My chickens have free reign of our fenced backyard and also a fenced area where we contain them when we're mowing the grass or we have visit. The run is really big and under some trees, so the are is shaded. We have our current coop in there, a small premade coop we bought. We have 7 chickens that fit well in the coop and they only use it to sleep or to lay their eggs, otherwise they are free to come and go. Since we're probably going to increase the number of chickens we have --trying to catch two stray hens that get into our yard to eat and get some fresh water, plus our rooster got big and we're planning on getting a couple of brahma hens for him--, I'm looking for options to use as coop. I checked craiglist but the coops I saw are kinda pricy and also aready assembled, so it'd be really hard to transport them and get them home.
My other option would be a shed. Wooden sheds are expensive, but found a couple of decent sized plastic sheds I liked in Home Depot and that I can afford. I don't really have the skills to build a coop from scratch, but I could find a way to make some ventilation openings and install some roosts inside. I live in Southern California so it can get hot here in the summer, but the area where I would put the shed is mostly shaded, and the chickens wouldn't be locked in the coop during the day. I just don't know if getting a plastic shed is a good idea
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My other option would be a shed. Wooden sheds are expensive, but found a couple of decent sized plastic sheds I liked in Home Depot and that I can afford. I don't really have the skills to build a coop from scratch, but I could find a way to make some ventilation openings and install some roosts inside. I live in Southern California so it can get hot here in the summer, but the area where I would put the shed is mostly shaded, and the chickens wouldn't be locked in the coop during the day. I just don't know if getting a plastic shed is a good idea
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