Coop, Buy or DIY

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Welcome to the forum. Being a newbie here as well, I scoured all the above links to the subdirectories here. Many great ideas.

I diy'd our coup and "morning pen" (our version of a run). I matched it to our houselines and colors to even the shingles. We (made this a family project), have about $1,000.00 in the coup. But I over engineered, I have a habit of that.its 14' long by 4' wide and 57" tall. It now houses 5, just about year old RIR pullets. The morning pen is 20' by 20' and 6' tall. The morning pen, we have close to $600.00 in that.

You did not mention where you live. If you have Craigslist, that's a good resource for prebuilts, kits or even lumber and materials for diy'g. The expense is with the hardwire cloth. I sourced ours from Amazon, quite a bit lower than any big box home stores.

Good luck with your decision. Please remember to do your chicken math! :)
 
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21hens-incharge said:
Ventilation is very very important. In the learning center there are wonderful articles that cover ventilation vs drafts, dealing with mud and so much more.

I have seen the red barn coop in person. I have Buff Orpington. For these big gals I know 4 would be cramped in it. There is no good place to put feeders, water dish or grit dish.

If at all possible I recommend a 4x8 shed with windows cut into it. Your hens wont mind extra space at all. It will give them room when weather is bad and you a place to put nest boxes, food and water. You may find that even that is snug once you get everything they need in there.
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Okay I am planning to make my own. 3x6 inside measurements just for the cabin. Please advise if it is a good size for 4-6 hens.
For ventilation, should I make a permanent opening or it should have a closing window so I can close it in winter.
And do hen need roosting bar.
 
Hey Kashifr

The recommended coop space for each chicken is 4 square foot.

We do not do winters here in Aus but all I have read on BYC indicates that ventilation is up there with space and very important in winter to avoid frost bite. This is a great article on Ventilation: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...-go-out-there-and-cut-more-holes-in-your-coop

Yep, your hens will definitely prefer to roost unless they are Silkies. If you pop ‘roost recommendations’ into the search box you will see lots of threads about that subject and it is a personal choice. However, I think the majority would lean towards 2x4’s with the 4” side flat.
 
Have you considered a hoop coop? Anyone can build a hoop coop and they work out to be the cheapest, but sturdiest and most adaptable build for a coop out there. You can make them as cute or as spare as you want, but you can buy more square footage building a hoop coop and run than you can any other kind of coop and run. My hoop coop is 10x12, it cost around $300 to build and I did it myself(I'm an old woman with no construction experience).

Then there are the really cheap coops made from free pallets scrounged here and there....those are the really neat ones and they cost bare bones, just take a lot of labor is all.

Here's a coop page for medium sized coops, which is what you will need: https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/medium-chicken-coop-designs-pictures-of-chicken-coops

Many of these give details of the build and may help you.
 
I am going to keep 4 hens as my city code only allows 4. Considering 4sq ft per bird, 3x6 should be good enough. Some later time i may add one extra floor in it
 
For 4 adult Orpingtons, I suggest a coop that gives each bird at least 5 sq ft of space per bird. They are hefty girls. 4x6 should be a good size. A simple rectangle structure, with the back wall shorter than the front wall is a very efficient, basic design. The design allows you to have a ton of permanent ventilation, provided there is enough overhang. And ventilation does need to be year round to move moist, ammonia laden air out of the coop.
Another thing that needs to be taken into account is height of the coop. Roosts should be placed higher than nest boxes, and about a foot below ventilation. You also need to consider maneuvering room. Can they get up and down off the roosts without crashing into anything? Hard to accomplish in a coop that is too narrow.
And don't forget that you need to account for cleaning things out and egg collection.
You will also need a run, in addition to the coop. You'll need at least 10 sq ft of run space per adult bird.
 
Knowing now that you are in a very warm part of the USA I strongly vote fore a hoop coop for your chickens.
They are very easy to build, provide ample ventilation, and look nice too.
This is a hoop run we built onto a 6x8 coop. It required 2 hog panels costing about 30 dollars each and chicken wire. The lumber I had on hand but would have cost under 60 dollars.
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Now that coop and run is good for 8 full grown, full sized hens. I know it is larger then you were looking to build.

This coop was 4x6 and housed pullets during grow out. It would work for 5 adults if they were super mellow birds.
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In the picture you can see a 14 week old Buff Orpington. This coop was super difficult to fit feeder and water in. Living in Colorado I had to try it for winter housing. I ended up tearing it down.

The thing is that making a 3x6 is just as costly as making a 4x8 in the long run. Dimensional lumber comes in 4x8 sheets. Less cutting and less math to go a bit bigger AND your birds will be happier.

One thing I picked up on early in this thread was that you were "forced" to get the chickens. I am a firm believer that if agreeing to take care of them is not something you want in your life then perhaps not having them is the right choice.

Just sayin....
 

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