1 thing I wish I knew when I was starting out...

[kortmom]

I'm glad you posted this. I am planning on building a 4x6 coop to house my 6 chickens. Research told me that 4 square feet was fine for the coop portion. I haven't built yet. Maybe I should go a little bigger. I hate to due to the increased costs but I don't want to regret my design if my chickens start picking on each other in a tight space.

 

[TheCrazyChick]

I'm glad you posted this. I am planning on building a 4x6 coop to house my 6 chickens. Research told me that 4 square feet was fine for the coop portion. I haven't built yet. Maybe I should go a little bigger. I hate to due to the increased costs but I don't want to regret my design if my chickens start picking on each other in a tight space.

4 x 6 is perfectly fine for 6 birds. Perfectly fine. Maybe more than perfectly fine even. I have 7 in a 4 x 5.5 coop and they are happy and content. Zero problems. The problem lies in that you will never stop at 6 chickens. I promise you this. Build for your FUTURE chickens.

 

[kortmom]

I am considering upgrading my 4x6 coop to a 4x8. That would allow me enough room to go from 6 to 8 or possibly 9 chickens if I choose to. The only time I would want to add chickens is when my current chickens reduce their egg-laying capacity. I'm sure over time I will lose a few of my six as well. Okay. You talked me into it. My new coop size is 4x8! My run is going to be 104 square feet so I would have plenty of ourdoor space to add a few later on.

Anybody know how much more in building materials (rough estimate, of course) it costs to buy 8 foot boards rather than 6 foot boards? I bet it is going to cost a couple hundred dollars more to go bigger??

Lisa

 

[TheCrazyChick]

I am considering upgrading my 4x6 coop to a 4x8.  That would allow me enough room to go from 6 to 8 or possibly 9 chickens if I choose to.  The only time I would want to add chickens is when my current chickens reduce their egg-laying capacity.  I'm sure over time I will lose a few of my six as well.  Okay.  You talked me into it.  My new coop size is 4x8!  My run is going to be 104 square feet so I would have plenty of ourdoor space to add a few later on.

Anybody know how much more in building materials (rough estimate, of course) it costs to buy 8 foot boards rather than 6 foot boards?  I bet it is going to cost a couple hundred dollars more to go bigger??

Lisa       

The boards will only be pennies more. Mayb a dime a piece. Plywood will be the most cost difference, but probably not as much as you think. I bet it only costs an extra $50 to enlarge. Check out the lowe's site to see.

 

[CourtsCacklers]

Plywood and many other boards come in 8ft lengths anyway so the only way you would be saving by going smaller is if you went with 4x4-- other wise you will most likely still need 8ft wood and you would be cutting off 2 ft. to make 6 ft and then that would be waste unless you use it elsewhere in your building. Good luck! Looking forward to building ours too-- construction begins this weekend

 

[kortmom]

Thank you for your information! I really expected the price difference to go from 4x6 to 4x8 to be much larger. I am definitely building a 4x8 now, have even toyed with the idea of bigger. Cost is my number one concern right now. I know nothing about lumber and sizes that things come in. I don't want to waste lumber. If I need to cut two feet off to make the size I desire, why not go two feet bigger, right? It makes no sense to throw away two feet I could use. I plan to post pictures as I go along. Now we need to wait another month or so before we can think about starting. My babies don't come til May.

 

[BLT79]

Bigger is better! I bought a coop from the feed store that stated was the right size for 4 - 6 chickens ....... not so. As my 4 chickens matured we had to expand the size of the coop. The coop was originally 4 x 6 ...... now it is 6 x 8 and I wouldn't put more than 4 birds in there now. Especially when they are cooped up inside for extended periods of time .... they need room to move around and not be on top of each other. That was my first mistake. I've made plenty. LOL.

do you recall which coop it was you purchased? Just looked at the coop I was thinking of getting and not sure it's big enough. thanks

 

[BLT79]

fill in the blank please...

what one thing do you wish you had/did differently/learned by trial and error with your first coop if you had to do it all again?

I've been reading and reading and researching and reading and honestly it's very overwhelming.
We're getting ready to build our first chicken house here and I'd love to hear what ya'll would have changed with your first time

things we've definitely decided to include:
cross ventilation
easy clean out access in the form of trays in the bottom of the house (we breed and show guinea pigs, I have pans from large cages I use to use for them)
high enough off the ground to make care easier - I'm 6'2" and the idea of bending way over to clean. collect eggs and care for chickens doesn't sound like fun!
high enough off the ground to give the gang some place extra to hang out
a chicken door that can be closed from outside the pen
(the pen will be a 10x10x6 dog run with a roof with them getting yard time pretty much every day out and about)


ideas? suggestions? bits of wisdom you wish you'd had?
thanks gang!!!

we were thinking about the dog run as well. what are you going to use for a roof? and I am just worried about cats or fox putting their paws in through that wide fencing of the kennel. also, I am trying to figure out how to keep predators from digging under the dog kennel if there is no chicken wire!

 

[joan1708]

I would have painted the hardware cloth black. I think it would look better and make it easier to see through. I changed out my door latches to bigger, easier to use latches.

 

[BLT79]

Build as big of a run/coop as you can afford. You will not regret this!

Also, easy to clean nesting boxes, roosts higher then nesting boxes, and slanted roof on nest boxes to prevent chickens (in my case the turkeys) from sleeping on top of them.

I fell in love with my poop board + PDZ under my roosts it saves the shavings and there is no smell in my coop. I just scoop it like cat litter.

what is PDZ? sorry, newbie here! haha