Coop in progress, Any help appreciated!

[PaintedGemsRanch]

Hello all, we are new to the "chicken farming" and in progress of building a new coop on our Georgia farm (even though its in our backyard lol). My husband is so gung ho about this and i think he might be going overboard. I want what will be best for the chickens, he wants what will be best for his ego. I think this coop is 20Lx10Wx7H(without peak). My husband is putting tin roof on this weekend. He wants to enclose the sides and back with plywood and leave the front open (with chicken wire or fencing of course) They will be let out in the yard from dusk til dawn. I would just like some other input on hen house construction, how many, and what breeds would be good. We like flashy things here on the farm, we have 10 paint horses, each very different and flashy

. Not that its important because learning comes before having nice looking chickens, but i was hoping to find a "flashy and hardy chicken"

. Please any and all input on what we need to add and get rid of would be nice. Please go easy as to this is our first time and have NO idea what we are doing!

Here are some photos on the progress so far!

The dogs wanted to help too

Then it rained so we had to stop

We will continue again this weekend!

 

[Hoosiermomma]

Looking good so far!!!!!

 

[ColoradoMike]

Lucky you! You'll have space for lots of birds! Lots of room to work with there as well.

I look forward to following your progress!

 

[chaoschicken]

Wow, looks good so far.

Will wait for more pictures. Then I'll be eggcited to see pictures of it done and with chickens.

 

[PaintedGemsRanch]

Thanks Mike, Mom and Chaos. I am thinking im really going to enjoy these chickens, they seem pretty addicting lol! I dont know how my husband will feel about adding on though haha. How do yall feel about the 3 sides and roof being covered? Is that ok? or is that too much? Any opinions on where or what to do next is appreciated!

 

[tcwk]

Everything looks/ sounds great

You are doing a good job on everything.

 

[irf1983]

Make the coop floor wire, so when they are roosting the poo falls through or can be sprayed down with a hose. It only takes me 5 minutes to clean my coop, it's the best thing I did. For the amount of poop they produce, if I had to scoop it out weekly, I wouldn't have gone from 4 to 18 chickens in two weeks.

 

[Judy]

LOTS of ventilation and air flow. Chickens tolerate cold better than heat. I have a metal coop and hose it down at least once a day this time of year; it has at least a few square feet of hardware cloth for walls on all 4 sides. A 3 sided coop is great down here, probably with the open side to the south or east. A good shading overhang is good to have; mine stay out of the noonday sun, either in the coop or the woods, and do their meadow/lawn grazing early and late. You'll have to put something under the tin roof to prevent condensation from building up and dripping inside in cooler weather.

No chicken wire unless we are talking about very sturdy galvanized stuff; predators will tear it right off. Hardware cloth (rabbit wire,) 1/2" x 1/2" holes or smaller, best fastened with screws and fender washers. Even if you turn them loose during the day, you will want a secure place to lock them at night.

If you are not going to have a floor, then put another 2' or so of hardware cloth flat on the ground all around, and securely fastened to the coop. Fasten it to the ground or weight it down til the grass grows through it.

Here is a thread about coops for warm climates with some ideas that might get you thinking:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=163417

And here is a good site for looking at pics of breeds and reading about their differences:

http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

Good links on the left for each breed to sites with good pics of them.

 

[buglit]

As far as choosing the chickens go, you might want to check out My Pet Chicken. On the front page they have a short questionaire and then they show you the chickens that most fit your answers and tell you about them. That's how I chose mine.

So this is going to be an open air coop? Nice

 

[fldiver97]

Looks great. BTW, your dogs are beautiful too.
3 sides covered should be fine, you will need good ventilation and some light. Winters in GA are not like here (WI) so you don't have to worry about getting several feet of snow and deep freeze..... I am fairly new to the whole chicken keeping thing but have found out that I will "advance" on my current setup......A few things that I would like to have and suggest are maybe a window on one of the "solid" sides, I think it would look nice, not that you would really need it for light if you have chickenwire or hardware cloth on one side. Or a door with a bit of a window in it. But thats more for looks. I found that it worked best for me (I have 2 big dogs and one of them can be a bit nuts) to have a 2-3 feet of plywood sheeting on the sides that have chickenwire on it. Rain occasionally tries to claw at the pen, I think she is more trying to "reach out" to the girls than anything else but it makes me feel better that she is not clawing at the wire. Also makes me feel a bit better about some other critters that could potertially "knock" on the pen The girls have a roost inside the enclosed coop as well as in the pen so they can see out if they are not running around the whole yard. Check some of the coops out on the site, you will so many great coops that I am sure you will come up with the perfect setup for your location and needs.

As far as nice looking chickens are concerned - I a partial to Salmon Faverolles, Delawares and Wyandottes, especially Golden Laced.....but then, there are sooooo many gorgeous chickens it's hard to choose. Good luck