So I am new to chickens, had a coop done last year and it cost me a thousand dollars, yep I was taken for a ride I'm sure, a 500 dollar dog kennel for a pen, and I was on my way to having chickens. We purchased 6 chickens and of course one was a rooster so he went to a good home, my coop was the right size for 5 girls, but what if I wanted to add girls? I was and am a firm believer of 4 square feet per bird, my coop was just the right size for 5 to 6 girls and no more.
Well my girl went broody, 3 times in the year and at the last, was broody for weeks and I could not break it. She wanted to be a mama. So we set out to make the coop bigger, and the pen bigger and we set her on 5 eggs . The coop was to small for mama and the chicks, and the nest boxes were way to high, so we put her in a hutch on the front porch, she had 2 chicks and the coop build began in earnest. Once again I hired someone to build on my coop and run, bigger and better . The 10x10 pen went down, and the coop got bigger. The coop is twice as big now, the pen is twice as big. I'm going to be planting plants around my coop and pen, and I'm going to add sand to the run. I'm also having the front and sides painted with chickens and a welcome sign on the door. Here it is so far, notice the trampled grass from going to and from the pen all winter,grass planting is on the way soon to. now we have an electric door opener to! We are truly blessed but it took a lot of money ! TaLK about an expensive hobby lol
Well my girl went broody, 3 times in the year and at the last, was broody for weeks and I could not break it. She wanted to be a mama. So we set out to make the coop bigger, and the pen bigger and we set her on 5 eggs . The coop was to small for mama and the chicks, and the nest boxes were way to high, so we put her in a hutch on the front porch, she had 2 chicks and the coop build began in earnest. Once again I hired someone to build on my coop and run, bigger and better . The 10x10 pen went down, and the coop got bigger. The coop is twice as big now, the pen is twice as big. I'm going to be planting plants around my coop and pen, and I'm going to add sand to the run. I'm also having the front and sides painted with chickens and a welcome sign on the door. Here it is so far, notice the trampled grass from going to and from the pen all winter,grass planting is on the way soon to. now we have an electric door opener to! We are truly blessed but it took a lot of money ! TaLK about an expensive hobby lol
then trying to get the pen built was out of the question so I had to buy a pen froma fencing company, total cost 550.oo I had to have a guy come and do the rest of the coop! But he was so nice he only charged me 50.00 and we were blessed by him. Next the pen in the heavy snow was impossible to deal with, we had to get one of those tops for it. And we wrapped it up in tarps, my girlS were toasty dry all winter, and winters here are brutal! ( we are still getting snow! But did we want to end with only five girls? Nope we wanted to continue getting eggs for years to come so we decided to increase the coop, and the chickens, next year 3 go to freezer camp. And the two buffs will be brooded, we are in the process of getting 4 more pullets this weekend. We want to have at least 10 on hand to continue the eggs coming. We also got a light fixture in the hen house to insure we can ! 
