Chicken newbie

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:welcome :wee:ya:yesss: Hello and welcome to BYC, You found an Amazing Poultry Community to be a part of with many great knowledgeable members, who are more then willing to jump in and help you along your journey with any questions you may have. :)

How many chickens you plan on getting? Enough room for them all is very important.
 
Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.
The number one mistake people make when starting out with chickens is purchasing a rinky dinky pre-fab coop that is not only visciously overpriced, it is far, far too small to house the number of birds it claims it will, is horribly lacking in ventilation and terribly designed not only for the birds but the keeper.
Keep these "rules of thumb" in mind when looking for a good coop option:
the birds should have 4 sq ft of space each in the coop (not including the nest boxes), there should be 1 nest box per 4-5 birds, 1 linear foot of roost space per bird (going tight on this makes the roost time rumble even worse) and you want 12-15 additional sq feet per bird in the attached run.
If you live where there is snow, you want a solid roof on the run if at all possible. Otherwise, go bigger on the coop. And put lots of things in the run. A big empty run is BORING for confined birds. I use old wooden chairs I get for free when I see them out for garbage collection, old wood saw horses, perches attached to the walls of the run, stumps at varying heights, two pallets leaning against each other or the side of the run and a thick layer of wood chips in the run for the birds to scratch through.
Build on high ground and divert all runoff water away from the coop to keep things as dry as possible to prevent stench, excess worm/coccidia load and to keep the coop and nest boxes (and therefore, eggs) clean.
Shoot for 1 sq ft of ventilation per bird in the coop. This is full time, always open ventilation. Add lots of top hinged windows that can remain open during driving rain for additional ventilation in the summer. I also strongly suggest the use of poop boards. They cut down how much time I have to spend cleaning the coop and how much bedding I use dramatically.
 
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