Hi, I am looking for a coop to hold 8 hens, the coops I see for sale are either too small, a waste of money or way to expensive. So I'm thinking of making my own, what size should it be to hold 8 hens? Any ideas are appreciated
I suggest you follow the link in my signature to get some of my ideas about room needed. We are all unique in our goals, climate, flock make-up, rural versus urban, and many other things so I do not believe in cookie cutter one-size-fits-all numbers. Personal preferences come into play also. I believe that the tighter they are housed the more behavioral problems I have to deal with, the harder I have to work, and the less flexibility I have to address issues. Instead of building something to the absolute minimum I like extra room. I'm less stressed.
You are in Ireland, thanks for that information. That means you have a climate that they can be outside practically any day of the year. That makes it easier. I try to look at it as your coop and outside space together are the room they have to use, not look at the coop isolated from the run. Since they can use the run any day of the year that takes a lot of pressure off of your coop having to house them for an extended period of time. But they need access to the run and not be locked up in the coop only for extended periods of time. How you manage them matters.
Are 8 hens all you will ever have? Will you eventually bring in more chickens, say when their egg production drops off due to old age? This has two effects. You need to design the facilities for the maximum number you will ever have and it takes a lot more room to integrate new chickens than just to house them after they are integrated.
You need to be able to access every place inside your coop. Many different reasons ranging from cleaning, gathering eggs if they do not lay in a nest, to retrieving a dead chicken or a chicken that does not want to be retrieved. You can probably build a reach-in coop for 8 chickens but any more than that I'd strongly suggest a walk-in coop.
I'll give a link to the "coops" section of this forum so you can see what others have done.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/chicken-coops.12/
I think, even in Ireland with the metric system, most building materials come in 4 feet and 8 feet standard dimensions. If I'm wrong, just adjust to your standard dimensions. If you design and build your coop using those dimensions you can avoid a lot of cut-off and waste. A 2' cut-off isn't horrible either, you can often use those pieces to build nests. A 8' x 8' will give you less waste than a 6-1/2 x 7-3/4, give you more room, and require less cutting.
If you build a run out of standard materials, use those standard dimensions for size. If you use posts and fencing you have a lot more leeway but still look at standard lengths or rolls of fencing material.
You can build your own or buy a shed and fit it out with nests, roosts, a pop door, and ventilation. You need good ventilation.
For 8 hens maximum where you will never integrate new chickens I'd want an absolute minimum coop of 4 feet x 8 feet. I'd feel a lot more comfortable with a 6x8.
If you build a run out of lumber and wire mesh, I'd want something like an 8 feet x 12 feet minimum or whatever hits your standard sizes. That should minimize waste. If you go with posts and fencing I'd probably go bigger as it should be less expensive and standard dimensions aren't as important in using the material efficiently.
