Building My First Ever Coop and Run

[Snowbelt]

Thank you! I had thought about raising the coop even more than the required 1ft, as I've seen alot of small coops do exactly that to give more space in a run.

I will be building a new coop in the spring, and I'm planning to have it elevated to almost two feet. There will be runs on two sides connected by the run space under the coop itself. They will use it quite a bit in summer when they need shade.

 

[AdaliaStark]

I will be building a new coop in the spring, and I'm planning to have it elevated to almost two feet. There will be runs on two sides connected by the run space under the coop itself. They will use it quite a bit in summer when they need shade.

It makes sense that they will use the under coop space for shade in the summer, would be pretty cool under there.

Best of luck to you in building your coop! Hope you have an easier time than I've had, my city sure seems to have gone out of their way to discourage people as much as possible from keeping chickens.

 

[Snowbelt]

It makes sense that they will use the under coop space for shade in the summer, would be pretty cool under there.

Best of luck to you in building your coop! Hope you have an easier time than I've had, my city sure seems to have gone out of their way to discourage people as much as possible from keeping chickens.

Yes, your city isn't very chicken friendly and they don't seem to have thought through their ordinance. I don't have that problem here, so I can build pretty much whatever I want to.

I think you said something about getting quiet chickens. I have Orpingtons, Brahmas, and Wyandottes and they are very quiet, sweet, and docile unless they are singing the egg song.

 

[AdaliaStark]

Yes, your city isn't very chicken friendly and they don't seem to have thought through their ordinance. I don't have that problem here, so I can build pretty much whatever I want to.

I think you said something about getting quiet chickens. I have Orpingtons, Brahmas, and Wyandottes and they are very quiet, sweet, and docile unless they are singing the egg song.

I do think that they worked someone who knows about chickens to create the ordinance but that it seems likely alot of concessions had to be given to the city in order to get approval.

Which is unfortunate, cause it basically seems to require a custom built coop n run and that is pretty expensive. Like I could find plans or maybe work with someone to create plans but then I would need help building the coop n run and I don't have any help. So I'm stuck looking for custom built or second-hand that might work.

Yeah I would definitely be looking for quiet breeds and maybe some unique/less common breeds if I knew how quiet they might be.

 

[Snowbelt]

I do think that they worked someone who knows about chickens to create the ordinance but that it seems likely alot of concessions had to be given to the city in order to get approval.

Which is unfortunate, cause it basically seems to require a custom built coop n run and that is pretty expensive. Like I could find plans or maybe work with someone to create plans but then I would need help building the coop n run and I don't have any help. So I'm stuck looking for custom built or second-hand that might work.

Yeah I would definitely be looking for quiet breeds and maybe some unique/less common breeds if I knew how quiet they might be.

There must be someone who makes a 4 X 6 coop in your area so you wouldn't have to pay for one custom made. The run could be added by a handyman since it would only be 4 X 8 feet and 6 feet high.

 

[AdaliaStark]

There must be someone who makes a 4 X 6 coop in your area so you wouldn't have to pay for one custom made. The run could be added by a handyman since it would only be 4 X 8 feet and 6 feet high.

Well I'm looking on FB Marusable. currently and the listings for 4x6 coops largely are dominated by one custom coop maker(who lists coops in like 15+ cities all around Illinois) who lists the price as anywhere from $1 to $123k in order to get people to message him about the coops he is advertising that he will custom build. I also found another custom chicken coop maker only about 6 miles from me, who also raises his own chickens and has a listing for custom coops for $1k.

Otherwise all the coops with or without runs I'm finding are too big or the coop is the right size but the included run is too big. Or the second-hand coops need quite a bit of repair work to be made useable.

Plus I have to factor in the cost of the annual license, the fees for the inspection(s) and the permit fees that I would need.

 

[AdaliaStark]

I spent the night looking at plans again, yay being a night owl

Thus I found a few that could maybe work with some modifications I think.

These are the 3 plans that I found, that seemed like they could maybe work. Granted one of them would require a separate run being built due to it not being included.

Coop 1: https://www.thegardencoop.com/product/backyard-walk-in-chicken-coop-plans/

Coop 2: https://beejeweledcoop.com/products/mini-bee-jeweled-coop-chicken-coop-building-plans-3-6-chickens

Coop 3: www.etsy.com/listing/1230923514/bb-chicken-coop-plans-farmhouse-style-8

I'm still also looking at second-hand coops, possibly something custom in addition to still looking at plans.

I'm basically trying to spend some time really weighing all my options to figure out which is the best for me.

Building something from plans would admittedly be pretty difficult for me, due to not having anyone who can I ask for help; It would let me save money though through getting things with my employees discount card or at places like Re-Store. While custom would be expensive but enable me to get something that would fit the requirements from the ordinance. Something second-hand would likely be cheaper still but would likely require some tlc to make it useable again depending on the condition of what I get.

I've been thinking about all things this entire time, from when I created this thread till now and haven't really been able to come to a conclusion though. It doesn't help that I'm bothered still by my cousin ignoring me when I reach out to him for information on how things are going.

I also know that I'm probably massively overthinking things here I have a tendency to do that due to having both autism and adhd. The only thing I don't really know for a fact is how well the ventilation is with these 3 coops but that should be something I can modify pretty easily if I do decide to go with one of these.