BEST small coop (in your opinion)

[MagsC]

We are going to start work on a small coop/shed, it has to be under 10' by 10'. My question, what is the best smaller coop that is also the most efficient as far as space?

 

[Chosen Chickens]

Well I cant give you much of an experienced answer since I haven't tried it out yet... but I just built a small coop that I downloaded the plans from www.greenroofchickencoop.com It was a ton of fun to build and it looks really nice out there in our back yard. Also, the extra garden space was a plus. I know the plans cost some money to download, but private message me if you want to build this particular coop!

 

[PlanterTomato]

I just posted my design today. You might take a look at www.plantertomato.com for more info.

 

[MagsC]

Thank you, both of these were very helpful! (Chosen Chickens, pm'ing you.)
I have a little while to decide on what I am going to go with, my biggest concerns are efficiency for space and that I am able to easily predator proof it.

 

[chookchick]

Well of course the BEST one is the one I built! It is an 8 by 8. You can see it on my BYC pages, on the second page (coop design page), I have framing plans. An 8 by 8 is a really good use of materials, if you want to keep the cost down.

 

[MagsC]

I will go look. 8' by 8' is a good size. The reason I put a 10' by 10' limit on it, here, if it is over that you have to pay a fairly hefty fee for a building permit.

 

[Uzuri]

Perfectly square will always give you the most space for the least amount of building material -- mathematical fact! Don't know if that helps you any or not

 

[MagsC]

Actually, its GOOD to know that!

 

[AnnesChicks]

Visit my page and take a look at the snug little coop n run we built for our 8 hens. It is a very simple weekend project, we used a combo of repurposed materials and new. We looked at a lot of the coop photos on this site, and my DH came up with a plan incorporating the features we wanted. Craiglist can be a great source for materials, also put the word out with friends and co-workers.

Think about ease of cleaning and access to nest boxes and to feed. One entire wall swings open, I park the wheel barrow next to it and rake the litter into. Takes about two trips to the compost pile and half an hour to clean it. The access hatch into the nestboxes is so convienent.

Have fun, we have had our chickens for almost a year now and really enjoy them.

 

[fiberart57]

How many chickens are you planning to have? The minimum recommended is 4 square feet per bird inside the house and 10 sq ft per bird outside in the run. These are minimums and I've found from experience that the more room you can give them outside, the better. I basically have a three tier system: Playhouse coop - 100 sq. ft. run - big backyard.

In Minnesota, you may want to build a house on the small side so that they can keep warm for the winter. I live in Colorado, built a playhouse coop, 4' x 6' x 4.5' and a 6' x 10 ' run for six standards. The run is covered and tarped to keep out the snow. They've had the run of the yard for most of the day until yesterday when I built an additional 10' x 10' extended run. The house is insulated with an oversized internal nestbox and roosts for them and they can stay pretty snug in the winter. In summer, I'll open windows and vents. This is pretty much the house. Since the run is covered and has an underhouse area so there's places for them to be dry. It works really well.

I mention this because the original coop was as predator proof as I could make it. Even though I live inside a town, I've gotten racoons in my yard and I feel confident in the security of the system. I close them up at night with latches and catches.

The big run was added because I was tired of the dog tracking mud and chicken poo into the house every opportunity she could. They only use it during the daytime and I'll let them back into the yard for an hour or so when I get home from work. I'm hoping it will cut down on the holes in every garden, poop on every available surface and the general destruction that comes with having happy, healthy chickens. In addition, with spring on the way I'm afraid that the girls will yank out and eat any green shoot trying to come up, poisonous or not.

I looked at a lot of coops in this section for weeks before I decided on my design. I am very happy with the playhouse coop.

Good luck.