Building my coop, newbie.

[carloschompis]

Hi all, I will be asking for advice from you experts! I am building a coop, but I want to make sure that I am doing it correctly. Does the coop need to have a door that completely closes or can it be open so they free range? We live in WI so I am thinking for winter what's might be best.

 

[N F C]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

I'd put a closable door on it so it can be shut up for the night against predators.

If you'd like more opinions or have other coop questions, you can check in with the folks that frequent the coop/run forum:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/9/coop-run-design-construction-maintenance

Nice to have you join us!

 

[blueberrysilky]

Hi I'm new too (literally joined a few minutes ago) I'm glad to see your building a coop. I was told that if you need a door to get inside and clean and a door that allows them to go into the run. The door that goes into the run is closed during winter to retain heat for the birds, they also appreciate ( but don't need unless the temperature drops below 25°F ) a heat lamp. I would recommend putting your coop on stilts so you can have a dry place to feed your chickens thought auto feeders. And they can have a place to get out of the sun if desired. Here is a picture of my coop.

As you can see it is on stilts providing shade in the heat of the day and a sheltered place to keep feed out of the rain.

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[drumstick diva]

Welcome to BYC. I would suggest spending time at the coops section. There are many designs, shapes and sizes. Some also have very detailed descriptions, and reasons why they chose one thing over another. You can pick up many suggestions. The Learning Center is a great read as well.

 

[lovingbirds]

My chicken coop! Added windows, and roof. This is approximately 14ft x 8ft and will comfortably house about 15 chickens with my peafowl. It was originally built for chickens, peafowl were added much later. I allow my chickens to free range is why you only see one. This only took about 2 days to build, all of the lumber is from our woods and it only cost about $25 to have this cut! Please don't make fun of the shabby paint job! Haha I ran out of paint btw, I do keep a large dog tied behind the chicken house to prevent predators from getting into my pen at night, also have one running around at night! You can never be too cautious!!