Hey all!
This is my first post and I have a feeling I found the right place to talk all things chicken. I am new to chicken ownership, currently with a mixed age and breed flock that is co-owned between myself and my MIL. I have four that are 15 weeks, six that are 10 weeks and twenty that are 4 weeks! 28 hens and 2 roosters, we will have eggs for days. I feel pretty confident in the knowledge that I've gained for all the basics but as a typical new chicken owner, there's always room for more and I love reading about the things everyone else has done that I haven't even thought about.
I wanted to post our plans and some of our thought process to get any feedback or suggestions that you all might have. My MIL purchased a coop that we initially thought was going to be sufficient (pictured below), we quickly realized this was not going to be enough space for what we were wanting.
Fast forward a few weeks, we went to look at a new coop and decided we liked it and agreed to having one built. We chose an 8x16 with 10 nesting boxes and we sectioned off 3ft in the front to have a feed/storage area.
(I also planned on purchasing ducks so I had a house built as well but will be waiting until what I assume will be 2026 to get ducklings, gotta get all the chickens settled)
We got it placed where we want it and the first thing we wanted to accomplish was getting the inside sealed, next is getting the outside sealed and that will hopefully be completed this weekend. Next steps to follow are hanging insulation from top to bottom, laying flooring and then putting up metal siding on the inside to help with cleanliness. Since one long wall is already "wasted" we are thinking of putting two roosting bars staggered over top of the boxes, running the entire length of the wall with a poop shelf underneath. We opted for the builders to not cut out a door as we weren't exactly sure where we wanted it just yet but decided it will go in the back right corner. Eventually we would also like to side the outside of the coop with sheet metal to match other buildings on the property but will settle for having it sealed for now to protect it from the weather until then.
We are keeping the first coop that was purchased and it will become our "brooder coop"
which will be placed inside one of our open runs. We currently have our four oldest chickens in that coop and will be adding in the second oldest chickens (10 weeks old) to the coop with them this weekend. (They have had plenty of days co-existing next to each other outside and they have definitely outgrown their current space!)
I'm thinking by the time we get the big coop put together and our main run established, all 30 (yes 30
) chickens can be placed together.
Below is the layout we are wanting to accomplish and the area where this will all be happening (not to scale, just to get an idea). The coop will open up directly to the covered run which will be fully sand, with human and chicken access to two additional open grass runs on either side of the covered run. The bigger open run out of the two will house the brooder coop, since it has it's own enclosed run the chicks can be integrate with the rest of the flock during the daytime. Another reason to have three separate areas is so we can move the chickens between the three as needed so they don't kill the grass in each run. Literally like a horse pasture, so I will be referred to as a chicken pasture
)
So my actual questions here are:
Coop:
- What suggestions do you have for the coop? What are the must haves that you wish you would have done? Or something that you think every coop should have?
Covered Run:
- What do you all do for run coverage? We are not 100% set on what materials we will be using but want to do something that is inexpensive. So far we have thought about a pergola type roof with the transparent greenhouse panels as our coverage with posts holding everything up -OR- maybe a carport-like setup that we would put together ourselves assuming it would be cheaper that way. The two long sides of this run will be chicken wire given that it is essentially a run, inside of a run. (is that too much? I don't think so but very well could be lol!)
Open Runs:
- If you aren't free ranging your chickens and you have an open run, do you leave it completely open up top or do you use the hawk netting and still consider it to be open? We aren't 100% sure on those just yet so any tips tricks or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Things such as windmills, lights, flags etc. will be used in both open runs as hawk deterrent and the covered run will be complete before they can go out to either of the open runs.
Fencing:
- What are you all doing for fencing? Obviously we will be using hardware cloth to keep predators out but we are still weighing our options on what actual materials to use for the building of the fence. We want something sturdy, more permanent than temporary but not something that is relatively inexpensive.
If you have made it this far, I appreciate you!! Now time for you to knowledge dump!
