coop idea

[MoonSkin]

Hey everyone, I'm planning to build a new coop and run for my babies. The run will be 16 ft by 16 ft. The coop will be raised up and be inside the coop. It will be 4so ft. Since I'm in north Florida I plan for 2sqft per bird in the coop. The will have access to the run and the yard as well all day. I plan for the run to have a deep sand bottom.

What I'm curious about is ideas for large perches and plants for the run. I thought about large drift wood pieces. Any suggestions?

 

[RWD]

Will the 16x16 run be covered with something? Hawks and owls could be a problem if not. 2 sf. per bird sounds a bit small for the coop once they are grown. Chickens will make anything you put in the run a perch.......

 

[MoonSkin]

We intend to use metal roofing and strong support beams. This I'm hoping will help with predators and falling limbs. Hurricane season is coming after all.

What sort if space would you recommend per bird in the coop? I can always make it bigger. My parents gave me a 20 feet by 20 feet space to work in.

 

[RWD]

How many chickens are you going to house?

 

[MoonSkin]

No more than 20 chickens.

 

[RWD]

If you have roost areas in the run, then some of the birds will roost outside at night. So if your only roost area is in the coop then you should use 2-3 sf and be ok.

 

[Ridgerunner]

I’m not sure how big your actual coop will be. I’m not sure if that will be 4 or 40 square feet or maybe something else. You might follow the link in my signature for my thoughts on how much space you need. It’s not a cut and dried number. How you manage them makes a lot of difference.

Yes, chickens will perch on anything in the run or in the coop. Many people on here will try to tell you that roosts and perches need to be this or that, but they don’t. I’ve seen chickens perch on a 3/8” thick piece of plywood when I locked a door open so they could get to the edge. They will perch on a table top. That 3/8” plywood was extreme, I don’t recommend anything that small at all, but people usually care about this sort of stuff a lot more than the chickens do.

Driftwood should work fine and be interesting to look at. Tree limbs are what they naturally sleep on in the wild. Make it look good to you and they will be happy.

Plants in a run are really hard. They will eat almost green down to the ground, then scratch out the roots and eat those too if they can. What some people do is to build a frame on the ground maybe 6” to 8” tall and cover that with wire. If you grow grass or other certain plants in that, they will at the stuff that grows through the wire but can’t get at the roots.

 

[meralgia]

I found this video quite some time ago and will probably use it in my run. It's a living greens feeding system. Quite clever if you can find a wire basket with the "right" sized holes!! I would think it easy enough to plant the seeds in a tray so you have a constant supply going from early spring to late fall.

 

[MoonSkin]

That video is cool! I think the coop size I'll go with is 6feet by 8 feet with the run being 16ft by 16ft. When I put the sand in I think I'll build some raised beds, pile the sand in, and cover the bed. It'll appear level but have a deep bed to grow in. Maybe some plants I could try is camellia or lantana.