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You'll hear a lot of opinions about how much space birds need in the coop. The guy who sold it to me had it listed as holding 100. 80 would be two square feet per bird. I'm going to start with 50-55 in there and see how it goes.

Finally got the web site live and a little content up there. Happy to announce Helping Hens Farm: https://www.helpinghensfarm.com/

Yeah, I've had some red stars that I think are the same thing as a golden comet, and they are exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for...great layers, smaller body size, good feed to egg conversion. ISA Browns are pretty close to the same, although they're a propriety mix...anyone know from...

Thanks for the input. That's what I'm thinking...maybe build a 6 foot long two-step roost out of 2x3 or slightly smaller gauge lumber, so they can use it to hop up if they want to, but also leaves plenty of space for those who just want to hop up and down.

Here are a couple of photos of the doors closed and propped open. There are 5 door of these doors on each of the long sides of the coop, which can all be opened and closed independently. This is a nice feature as I can open or close as many as desired based on the season, weather, any...

I plan to build stairs up to the “people door” as my legs don’t bend that far anymore...but would love folks thoughts on the chicken entrances. The setup is pretty nice...the side panels all around flip up for chicken entry/exit. My question is...should I build a few ramps? Or roost-like...

Yes, the ability to move it if needed will be nice. I also think having it up off the ground may have some advantages when it comes to things like cleaning and predator protection. Plus, the wheels make it look COOL! I wonder if I can get chrome rims in that size... :cool:

Oh yeah, absolutely. That's how the guy I bought it was using it. He hasa 250 acre farm, and moved the coop around his hay fields to let the chickens eat bugs. I don't have the space to really leverage the "portable" nature of the coop, but for the price I couldn't pass it up. I'm pretty sure...

Thanks for the thoughts, @Folly's place! Still trying to figure out exactly the plan for replacements, but I think that the 1/3 is probably not a place to start. I may wait until the end of year 2 to start that, depending on how they're laying and what losses I've suffered. I don't know...

That's a really good suggestion. I'll make sure to have some straw or hay around for cold weather. I could see that make the coop warmer and winter cleanup a lot easier.

Hey @rosemarythyme & @Manhen, I think we may have just invented a Game Show!!! It's sure to be a HIT! Like "Double Dare" from my youth, but with chicken poop instead of "slime". :lau

Oh man...I hate it when chicken math leads to ACTUAL math. :p OK, so, in my 20 x 8 coop, I have 30 nesting boxes mounted along 1 of the long walls, and they kick out about a foot from the wall. The first box pretty much touches the back wall, so I have maybe 3-4 feet of bare wall on that side...

The weather warmed up a bit this weekend, so I climbed into the coop to get a closer look. I think I’m going to replace the “A” framed roosts with a setup that slants from the floor to just below the ventilation windows. The tricky part will be getting enough slant to avoid birds pooping on...

:lau:lau:lau Oh gosh...rabbit math. Yeah, that one is tricky. And let's not even talk about the goats I need to get to keep my wife on board with the "many chickens in a giant coop" plan!

Wow, that's a LOT of chick time! That'd be tough to do in my setup (or any setup, really). Doing it in batches, though, is likely the right approach.

80 chickens x 10 sq feet of run space per chicken is only 800 sq feet. That being said, my run will likely be more like 1800-2000 sq feet. 2000 sq feet is still less than 5% of an acre (1 acre is 43,560 sq feet). So, a 2,000 sq foot run is still only 10% of a 1/2 acre lot. (if my math is...

We got a little snow this weekend (just a couple of inches) but when I checked in the coop the next morning, there wasn't any snow to be seen. I still think I'll need a ventilation "adjustment" setup for the coldest, nastiest weather, but it's a good sign. The long side of the tall side of the...

The run is a not perfect rectangle, so I need to re-measure to get the exact dimensions, but the "long side" is 100 plus feet, so I think I'll be in a good place. The yard is already fenced, and there's an existing run that contains the chickens well. It'll get expanded, and there's a few...

So, no on the cardboard? What's the reasoning....no questioning it, just want to get a better idea.

Interesting on the wire size and manure falling through. I was thinking about this a little bit today. What do you think of putting collapsed cardboard boxes on the floor under the roost to "catch" the droppings, and then replace and compost the cardboard as needed?