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SpiritChkns2015

SpiritChkns2015

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I am interested in a coop mansion for 12 chickens!!! My chickens arrive June 17...... I am new never had chickens in my life. I live in Colorado and find predator issues!!! Please write the best advice and necessities in designing a coop mansion :-)
 
Welcome to BYC. Glad you decided join our flock. I would recommend researching our Coop section at https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/2/Coops. As far as the dimensions go, you need a minimum of 4 sq. ft. of floor area per bird for the coop, not including the space taken up by the nesting boxes (48 sq. ft. for 12 chickens) and 10 sq. ft. of ground area for the run (120 sq. ft. for 12 chickens). These are bare minimums. More is better as overcrowding can quickly lead to aggression, fights, biting and feather plucking, and even cannibalism. For predator protection be sure and use hardware cloth instead of chicken wire as there are too many predators that can tear through chicken wire, or else squeeze through the openings in the mesh. There is a good article at http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2013/07/11-tips-for-predator-proofing-chickens.html on predator proofing your chickens. Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. Good luck in getting your coop/run built.
 
Thank you for the input. So far, the coop size on my drawing that I'm working on is 12' x 12' with another 12' x 12' run. The run will be design; I am still working on.
 
Hello there Garden and welcome to BYC!

Michael has left you with some great information. As for predators, @Mountain Peeps lives in Colorado. She might be able to help you with keeping your birds safe and what predators to watch out for.

Great to have you aboard and welcome to our flock!
 
SpiritChkns2015 said:
Thank you for the input. So far, the coop size on my drawing that I'm working on is 12' x 12' with another 12' x 12' run. The run will be design; I am still working on.
Click to expand...

You're welcome. That should be plenty large for twelve chickens; assuming you don't add too many more to your flock later on. Chickens tend to be addicting, and very few BYC members are immune to chicken math. :o)
 
If you are in the foothills or mountains you need to build a bear proof coop. If you're in the flats, your biggest pests are dogs, coyote, hawks/eagles/owls and maybe raccoon.

12x12 is large and requires better building skills and engineering than a 8x8 or 8x10 coop. Both will do the job for 15-20 hens. On a 12x12, you will be buying 16' rafters which will add up quickly. You can find tons of free or cheap building supplies on CL in the FR. If you have the time, you might come across a shed that would be a simple conversion saving time and money. I have about 300' of free chain link fencing I picked up years ago.
 
Welcome to BYC! Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Like TwoCrows said, I live in Colorado and I know what it's like with all the predators running around. We have bears, coons, mountain lions and many other animals that are predators to chickens. We also live in the mountains so we have even more. What important things my dad and I discovered when building the coop is make sure it's built on concrete, use locks on the doors and use hog panels for the run. All have kept the chickens safe from animals. You would not believe how many coons try and get in there. Bears have tried but give up quickly since they are lazy and don't like to work for their food.
 

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