Building My First Ever Coop and Run

[BlindLemonChicken]

I may honestly have to look into doing this as sure it will be more money up front

Have you priced materials for having your cousin do it? Also what are the city’s exact requirements? Maybe I missed it but I only saw 8’ tall and 30’ from a residence.

 

[AdaliaStark]

Have you priced materials for having your cousin do it? Also what are the city’s exact requirements? Maybe I missed it but I only saw 8’ tall and 30’ from a residence.

As far as I know, my cousin never got that far in the plans to have a pricing list, to be honest given his silence I genuinely do not know how far he even got in the plans at all.

I work in a hardware store with an employee discount of 10% that can occasionally go as high as 15-20% during the year. I was planning on taking advantage of that plus Habitat for Humanity Re-Stores for the plans my cousin was doing. I know it probably wouldn't help save me much money, but it would help me save some money at least.

Run is to be no larger than 32 square feet and no taller than 6 feet.

Coop is to be no larger than 24 square feet and no taller than 6 feet while being elevated at least 1 foot off the ground. The city ordinance says we can have no more than 6 chickens and 0 roosters.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

That sounds pretty standard for an urban backyard. I would think you could find something second-hand for a decent price. Another thing is that the city is very very unlikely to actually check anything unless your neighbors complain about something. So if the dimensions are off a couple feet I wouldn’t stress it. The most important thing is the distance from a residential building. Chickens can be kind of noisy and smelly (even if you clean—rain can make poop smell in a run ten times worse). But there are always eggs to improve neighbors’ attitudes.

 

[AdaliaStark]

That sounds pretty standard for an urban backyard. I would think you could find something second-hand for a decent price. Another thing is that the city is very very unlikely to actually check anything unless your neighbors complain about something. So if the dimensions are off a couple feet I wouldn’t stress it. The most important thing is the distance from a residential building. Chickens can be kind of noisy and smelly (even if you clean—rain can make poop smell in a run ten times worse). But there are always eggs to improve neighbors’ attitudes.

Yeah I see how residential distance would be the more important factor.

I know when my cousin called the city earlier this year, in April or May, he was told that I was the first person to enquire about a chicken coop and run setup, therefore there would be the potential for bit of wiggle room to be allowed as at that point(not sure if this is still the case) no one else had reached out to ask any questions or get more info(which we both took to mean that no one had built one at that point in time).

I also found a 2nd custom coop builder only 6 miles from me, who raises chickens himself(and is ready n willing to share his knowledge with new chicken keepers) but he also has his listing price as $1k. Now I don't know if that is the starting price, or if he can lower than that like he can obviously go higher than that depending on what's needed/wanted.

I'll keep looking at for sale second-hand coops though I will keep this particular builder in the back of my mind, due mostly to distance from me.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

he also has his listing price as $1k.

That isn’t bad really. Mine cost almost twice that after delivery But there were so many that were completely out of my price range that by the time I found this one (which had everything I wanted) it sounded like a deal!

 

[AdaliaStark]

That isn’t bad really. Mine cost almost twice that after delivery But there were so many that were completely out of my price range that by the time I found this one (which had everything I wanted) it sounded like a deal!

Oh wow, yeah I can see that being a deal!

Thankfully I don't have too many requirements; just an automatic coop door, easy to clean inside, maybe battery operated lighting(need an electrician and buried cables underground for any other form of lighting), and some form of heating or insulation due to the extreme cold snaps we almost always get in January/February here?

As well as for the coop+run to be tall enough for me to stand up in, which shouldn't be too difficult given that I'm only 5ft1!

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

and some form of heating or insulation due to the extreme cold snaps we almost always get in January/February here?

This is where you’re going to run into $$. I would skip this. Not to save money but because it is most likely unnecessary. Even in very cold temps with proper roosts and ventilation chickens can keep themselves warm just fine. When we kept chickens in Wisconsin when I was a kid they just slept in a barn. Definitely worth thinking about (not saying you haven’t done your research just giving my unsolicited two cents lol).

 

[AdaliaStark]

This is where you’re going to run into $$. I would skip this. Not to save money but because it is most likely unnecessary. Even in very cold temps with proper roosts and ventilation chickens can keep themselves warm just fine. When we kept chickens in Wisconsin when I was a kid they just slept in a barn. Definitely worth thinking about (not saying you haven’t done your research just giving my unsolicited two cents lol).

Okay! I absolutely welcome the advice! I had seen some people from the general same area as me do insulation, as well some others who didn't do insulation plus I had seen mixed opinions here about it in general too. I had figured it probably wouldn't be necessary, just based on the number of people I've seen on here who do not insulate and live in colder places than I do, it's why I wasn't too sure if I would actually do that.

 

[Mother of Chaos]

… Run is to be no larger than 32 square feet and no taller than 6 feet.

Coop is to be no larger than 24 square feet and no taller than 6 feet while being elevated at least 1 foot off the ground. The city ordinance says we can have no more than 6 chickens and 0 roosters.

The coop size is right at the minimum 4 sq ft per chicken, but the run size is way less than 10 sq ft each. I wonder where they came up with 32?

Larger runs are better with small coops so that the chickens can get away from one another when tensions are high for one reason or another.

And a max of 6’ higher for the run and effectively 5’ for the coop?? My 6’ tall daughter can testify that getting hair untangled from overhead hardware cloth is tedious and painful. Tall people unite!!

 

[AdaliaStark]

The coop size is right at the minimum 4 sq ft per chicken, but the run size is way less than 10 sq ft each. I wonder where they came up with 32?

Larger runs are better with small coops so that the chickens can get away from one another when tensions are high for one reason or another.

And a max of 6’ higher for the run and effectively 5’ for the coop?? My 6’ tall daughter can testify that getting hair untangled from overhead hardware cloth is tedious and painful. Tall people unite!!

I wonder if they ended up with the 32 square feet for the run as it was the only way to get the city to change the ordinance to allow chickens? I do think there might've been alot of arguing going on behind closed doors to get that ordinance change approved, and these dimension requirements are all the city would allow.

As earlier in this post someone, I forget who, said that it looked like the city chose the dimensions they did to try and discourage people from having chickens.

Yeah it does seem like a max of 5ft for the coop and 6ft for the run, unless the 6ft height for the coop is after it has been elevated 1ft? I would probably need to ask the city about that. If the city won't let me nudge that roof height up a bit for the coop, I will need to see about covering my hair so it won't get stuck in the hardware cloth.

I have also seen used second-hand coops as well as custom built coops that are within the 6ft height requirement while being elevated some off the ground.