Coop thoughts

[BronzeStar]

Anyone ever order a coop from www.chickensaloon.com I will have 4 Buff Orpingtons and the wife wants a "pretty" coop or one that doesn't look like it was built from scrap lumber, which pretty much means that we are going to have to buy one lol. Currently considering this onehttp://chickensaloon.com/the-tavern-backyard-chicken-coop/

I believe it would be sufficient for the amount of chickens I will have over 130 sq ft of run room and over 50 sq foot of coop room. with external nesting boxes.

Any thoughts or comments

 

[teach1rusl]

You did see that the actual housing is barely over 2ft x 2ft?? Just wanted to point that out. I'm surprised they're able to fit enough roost space for 3-5 birds. ALL commercial coop companies that I've seen grossly exaggerate the number of birds that will "fit" in their coops.
I shut my birds inside their housing at night, so I would only consider that coop for a pair. JMO. I guess if you weren't planning on shutting the pop door at night (you live in a mild area and the run wire is quite strong), then with an added run it could work...???

 

[BronzeStar]

Thats why I'm posting this, everything I've read said that you should figure 4 sq ft per bird inside the coop and 6 sq ft on run space. even at 25.5" x 25.5" thats still a little over 54 sq ft which would be 13.5 sq ft per bird unless my math is incorrect somewhere or I'm missing something. I would rather plan correctly now than pay for it later.

 

[Imp]

I think your math is a little off. Looks like this would only be OK for 1-2 chickens. Maybe 5 if they are bantams, or freerange during the day.

Imp- Sorry

 

[BronzeStar]

Yeah as I was driving to the store I was running through the numbers again and realized my mistake. So basically I would have to find a coop that is 4'x4' for the living area and roughly 5'x5' for the run that my wife thinks is pretty? I think this might be an impossible task at least the last part.

 

[mtnhens4]

Not impossible just a little harder than you first thought, it really will be worth your effort to buy, build or re-purpose the biggest coop that you can, considering you resources and the space you have available. Also, if you are in city limits, how many chickens you are allowed.
We have had our chickens for almost 1 year and we really enjoy them and wish we had gotten them sooner. I didn't want an ugly coop either but because we live in a place where our whole yard is easily seen by the whole neighborhood and I didn't want any complaints. My husband has construction experiance so we decided to build ours. Do your home work and then decide but have fun, chickens are worth it.

 

[BronzeStar]

I'm all about doing it right but I really don't feel nor could I spend a grand on a prefab chicken coop. Anyone got any good looking prefab chicken cooks that fits the bill.....

 

[HEChicken]

I'm not completely clear on why it has to be pre-fab? Have you looked at the coops section? There are many beautiful home-made coops that are all different sizes. Home-made doesn't have to mean "scrap lumber", and making your own coop will mean you can get a LOT more coop for your money than anything you can buy and have shipped to you.

 

[BronzeStar]

I agree and after looking around I'm leaning more towards building it myself, I don't build a lot so I'm sure my wife just isn't confident I can build one that she will not want to throw some camo net over to hide lol. I like the idea of building it myself because we have a nice 6'X8' (roughly) picked out that I would then be able to completely utilize which would make the chickens rather happy I would imagine. I'm actually pricing out the material cost right now and figuring out which design I want to copy so I can sell the wife on it.

 

[mtnhens4]

Please check out "Chicken Coops for Dummies" there is a great coop in there that would be really cute and not so hard to build for less than $300, plus many great tips for those without much experiance building.