't but I don't know how many to get build. Do these chicken usually lay once a day been told they will lay twice a day. Hope I do well with them welcome any advice or suggestions, I appreciate any help at this point. I am afraid I won't get the run area large enough and have problems with the health dept I live in a small community outside of the city limits. But people do complain...Thanks all, Nana
I'll reply DancingNana but this post really should not be on someone else's coop build project. The rule of thumb for nest boxes should be one to every three hens...that means you will need 9 boxes. Your chickens will not lay twice a day. You will get an egg from each of them every one to two days if they are really happy with life. If you are getting 25 birds you are going to need a large area to house them and support them in. I believe the chicken math on the area would be 4 sq.ft a bird for the coop and 10 sq.ft. a bird for the run. Hope that helps.
I needed some good ventilation (other than top vent) ideas as none are on my coop yet...1/2 my babies will be ready to move in in about 2 more weeks...our weather is crazy in Ky and can go from cold to hot in same week...this weekend if weather permits will be using a lime whitewash inside on everything...thanks all...so many good ideas here that will work for my chickens in my little coop