Coop thoughts

[ontimeborzoi]

Well, here's part of the problem, at least one reason for the 'disconnect".
I have a large fowl cochin rooster who would not FIT in a 2 x 2 chicken house. His big butt would take up the whole space. Two of them would have trouble in a four by four space....no room for food or water, for sure! But I can put four silkies in a 2 x 2 space. Or Old English Games. Six seramas, maybe more. Everything is relative.
In general, first timer chicken owners err on the side of way too small. You open that box of tiny little chicks and look out at your brand new chicken coop and you dream of how its going to be when the babies grow up. Except, they grow up to be a lot bigger than you thought they would, and they are a LOT dirtier than you thought they would be, and they make a mess of everything they get near. Which is why experienced poultry people suggest space, and lots of it. For everything. You can't have too much space, inside or out.
If you try to do it without enough space, you will get rid of your chickens in a year. Or less. Not to be cold, that's just the truth of it.

 

[conny63malies]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chicken-coo...684?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item23190b4a54 check this guys coop plans out. He not only has the poop-coop but many others . My fav. is the http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chicken-coo...117?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item256b08f915 big kennel coop. THough for space and cutness reasons i opted for the regular kennel coop. THe god thing is that those plans allow you to build the coop in panels, which allow for easy moving to the backyard. Plus your wife can paint the coop any color she wants, add a flowerbox, weather vane and soloar power twinkle lights.

 

[BronzeStar]

Well, here's part of the problem, at least one reason for the 'disconnect".
I have a large fowl cochin rooster who would not FIT in a 2 x 2 chicken house. His big butt would take up the whole space. Two of them would have trouble in a four by four space....no room for food or water, for sure! But I can put four silkies in a 2 x 2 space. Or Old English Games. Six seramas, maybe more. Everything is relative.
In general, first timer chicken owners err on the side of way too small. You open that box of tiny little chicks and look out at your brand new chicken coop and you dream of how its going to be when the babies grow up. Except, they grow up to be a lot bigger than you thought they would, and they are a LOT dirtier than you thought they would be, and they make a mess of everything they get near. Which is why experienced poultry people suggest space, and lots of it. For everything. You can't have too much space, inside or out.
If you try to do it without enough space, you will get rid of your chickens in a year. Or less. Not to be cold, that's just the truth of it.

This explains it for the most part but if you go back and look at the original coop the post was started on the descriptions for that coop are

"The Tavern Chicken Coop is made from premium fully treated wood. This coop is versatile, strong and will compliment any home or garden.With the Tavern you can rest assured that your chickens are well taken care of and protected from any outside threats. The Tavern is great for 3-5 large chickens."

That description would have led a newb like myself in the wrong direction had it not been for this site. At least I know that whether I build it or buy it I will give my chickens for room than they need.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chicken-coo...684?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item23190b4a54 check this guys coop plans out. He not only has the poop-coop but many others . My fav. is the http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chicken-coo...117?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item256b08f915 big kennel coop. THough for space and cutness reasons i opted for the regular kennel coop. THe god thing is that those plans allow you to build the coop in panels, which allow for easy moving to the backyard. Plus your wife can paint the coop any color she wants, add a flowerbox, weather vane and soloar power twinkle lights.

I'll have to show the wife those to see what she thinks. I also sent him a message to find out the production cost estimate for the big kennel coop. I do like it and its almost the size of what I was going to make so I could always take his plans and modify them a little to meet my needs.

 

[conny63malies]

the cost for my regular kennel coop is 250$, but you might be able to make it cheaper when you get the 2x4s, and chicken wire(or whatever you use) on sale and use different (the plastic wavy roofing). If you use no metal roof on the run only hardware cloth you can save extra money. Mr Schwartz is really helpful and i am sure he will help you. You can always check for more chicken coop plans on Ebay, but his are my fav.

 

[teach1rusl]

Another reason there is such a discrepancy in coop sizes/number of birds: Most coop companies seem to use factory farm standards as the basis for their number quotes: Since most commercial chicken farms only offer about 1 sq. ft per bird, then that number can be used without a lie being told. So using those numbers, a 4 sq. ft. housing COULD hold 4 LF birds. Of course many factory farms debeak birds and take other measures to prevent the negative consquences that come natuarally from crowded conditions.
Thankfully, most back yard chicken keepers don't keep birds like that. That's also partly why you get different coop size suggestions even from the "experts." Humane practices vs. commercial practices. As was mentioned, bird size (keep in mind that even LF can range from a 4lb andalusian up to a 12lb brahma), bird temperament (flighty/very active vs calm/docile), and the amount of outdoor space, and even region (mild weather vs. extremes seasonally) all have to factor in - another reason you get such varied responses...there's no "one size fits all" answer. But as we know, most people WANT a set answer. That's why most of us here on BYC use the very general suggestion of 4sq. ft. each of coop space/10 sq. ft. each of run space - knowing some might need more and some might get by okay with less....

