A few basic questions

[michellebee]

Hi everyone, nice to meet you all. I'm Michelle and I just joined BYC today. Over the holidays I had the chance to take care of my sister's family's flock of 3 young Golden Comets, which in short was total fun! It got me launched into many hours of research this week on having a flock of our own.

I've spent hours reading about basic coop design, the supremacy of hardware cloth, browsed many ingenious designs of repurposed materials, aww'ed at pics of baby chickies etc. But I still have a few (probably very simple) questions I can't quite parse out from my basic Google searches. I would appreciate your advice on my general plan as of now.

I am thinking about 4-6 chicks to start, but would like to plan to have space for at least 8. Please see pic for very rudimentary drawing of the coop/run layout. (I'm not an architect, but hopefully you get the gist).

Essentially, I have a 26' x 6' area set aside for them and chose the "coop" space to be 6' x 6' with the day run of 20' x 6', all enclosed at 6 feet tall. We have many predators in the area, so I am basically envisioning a big rectangle of framed welded wire, hah. The "coop" will be predator-proof, hopefully, but the day run I might more loosely wire (thinking larger mesh on the top half) as a consideration of cost.

• Do you think that is OK spacing for a flock of 8 max? I basically chose the sizes of each section for ease of math.
• I use "coop" in quotations because I don't quite understand the distinction between the "coop" and the actual "hen house" where they sleep and nest. It seems these terms can be used interchangeably. What I want to know is how much space the "hen house" itself should be in a 6' x 6' square foot space. I will keep the waterer and feeder outside the 'hen house' itself.
• Probably silly: I have seen the figure for square footage requirements per hen in the hen house, but how does one figure height into those calculations? As an example, if 6 hens should have 3 sq ft each, would my planned dimensions of say 4' x 3' x 3' (36 ft^3) suffice or am I thinking about this in a weird way? Hah.
• I would like to use this project as an opportunity to learn some woodworking/construction skills, but to be honest, am not at all handy *right* now. For me, time is not the issue, but skill and cost is. An outer enclosed frame seems feasible for me to build, but I wonder if I should try to build the hen house itself or try to buy a pre-fab. Has anyone had particular success with easily repurposing existing "structures" (say, kids' play cottage, dresser, shed) into the hen house and care to share? I've browsed many designs and have been constantly scouring Craigslist to see what I might be able to grab for free, but haven't seen any clear winner of course.

Edit: For additional info, I am in the Northern California region, close to San Jose. Our climate is fairly mild (no snow, low humidity, etc). Hot days in the summer and rain in the rainier seasons, of course, but not too concerned about overheating (lots of natural shade from neighboring shrubs and trees) or flooding.

There is so much great info online it is almost difficult to narrow down my thoughts, so again, I am grateful for any clarifications you can make to these initial ideas.

Thanks all, looking forward to your responses.

 

[Ted Brown]

The most common advice given on BYC is 4 sq. ft of indoor space plus 10 sq ft of outdoor space. The dimensions are for floor space and height is not considered. Eight birds will require 48 32 (apologies) sq ft of indoor space and 80 sq ft of outdoor space. Note that the requirement means open unused space (eg if you have nest boxes inside the coop do not count their footprint in the 4 sq. ft.; ditto for anything else that takes up floor space - feeders, waterers, etc). I have not seen a distinction made between the term coop and hen house.

A coop is assumed to be a closed building that is secure from any/all predators or pests (eg mice).

Height of the coop is variable but you should consider your own access for cleaning etc. Many people prefer sufficient height to be inside without being bent over but that is a personal choice.

I have no experience with prefab coops but most often on BYC they are disparaged as being not well designed nor constructed and prone to needing replacement within 1 or 2 years, Many people repurpose sheds for use as a coop as long as they provide adequate square footage. I suggest that children's play structures will be too small for eight chickens; most certainly a dresser or other such cabinet structures are much too small.

If you need to be very economical many people use pallets as a source for materials, often they can be found for free. Re-purposing these for use as a coop does require basic building skills, imagination and some tools. Many designs herein. Another inexpensive approach is hoop coops that are constructed using a frame and hardware cloth. Again many designs herein.

Good luck.

 

[cavemanrich]

You can use one of these plastic sheds, and just install ventilation, windows, and pop door at bottom.

There are many options, but Pricey, compared to home built coops made from plywood.

These would need to be modified with ventilation, windows, pop chicken doors, and interior roosts, and nesting area.
The metal one in that collection of pictures goes for $300
.

I had one of these sheds for storage. It is a challenge to assemble if not handy.
BTW for 8 chickens you need only 32 square feet. Your 6 x 6 coop would be just fine. Your daytime run is also big enough.

WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

 

[Aunt Angus]

I used a plastic shed for a bit for 7 chickens - the gray one on the bottom left of @cavemanrich 's post. It worked fine. I cut big ol windows in it and secured them with hardware cloth. It was SUPER easy to modify. I imagine a play house would be, too.

I definitely suggest this route or building. Those prefabs are not very good, imho. I'm kinda handy, and I built a 4x8 coop using almost 100% recycled materials for about $250. Did it by myself. Took me a week. I looked up examples on BYC and modified them based on what I had on hand or could get for free.

