Advice Needed: All The Things

[Flappy Bird]

I recently had a flock of 16 chickens! That was a lot for me because I could sadly not maintain a flock of that size. Fortunately, my friend took nine, and I was left with 7. This Friday, I am dropping off a rooster to a lovely home and hope to have his three sons rehomed soon. After those four are gone, I am left with 3, which I will keep.

What I am asking is for any advice about a coop. I am located in Texas, and I have a current set-up that is decent but nowhere near as nice as I would want. Eventually, I want to expand my flock when I am ready. I’ve come up with as many questions as I can. Please, any extra advice is very well appreciated.

Coop

- What is the size of a coop and run that accommodates up to twenty chickens?

- What is the best material to create a coop?

- Should the floor of a coop be the ground?

- What are the best areas for ventilation?

- What roofing material should I use?

- Best door material? Should I have an automatic door to open for the chickens?

- Are poop boards a good idea?

- Should I create a brooding area for new chicks?

- Best feeding and watering arrangements?

- Should I sand materials?

- Height for roosts? How many roosts?

- How many best boxes should I have?

- Should I include cameras?

I can’t think of any other questions at the moment. Answers to these questions and all additional advice is appreciated.

Thank you,

Flappy

 

[Brooks_]

I recently had a flock of 16 chickens! That was a lot for me because I could sadly not maintain a flock of that size. Fortunately, my friend took nine, and I was left with 7. This Friday, I am dropping off a rooster to a lovely home and hope to have his three sons rehomed soon. After those four are gone, I am left with 3, which I will keep.

What I am asking is for any advice about a coop. I am located in Texas, and I have a current set-up that is decent but nowhere near as nice as I would want. Eventually, I want to expand my flock when I am ready. I’ve come up with as many questions as I can. Please, any extra advice is very well appreciated.

Coop

- What is the size of a coop and run that accommodates up to twenty chickens?
Coop should have 3-4 sf per adult standard size bird: run 10+ sf
- What is the best material to create a coop?
A lot of variables. I used plywood on one and cattle panel hoop for another.
- Should the floor of a coop be the ground?
Can be with deep litter.
- What are the best areas for ventilation?
Above their heads when roosting. 1 sf each.
- What roofing material should I use?
Corrugated sheeting is popular.
- Best door material? Should I have an automatic door to open for the chickens?
Their are mixed opinions on that.
- Are poop boards a good idea?
Yes.
- Should I create a brooding area for new chicks?
Depends on how you want yo brood.
- Best feeding and watering arrangements?
Are you asking where to feed water?
- Should I sand materials?
Unlikely you'll need to.
- Height for roosts? How many roosts?
A few ways for the height, 1 linear foot each.
- How many best boxes should I have?
1 box for each 3-4 birds, minimum of two for choice.
- Should I include cameras?
I have not seen anyone regret them.
I can’t think of any other questions at the moment. Answers to these questions and all additional advice is appreciated.

Thank you,

Flappy

Answers in red above.

 

[Flappy Bird]

Are you asking where to feed water?

Sorry, I should have been clear. Well, yes. I am also wondering if I should use a feeder from the feed store or create a better and more maintainable one. With the water, which kind would be best? Should I develop a nipple waterer and install it?

 

[Brooks_]

Sorry, I should have been clear. Well, yes. I am also wondering if I should use a feeder from the feed store or create a better and more maintainable one. With the water, which kind would be best? Should I develop a nipple waterer and install it?

Personal preference really.

 

[Becks Chicks]

Sorry, I should have been clear. Well, yes. I am also wondering if I should use a feeder from the feed store or create a better and more maintainable one. With the water, which kind would be best? Should I develop a nipple waterer and install it?

I am a beginner myself so don’t necessarily listen to me. I bought a waterer from the feed store that I’ve been using. The chickens poop in it and they knocked it over the other day when it was super hot out and I was at work. I will be making them a waterer using horizontal nipples and a pvc bar to prevent those issues in our new coop.

 

[Brooks_]

I am a beginner myself so don’t necessarily listen to me. I bought a waterer from the feed store that I’ve been using. The chickens poop in it and they knocked it over the other day when it was super hot out and I was at work. I will be making them a waterer using horizontal nipples to prevent those issues in our new coop.

A lot of people swear by the nipple style. Have you considered a hanging style? Also, most recommend against water in the coop.

 

[BrandonsBirbs]

No need for food/water in the coop overnight. If your chickens don't free range and spend their time in a run, consider using hanging drinkers/feeders. I find they stay much cleaner, just put them at the height of the smallest birds neck. You could also just elevate your current feeder or waterer by using bricks etc.

 

[3KillerBs]

I don't have time to answer in detail tonight, but I'll drop a few general pieces of information. I HIGHLY recommend an Open Air style coop for anyone in a hot climate.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-much-room-do-chickens-need.66180/

The Usual Guidelines

For each adult, standard-sized hen you need:

• 4 square feet in the coop (.37 square meters)
• 10 square feet in the run (.93 square meters),
• 1 linear foot of roost (.3 meters),
• 1/4 of a nest box,
• And 1 square foot (.09 square meters) of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation, preferably located over the birds' heads when they're sitting on the roost.