This is my first post and I have a feeling I found the right place to talk all things chicken. I am new to chicken ownership, currently with a mixed age and breed flock that is co-owned between myself and my MIL. I have four that are 15 weeks, six that are 10 weeks and twenty that are 4 weeks! 28 hens and 2 roosters, we will have eggs for days. I feel pretty confident in the knowledge that I've gained for all the basics but as a typical new chicken owner, there's always room for more and I love reading about the things everyone else has done that I haven't even thought about.
I wanted to post our plans and some of our thought process to get any feedback or suggestions that you all might have. My MIL purchased a coop that we initially thought was going to be sufficient (pictured below), we quickly realized this was not going to be enough space for what we were wanting.
Fast forward a few weeks, we went to look at a new coop and decided we liked it and agreed to having one built. We chose an 8x16 with 10 nesting boxes and we sectioned off 3ft in the front to have a feed/storage area.
(I also planned on purchasing ducks so I had a house built as well but will be waiting until what I assume will be 2026 to get ducklings, gotta get all the chickens settled)
We got it placed where we want it and the first thing we wanted to accomplish was getting the inside sealed, next is getting the outside sealed and that will hopefully be completed this weekend. Next steps to follow are hanging insulation from top to bottom, laying flooring and then putting up metal siding on the inside to help with cleanliness. Since one long wall is already "wasted" we are thinking of putting two roosting bars staggered over top of the boxes, running the entire length of the wall with a poop shelf underneath. We opted for the builders to not cut out a door as we weren't exactly sure where we wanted it just yet but decided it will go in the back right corner. Eventually we would also like to side the outside of the coop with sheet metal to match other buildings on the property but will settle for having it sealed for now to protect it from the weather until then.
We are keeping the first coop that was purchased and it will become our "brooder coop"
which will be placed inside one of our open runs. We currently have our four oldest chickens in that coop and will be adding in the second oldest chickens (10 weeks old) to the coop with them this weekend. (They have had plenty of days co-existing next to each other outside and they have definitely outgrown their current space!)I'm thinking by the time we get the big coop put together and our main run established, all 30 (yes 30
) chickens can be placed together.Below is the layout we are wanting to accomplish and the area where this will all be happening (not to scale, just to get an idea). The coop will open up directly to the covered run which will be fully sand, with human and chicken access to two additional open grass runs on either side of the covered run. The bigger open run out of the two will house the brooder coop, since it has it's own enclosed run the chicks can be integrate with the rest of the flock during the daytime. Another reason to have three separate areas is so we can move the chickens between the three as needed so they don't kill the grass in each run. Literally like a horse pasture, so I will be referred to as a chicken pasture
)So my actual questions here are:
Coop:
- What suggestions do you have for the coop? What are the must haves that you wish you would have done? Or something that you think every coop should have?
Covered Run:
- What do you all do for run coverage? We are not 100% set on what materials we will be using but want to do something that is inexpensive. So far we have thought about a pergola type roof with the transparent greenhouse panels as our coverage with posts holding everything up -OR- maybe a carport-like setup that we would put together ourselves assuming it would be cheaper that way. The two long sides of this run will be chicken wire given that it is essentially a run, inside of a run. (is that too much? I don't think so but very well could be lol!)
Open Runs:
- If you aren't free ranging your chickens and you have an open run, do you leave it completely open up top or do you use the hawk netting and still consider it to be open? We aren't 100% sure on those just yet so any tips tricks or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Things such as windmills, lights, flags etc. will be used in both open runs as hawk deterrent and the covered run will be complete before they can go out to either of the open runs.
Fencing:
- What are you all doing for fencing? Obviously we will be using hardware cloth to keep predators out but we are still weighing our options on what actual materials to use for the building of the fence. We want something sturdy, more permanent than temporary but not something that is relatively inexpensive.
If you have made it this far, I appreciate you!! Now time for you to knowledge dump!