Coop to me means the same thing as hen house. You'll need 1 nest box for every 4 or so hens, so you won't need much space at all for that. I used to have my nest boxes under my roost/poop board. Saved lots of space. I later built nest boxes that were easy to access from outside. That saved even more internal space.

I think your space is ok for a flock of 8. But, your climate is important when figuring space. It doesn't get very cold where I am, so I can go small on the coop because they can be out in the run year round. So run space is FAR more important for my flock. I'll also say that I now have 9 chickens in an 80 sq ft coop with a 200 sq ft run, and it seems small to me. When they are cooped up in there. So I expanded it to include another 500 sq ft of outside space surrounded by electric fencing and covered by heavy duty bird netting, with plans to go even bigger come spring.

Bottom line: If you can go bigger, go bigger.

 

[3KillerBs]

Hello and welcome to BYC. Good for you doing your research and making your plans before you get the chickens.

I use "coop" in quotations because I don't quite understand the distinction between the "coop" and the actual "hen house" where they sleep and nest.

The coop is the henhouse -- the enclosed and predator-proof structure where they can be shut up safely at night and during times that you do not want them out for whatever reason.

The run is the fenced, and sometimes covered, area where they are let out but still contained as opposed to just wandering freely about;. Some runs are fully-enclosed and fully predator-proof, others are lightly-fenced and primarily intended to keep the chickens out of the places where chickens aren't wanted.

So in your drawing, the "henhouse" is the coop and what you labeled the "coop" is a more secure run connected to a larger, more lightly-secured run. This is a common solution to the problem of wanting to give the chickens plenty of room but only being able to afford a certain amount of materials.

To further confuse matters, in warm climate areas it's beneficial to combine the coop and the predator-hardened run into an "open air coop", which is mainly built of wire with only enough solid wall to provide shade and protection from storm winds.

If you add your general location to your profile we'll be able to give advice targeted to your climate.

I'll repeat the usual figures of 4 square feet in the coop and 10 square feet in the run per bird, but I'll add another -- 1 square foot of PERMANENT, 24/7/365 ventilation per bird. The pop door that's closed at night and windows that are closed in the winter don't count.

Ideally, this ventilation is placed up high, because heat and ammonia both rise and because you don't want a draft blowing right on the roost.

This brings us to coop height.

Your nest boxes need to be high enough off the floor to allow a decent build-up of bedding. Your roost (1 linear foot per bird), needs to be above the level of the nest boxes or the birds may sleep in (and poop in), the nest boxes. Your ventilation needs to be above the birds' heads while they're sitting on their roost.

How high varies a little based on breed, but roughly 2 feet should do as a minimum for most standard breeds.

You can see a minimum layout here in my Little Monitor Coop:

Set up as a brooder with the nest boxes blocked and no roost but you can see the cardboard and the mount for the roost.

That's the original before we remodeled. 4'x4'x4', essentially. I wouldn't ever recommend anything smaller in any dimension.

During remodeling -- I think this shot gives a good sense of the scale.

Thread here if you'd like to read about what we did right and wrong with that coop build.

I'm leery of plastic and metal sheds because they're hard to ventilate properly. Not impossible, but difficult.

If your construction skills are limited you probably should look into hoop coops made from cattle panels.

 

[Ted Brown]

@michellebee

You do not list your location, this is useful for folks replying to your thread as it may impact how you build your coop.

If you are in a predominately hot climate area you can get away with coop structures that have some walls constructed from hardware cloth.

If you live in a location that has harsh winters a coop that has a metal roof will have a tendency to collect moisture on the underside of the roof that can drip on the chickens. This can be overcome by using insulation under the roof.

 

[aart]

Good for you doing your research and making your plans before you get the chickens.

Ditto Dat!!

Your sketch is good, it's got scale.... most important!

Yes, always good to know....
Where in this world are you located?
Climate, and time of year, is almost always a factor.
Please add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!

 

[0die]

View attachment 2480589

very similar to my set up. using your diagram terms...My "coop" is 6x12 with hardware cloth, chicken wire and a roof. "hen house and nest" same size as yours and within the "coop" space and elevated 2 ft to allow "coop" access to the ground below the "house". There is free movement between "coop and house" at all times and the "house" is usually open "wide" into the "coop" with a large door wide open unless a hard cold/freeze is coming. 20+ feet of roosting bars inside the 6x12 "coop & house" area. The run is one entire side of my backyard about 25x60. It comfortably supports maybe 15 birds.

Roosting space is probably more important than anything else as long as they can access the "run" daily. If they are always contained in the "coop" then you really need to go BIG on the "coop".

Always build bigger than you think you need. It can never be too big.

 

[0die]

 

[svh]

Hello and welcome to BYC. Good for you doing your research and making your plans before you get the chickens.

Howdy, and welcome from mid MO !

Good on you for researching before popping in with questions ! It makes it so much easier for all involved. I skip over threads with basic questions that can be answered with a quick search.

Have I done this before ? Sure I have, but on a forum such as this, the SAME old asks pop up over, and over ..... (AND OVER !!!) I could go on ad nauseum .....

Sorry for the micro rant !

Most of your questions have already been answered above, so I will add nothing more, besides good luck, and may the chicken Gods smile upon you !