We started our first flock in a DIY dog house turned coop and a small pen area. After learning a ton from our first chickens, we are ready to expand our flock and bought some new babies this weekend! We have a general idea of what the coop will look like, but would love some suggestions from other chicken parents out there. To give you a general idea, we had planned to build a 10'x6' raised henhouse with a pen under and in front of it. We also plan to have a run attached to it that will extend the perimeter of our entire garden (30'x45') as well as a separate pen area behind the coop. The idea is to make the coop big enough for 18-20 chickens (even though we don't have near that many now). Planning for 6 nesting boxes. Thoughts? How do you clean out your coop? What feeding system did you use? How big of a coop would you suggest? What is, in your experience, the best method for maintaining cleanliness in the coop? I thought about adding a swing- any other ideas for entertainment? Any suggestions welcomed!
With chickens (and chicken math), you always need a bigger coop! Sounds like you have a plan for expanding. I use a deep litter method in my coop and run. If you garden anyway I'd recommend looking into it as it will offer free nutrients for your garden by way of plenty of compost. I'd make a swing instead of buying the little plastic $24.99 version. You can make one easy enough - google chicken swing for photos and ideas. You can make some other entertaining toys for chickens easy enough from cabbage pinatas to scratch piles. Samples here.. http://www.lucysnest.com/boredom-busters-for-chickens/ I'm switching over to auto waterers via pvc and nipples. Also easy to integrate by doing a quick search here. Auto feeders on BYC as well but I still use a feed pan/trough raised a bit off the ground because I feed fermented feed and haven't found an auto feeder option that works. via your username - are you in Radford, VA or is it another reference?
It sounds like you have enough area for a Woods coop. There is info on this coop design here on byc. I just finished mine this spring and it has enough for the amount of chicken you want to get to. Mine is 8x16 and cost just over 200 to build, I had the roofing so that saved on cost,.
