Crazy chicken lady in the making :)

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Poshlissa

Chirping
Oct 18, 2021
31
140
86
High Desert, California
Hi everyone! I am new to this forum and totally new to chickens. I’ve been wanting some for years but hubby never understood why cuz his family had them when he was a kid and he thinks they are nasty smelly things and that they are called “foul” for a reason. Ha!! But he is finally relenting and is going to build me a coop and run in preparation for spring chicks. We live on 2.5 acres in the California desert and all we have raised are a few set of feeder pigs. Talk about smelly!! Haha!
Right now I am trying to decide between a small raised coop or a walk-in hen house type coop. The run will be tall enough for me to walk in without stooping regardless as that is an absolute non negotiable for me. The plan is to put it in my enclosed “back yard” so I can let my girls out to range in the grass about an hour a day or so. The most I can have is about 5 hens so I am hoping they won’t ruin my beautiful lawn??? Is that a bad idea? The other option is putting their coop out near the pig pen but I want them close to the house so I can actually enjoy them and keep them safe.
I am ALL EARS right now as we are still in the planning stages so if you have coop advice or anything at all please share!!

Loving this forum so far!! :)
 
N F C said:
:welcome

Hello, it's nice to have you here with us!

I personally prefer a walk in coop and run but everyone has their own preferences.
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See, that’s what I think I would prefer too but hubby doesn’t understand why I would want to walk in a “nasty smelly” chicken coop. He’s going to give me whatever I want, but it’s hard to know the right coop when I’ve never had the wrong wrong yet. lol
 
Poshlissa said:
See, that’s what I think I would prefer too but hubby doesn’t understand why I would want to walk in a “nasty smelly” chicken coop. He’s going to give me whatever I want, but it’s hard to know the right coop when I’ve never had the wrong wrong yet. lol
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If you haven't already found it, there's a place under the Articles tab where you can see 100's of member built coops: chicken-coops.12

Looking over some of those might help you figure out what works for you best.
 
Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.

Poshlissa said:
See, that’s what I think I would prefer too but hubby doesn’t understand why I would want to walk in a “nasty smelly” chicken coop. He’s going to give me whatever I want, but it’s hard to know the right coop when I’ve never had the wrong wrong yet. lol
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I have a walk-in coop. I also use poop boards filled with Sweet PDZ under the roosts. My coop most assuredly is not smelly. However the other thing that you need to strongly consider when building your coop is you need a lot of ventilation. Shoot for 1 sq ft per bird that will kept permanently open. That includes during the winter especially. Having lots of windows at roost height that you can open during the summer will help keep them cool during the warm months.
Only use 1/2" hardware cloth to secure openings as chicken wire will lead to predator losses as the only thing it's really good for is keeping chickens in but nothing out.
 

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