20 hens

• 80 square feet in the coop. 8'x10' is the most practical because 7'x12' or 6'x14' require a lot of weird cuts.
• 20 feet of roost
• 200 square feet in the run. 10'x20', 12'x16' or 8'x25' as suits the land available.
• 20 square feet of ventilation.
• 5 nest boxes.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/repecka-illustrates-coop-ventilation.77659/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/hot-climate-chicken-housing-and-care.77263/

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

Open Air Coops

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/jens-hens-a-southern-texas-coop.75707/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/my-positive-local-action-coop.72804/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/california-living.68130/

I don't have a coop page for Neuchickenstein yet, but here's the build thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/large-open-air-coop-in-central-nc.1443812/#post-23969601

 

[Becks Chicks]

A lot of people swear by the nipple style. Have you considered a hanging style? Also, most recommend against water in the coop.

Yes. Not in the coop. Waterer and feed in the run. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[saysfaa]

...I am located in Texas..
...
I can’t think of any other questions at the moment. Answers to these questions and all additional advice is appreciated.

- What is the size of a coop and run that accommodates up to twenty chickens? 280 square feet for both is reasonably likely to be enough for most flocks to get along well. That is assuming it isn't so narrow that one chicken can block another from getting past her. More is better. Less can sometimes work if the chickens like each other. Clutter (anything that lets one chicken get out of sight of another) helps in all cases but is especially helpful if space is tight.

- What is the best material to create a coop? In most of Texas, hardware cloth for the majority of the walls, with partial walls solid to shelter the roost and nests from storm winds. The "solid" could be anything from tarp to pallets to anything you would use as the walls of a garden shed. This is because the heat down there is much more of an issue than the occasional cold spells you get. Up in the panhandle or similar climates, I would make panels that could close off three sides completely for the blue northerners and maybe all winter there.

- Should the floor of a coop be the ground? That can work if you have a predator apron (hardware cloth attached to the bottom of your walls and laid out from your walls by about 2'). And if you have reasonably good drainage. Some people like dirt floors because it is easier to do deep litter. Deep litter is basically a slow compost pile. As opposed to deep bedding which is a thick layer of bedding that is too dry to compost at all. Either works well.

- What are the best areas for ventilation?
My preference is a three-sided building with the fourth side protected from predators by hardware cloth for winter. And open up the eave vents, ridge vent, and big windows open from early spring to late fall. But I live in the upper midwest. If I lived in the south, I'd have more of the walls be wire.

- What roofing material should I use? Anything that keeps the water off. I have shingles like my house.

- Best door material? Should I have an automatic door to open for the chickens?
People door? Whatever a garden shed would have. Nearly any exterior door from Habitate for Humanity's Restore or craigslist works. Or you can make one from boards or plywood and 1x3 or 1x4 boards as trim.
Pop door? A piece of plywood or sheet metal works well.

- Are poop boards a good idea?
This depends. If you have generous space for your chickens then you might rather skip the daily scooping. It catches about half the poop, so you can go longer before you need to clean out the deep bedding. The extra poop can actually makes deep litter work better - it depends on how tight your space is and how much and what kind of litter you have.

- Should I create a brooding area for new chicks? Yes, if you want to brood chicks. It can also be used for other things - like a hospital space. I would try to make it openable as additional floor space when not using it for brooding or such.

- Best feeding and watering arrangements? There is no one best way for this. I like my arrangement: for food, a stainless steel dog dish elevated to about as high as their backs by setting it in a different container. For water, a three-quart, stainless steel, double-walled, vacuum-sealed ice bucket (designed for cooling wine) set on cement blocks so the top is about even with their backs. Both in their coop 24/7. They have never spilled either food or water, and I have a fort knox coop; I'm not worried about attracting pests.
If I had more chickens, I would get more of the same containers and spread them out.

- Should I sand materials? It has some pros and cons. I didn't but It did take a lot more paint than it otherwise would have and it catches the dust unbelievably. I have rough-sawn boards for siding, though, so very, very rough. My floor is plywood and was rougher than I expected. I might have sanded that if I had left it as is. I coated it with Blackjack 57 with smoothed it better than paint would have. I would sand roosting bars if they are very rough.

- Height for roosts? How many roosts? Some people like roosts high enough to easily check the birds after dark without lifting them.
The chickens like to roost as high as they can get. They will roost fourty feet up in a tree and possibly higher if there are taller trees with suitable branching. They will also be happy roosting six inches high if that is as high as they can get.
Any amount noticeably higher than anything they can get to that you don't want them to roost on is the best height. Usually, that means higher than the nests.
If you have birds that have silky or frizzle feathers, they need low roosts or steps or a ramp. Very heavy breeds shouldn't be landing from very high, even if they can get up that high.
Some people like a single roost, some people like multiple roosts. The chickens don't care. Diagonal in the corner doesn't work very well because so much clearance is lost from being to close to a wall.

- How many best boxes should I have? One for every 4-6 hens but at least two.

- Should I include cameras?
I have no opinion on that for you. I don't want them.

Other.
I like being able to walk into my coop.
I like having two "rooms" in the coop. One is for the chickens. The other lets me carry bulky things in without worrying about escapees. It is really nice to putter around filling bowls and whatever without being rained on or stepping on chickens. My storage space doubles as storage for chicken feed, bedding, and other supplies and for garden tools so it is pretty big; the elbow room makes taking care of the chickens very enjoyable.

Don't forget a feeder for oystershell and probably another dish for grit.