Hello, Chicken People! 
So, I'm either doing this wrong, or every single pre-made coop you can buy wants you to pen your chickens in like large sardines in a tiny can. Help! And thank you, all, for contributing and building such an incredible resource. FYI, we live in Los Angeles, California and are planning to have (start with...) 6 chickens. We're first-timers, but have wanted them for awhile.
In reading through BYC, it's ideal to have a 3-4 sq ft/bird in your coop, and 8-10 sq ft per bird in your run. No pre-made coop I'm looking at is providing enough space for 6 birds, even though they say their coops are good for up to 10 birds. By my math, for 6 chickens, we would need 24 sqft in the coop, and 60 sqft in the run, if we're on the more generous side of the estimate. Even the Omlet Eglo Cube, which my partner is hot on (because it's ready made with possible re-sale value if we eventually build our own), says it can house 8 medium chickens, but the dimensions are 3.1 ft x 3.3 ft, which only gets you 10.25 sq ft, and that's rounded up! No coop I'm finding on-line that's advertised for 6 chickens is actually giving those 6 chickens the space that this community recommends.
Am I doing the math wrong, or are the chicken coop manufacturers all trying to pull one over on us?
This brings me to my idea for a shed conversion. I think the Eglo Cube is pretty limiting, but there are a number of used sheds in our area for sale that are cheaper than the Omlet by far. We'd still need to do a bunch of building, but we could build in the set up we want. My partner is worried about time, and I'm worried about money, so we are trying to balance some different priorities.
I feel like we could a) get a small shed, and build a run onto it, or b) get a larger shed and use it as the run by replacing 2 walls with framing and hardware cloth, and building coop structures into it (nesting boxes, roosts, etc). I attached pics of both of those options - the one with the smaller shed that has an attached run is from GreenEggers here on BYC!
Does anyone have any recommendations for a metal vs a plastic shed (working with the materials, if we'd need specialty tools, environmental concerns. etc), or any other things to think about as we (or... I...) look into converting one? We live in Los Angeles, so are going to be building in venting, venting, venting, and looking for shade solutions as we go... We're very handy, but the more experienced one of us is super short on time right now... Does anyone who's done this kind of conversion and build have any time and budget estimates for it?
Thank you!
So, I'm either doing this wrong, or every single pre-made coop you can buy wants you to pen your chickens in like large sardines in a tiny can. Help! And thank you, all, for contributing and building such an incredible resource. FYI, we live in Los Angeles, California and are planning to have (start with...) 6 chickens. We're first-timers, but have wanted them for awhile.
In reading through BYC, it's ideal to have a 3-4 sq ft/bird in your coop, and 8-10 sq ft per bird in your run. No pre-made coop I'm looking at is providing enough space for 6 birds, even though they say their coops are good for up to 10 birds. By my math, for 6 chickens, we would need 24 sqft in the coop, and 60 sqft in the run, if we're on the more generous side of the estimate. Even the Omlet Eglo Cube, which my partner is hot on (because it's ready made with possible re-sale value if we eventually build our own), says it can house 8 medium chickens, but the dimensions are 3.1 ft x 3.3 ft, which only gets you 10.25 sq ft, and that's rounded up! No coop I'm finding on-line that's advertised for 6 chickens is actually giving those 6 chickens the space that this community recommends.
Am I doing the math wrong, or are the chicken coop manufacturers all trying to pull one over on us?
This brings me to my idea for a shed conversion. I think the Eglo Cube is pretty limiting, but there are a number of used sheds in our area for sale that are cheaper than the Omlet by far. We'd still need to do a bunch of building, but we could build in the set up we want. My partner is worried about time, and I'm worried about money, so we are trying to balance some different priorities.
I feel like we could a) get a small shed, and build a run onto it, or b) get a larger shed and use it as the run by replacing 2 walls with framing and hardware cloth, and building coop structures into it (nesting boxes, roosts, etc). I attached pics of both of those options - the one with the smaller shed that has an attached run is from GreenEggers here on BYC!
Does anyone have any recommendations for a metal vs a plastic shed (working with the materials, if we'd need specialty tools, environmental concerns. etc), or any other things to think about as we (or... I...) look into converting one? We live in Los Angeles, so are going to be building in venting, venting, venting, and looking for shade solutions as we go... We're very handy, but the more experienced one of us is super short on time right now... Does anyone who's done this kind of conversion and build have any time and budget estimates for it?
Thank you!
