Coop layout

[Karlyo]

New to chickens
We are building the coop now for our 10 EE chicks coming in a month. The coop will be about 6'x4' and 4' tall at the highest, with nesting boxes on the outside. A large run and back yard as well.
We are building it inside of an existing screened in gazebo so it has a roof over it already. I am wondering if I put cross breeze venting from the side above the nesting boxes to the side where they roost will they be too cold in winter? We live in Manitoba Canada and it gets very cold in winter. Should I look at moving the roost to another area?

 

[DobieLover]

New to chickens
We are building the coop now for our 10 EE chicks coming in a month. The coop will be about 6'x4' and 4' tall at the highest, with nesting boxes on the outside. A large run and back yard as well.
We are building it inside of an existing screened in gazebo so it has a roof over it already. I am wondering if I put cross breeze venting from the side above the nesting boxes to the side where they roost will they be too cold in winter? We live in Manitoba Canada and it gets very cold in winter. Should I look at moving the roost to another area?

Do you have any sketches of your plans?
Just curious why you aren't converting the gazebo into the coop.

 

[Karlyo]

Do you have any sketches of your plans?
Just curious why you aren't converting the gazebo into the coop.

We are not converting the whole thing because it’s attached to the house and we still need parts of it for access. Also if the town for what ever reason makes us get rid of them then we can remove this structure.

Please don’t judge the building attempts we are not carpenters.

 

[aart]

4x6 small for 10 birds.
Will they have the 'run' of the gazebo in the winter?

 

[Karlyo]

4x6 small for 10 birds.
Will they have the 'run' of the gazebo in the winter?

Tho you didn’t address my original question, I appreciate your input and concern on size. We are getting 10 straight run EE chicks. Hoping for ~5 pullets. Minimum order was 10. Hopefully they can use the run in the winter too. And we are screening in under the coop as well for them. So it’s essentially a 4x6 all season run under there too. It’s smaller then I would like but I’m sure they will tromp around in the gazebo and everywhere else to get some play time on nice days.

 

[Jambo88]

4x6 small for 10 birds.
Will they have the 'run' of the gazebo in the winter?

That doesn’t seem that small to me it works out at 2.4ft2 per chicken inside the coop and isn’t the average recommended size is between 2-3 ft2 inside the coop and 8-10 ft2 in a run?

 

[aart]

isn’t the average recommended size is between 2-3 ft2 inside the coop

For factory farms it is...most here want better conditions.

 

[Mamatomany123]

That doesn’t seem that small to me it works out at 2.4ft2 per chicken inside the coop and isn’t the average recommended size is between 2-3 ft2 inside the coop and 8-10 ft2 in a run?

You should have a minimum of 4 sq ft per chicken in the coop and 10 sq ft in the run. But that's the minimum. More is always better.

 

[Jambo88]

For factory farms it is...most here want better conditions.

You should have a minimum of 4 sq ft per chicken in the coop and 10 sq ft in the run. But that's the minimum. More is always better.

I understand that people want better than factory conditions for their flocks but if the coop is too large and you have only a few chickens in it they will struggle to generate enough body heat to keep warm and will all huddle together so that kind of negates the need for a very large ft2 coop well that was my experience with having converted a 8x4 shed into a coop with 3 x 4ft roosting bars all 13 of my chickens always shared the same top roosting bar

 

[Mamatomany123]

I understand that people want better than factory conditions for their flocks but if the coop is too large and you have only a few chickens in it they will struggle to generate enough body heat to keep warm and will all huddle together so that kind of negates the need for a very large ft2 coop well that was my experience with having converted a 8x4 shed into a coop with 3 x 4ft roosting bars all 13 of my chickens always shared the same top roosting bar

I would rather have them cuddle together to stay warm than to begin killing eachother because there isnt enough room. I can also add supplimental heat if need be. If my coop is too small then it's too small.

Also, I live in west texas. We've never been below 15°.