Any advice re this possible coop?

[Folly's place]

That seller's 'large' coop might manage four or five birds max. I wouldn't buy either from him! Get a garden shed, at least, and modify it. For eight birds in snow country you will want easily 8'x 10' under a roof, walk-in, and well ventilated.
Mary

 

[Appalachickens]

Yowza - the “Serious Business II” coop on that site claims to hold 40 chickens and is just 32 SF. They‘d be jammed in there like sardines!

 

[3KillerBs]

I agree, it's way, way too small and completely lacking in ventilation. My 4-hen coop is bigger than that!

The usual guidelines per adult, standard-sized bird, and in VT with your heavy snowfalls you will want to go beyond the minimums, are:

4 square feet in the coop,
10 square feet in the run,
1 linear foot of roost,
and 1 square foot of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation -- the pop door that's closed at night and windows that are closed in the winter don't count.

So for 8 hens that's a 32 square-foot coop, 80 square feet of run, 8 feet of roost, and 8 square feet of draft-free ventilation.

You'll want the base to be deep enough for a decent thickness of bedding^, the nest boxes above the top of the bedding, the roosts above the nest boxes, and the ventilation over the birds heads when they are sitting on their roosts.

It's a shame that people take advantage of new chicken keepers' lack of knowledge.^^ Good for you that you came and asked for advice! I hope we haven't confused you too much.

^My Article on Deep Bedding for small coops: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/using-deep-bedding-in-a-small-coop.76343/

^^I agree that a builder selling chicken coops should be held responsible to know what sort of accommodations chickens actually require.

 

[Sycamore Hill Chicks]

Hi there,

I'm thinking of asking this person to build us a coop because we're not going to do it ourselves in time: http://www.coopsmto.com/mid-sized.html I like the Midsized Design but it seems small for the 6-8 hens we're getting (though he says it could fit 10 hens) so I might increase the footprint but use the design. I also have questions about whether the measurements are inside or outside measurements. I'll fence in an additional larger area for the hens to go in during the days when we're around but our neighbors have had some predator problems without a roof, so the built in run is important to me.

Do you have any opinion on going this direction or other questions I should ask the builder before we commit? He claims it will be sturdy enough for VT weather.

Thank you for any thoughts you might share!

Sonia

That looks like a nice enough coop but it is WAY too small for that number of chickens. They should have at least 3 ft, preferably 4+ in the coop, and 10 ft in the run

 

[soniasilbert]

Thank you everyone for the input!