 

[BronzeStar]

the cost for my regular kennel coop is 250$, but you might be able to make it cheaper when you get the 2x4s, and chicken wire(or whatever you use) on sale and use different (the plastic wavy roofing). If you use no metal roof on the run only hardware cloth you can save extra money. Mr Schwartz is really helpful and i am sure he will help you. You can always check for more chicken coop plans on Ebay, but his are my fav.

Well If I can keep it under $500 my wife would be happy.

Another reason there is such a discrepancy in coop sizes/number of birds: Most coop companies seem to use factory farm standards as the basis for their number quotes: Since most commercial chicken farms only offer about 1 sq. ft per bird, then that number can be used without a lie being told. So using those numbers, a 4 sq. ft. housing COULD hold 4 LF birds. Of course many factory farms debeak birds and take other measures to prevent the negative consquences that come natuarally from crowded conditions.
Thankfully, most back yard chicken keepers don't keep birds like that. That's also partly why you get different coop size suggestions even from the "experts." Humane practices vs. commercial practices. As was mentioned, bird size (keep in mind that even LF can range from a 4lb andalusian up to a 12lb brahma), bird temperament (flighty/very active vs calm/docile), and the amount of outdoor space, and even region (mild weather vs. extremes seasonally) all have to factor in - another reason you get such varied responses...there's no "one size fits all" answer. But as we know, most people WANT a set answer. That's why most of us here on BYC use the very general suggestion of 4sq. ft. each of coop space/10 sq. ft. each of run space - knowing some might need more and some might get by okay with less....

That seems to be the case with most of them using the commercial guidelines its just frustrating. but again excellent info

 

[BronzeStar]

the cost for my regular kennel coop is 250$, but you might be able to make it cheaper when you get the 2x4s, and chicken wire(or whatever you use) on sale and use different (the plastic wavy roofing). If you use no metal roof on the run only hardware cloth you can save extra money. Mr Schwartz is really helpful and i am sure he will help you. You can always check for more chicken coop plans on Ebay, but his are my fav.

Ok so the wife finally decided on one she likes and the plans have been ordered from the seller recommended by conny63malies. Our babies are 3 days old now and I'll start construction on the coop this weekend so I should have no problem getting it completed by the time they are ready to go in it. We decided on http://www.ebay.com/itm/Chicken-coo...737?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item23198bb589 it has a 4x4 coop and a 4x10 run so we should be good.

 

[Trefoil]

I second the "chicken coops for dummies" and check out your local library, if they don't have it they could probably get it for you. If you do decide to buy a premade coop, make sure it doesn't use chicken wire. Its cheaper, but it also isn't at all predator proof. I bought a premade and the beautiful finish on it didn't even last the first summer. Doing it yourself you get a lot more "bang for your buck", and the instructions in the book are really quite good. You can also get tips here and elsewhere online. Also, I don't know where you live, but if you get storms & or nasty weather, there are going to be days or even weeks where your hens will need someplace inside to wait out the weather and even 10 square feet isn't enough. Unless I mistook what I was seeing, the coop in the link had no floor space at all, just a 1" walk to get to the nests. How large your run needs to be depends on whether you are going to let them free range during the nice days or not. If you intend to keep them in their coop and run, it will have to be good sized or else it will end up a mud pit. Or you could even build a tractor, some of them are very cute and easily movable. If you do this put a wire floor on it so its predator proof.

 

[BronzeStar]

I second the "chicken coops for dummies" and check out your local library, if they don't have it they could probably get it for you. If you do decide to buy a premade coop, make sure it doesn't use chicken wire. Its cheaper, but it also isn't at all predator proof. I bought a premade and the beautiful finish on it didn't even last the first summer. Doing it yourself you get a lot more "bang for your buck", and the instructions in the book are really quite good. You can also get tips here and elsewhere online. Also, I don't know where you live, but if you get storms & or nasty weather, there are going to be days or even weeks where your hens will need someplace inside to wait out the weather and even 10 square feet isn't enough. Unless I mistook what I was seeing, the coop in the link had no floor space at all, just a 1" walk to get to the nests. How large your run needs to be depends on whether you are going to let them free range during the nice days or not. If you intend to keep them in their coop and run, it will have to be good sized or else it will end up a mud pit. Or you could even build a tractor, some of them are very cute and easily movable. If you do this put a wire floor on it so its predator proof.

I'm thinking you misread it (not that it goes into those details), I have contacted the individual and the inside coop space is 4x4, the nesting boxes are mounted externally so dont count against the overal floor space. the run is 4x10. Even if the plan called for using chicken wire I couldn't and wouldn't use it. I have two siberian huskies who would LOVE to eat these birds and I will have to modify the plans accordingly. I currently plan to bury the main support post as well as wire to keep any pest that would look and digging in out of the coop.

 

[BronzeStar]

I hope the previous post didn't come off wrong, I value the advice given I really do. All I can say about the coop that I will build is that is will be 4x4 + and that it will have an attached run that is at least 10' long with wire that will withstand my dogs (and trust me thats saying a lot). As for the weather I have an entire garage that will be dedicated to the chickens in that case which is more space than the entire coop design. I love my little chickies and will ensure that they have what they need to be happy.