Do you wish you had built a bigger coop?

[racuda]

Coops are like closets and kitchen cabinets. No matter how many you have, or how big they are, you will always fill them up!

 

[annie3001]

funny question! Right now we are building an addition to our coop!!! bigger is better!!!

 

[seedcorn]

Put me in wish I had built tractors so each breed could have their own housing. Instead I built a 8' X 6' building. So I have a larger building than I need.

 

[SC_Hugh]

Quick answer: NO.

We bought 4 chicks in May 2009 and 1 grew up to be a rooster and the other 3 became excellent layers. Their coop is 4'x7' and their run is 4'x15'. I rehomed our rooster last week and our 3 happy layers are enjoying 2x the minimum space requirements.

I wanted more chicks/layers and even planned out which breeds to add to our flock and started building a tractor for the newbies, THEN I had a moment of sanity and asked my wife if we should add more, she said NO and I accepted that 2-3 eggs a day was enough for us.

Later on, we may get more, but for now 3 great layers are plenty,

Hugh

 

[pacetruckguy]

I wish I had built mine bigger. I have 8 hens and they seem to be fine, but I want more bad! I may build another one. I just love having them, they a such a joy. I get about a half dozen eggs a day. Too many to eat, but not enough to sell. I don't know selling them might be a hassle. Just like chickens. Everyone thinks I'm crazy, but they all enjoy the eggs. It is wierd how addictive it is. I know a lot more now and will defenatly make some changes.

 

[Morgan7782]

I am going through that right now. I had a coop set up, a real protected safe one, and it was perfect for 2 chickens, which is what I intended on having. Well I ended up getting 4 chicks, because of the chance of a death, or a rooster. Now I am HOPING they are all girlies, and if so I will definately be adding to my coop. I need to double it's size to fit four laying hens. lol!

 

[Zahboo]

Yes, but no. My first coop I didn't like. I build small to decide what designs I like. Interior or exterior nesting boxes, angled roosts or normal? Automatic or hinged pop door or no door at all? Walk in run or crawl on your knees if you find a way in (DEFINITLEY walk in) and such. Right now this Spring Break I'm undoing EVERYTHING in my current coops to build my breeder pen coops. That way I can put my cochin in their spot, the silkies when they are bigger can be seperated by color and maybe even some Russian Orloffs XD

 

[FluffyColor]

I'm turning my GARAGE into a coop...it might hold 30-40 chickens...no, I don't need to TRIPLE it...

In my mind 5-7 chickens isn't enough.I would build for at least 20.

 

[JCoogle]

Not only will you want to add to your coop later but you will probably want to add more coops. We started with just a few egg layers and that was going to be the end. So far I am up to 4 coops with their own runs and I have to have three more real soon.

 

[savingdogs]

We have 17 layers giving us about a dozen a day. While 30 dozen or so a month sounds like a lot, we developed customers quickly and and several "regulars" we are keeping supplied. This helps pay for their feed and treats, so we feel (a little less than a year into the project of having chickens) that they are paying for themselves. We also give some away (neighbors who have done something nice for us, my elderly mom, a poor family we know, gifts, etc.). So we don't quite have enough for our needs!

However we need to add about three more chickens in order to keep up with our demand. Our coop is big enough but our pen really should be enlarged before we add more. We added ducks this year as well so I'm hoping that duck eggs keep some of my customers satisfied for the upcoming year.

Another issue to consider when building your coop is whether you are going to raise chicks. We need a section to close off from the other hens when we see one has gone broody. Our last broody hen was doing well, but we left her where she started, on one of the mutual nests. Unfortunately another hen felt broody for a couple of minutes as well and had a pushier personality than the truly broody hen and kept her off the nest for an afternoon. I kept trying to intervene but the whole thing upset the broody hen and she went off and forgot her eggs after that. All ten half-developed eggs were wasted because I don't have an incubator.
So if you want to see hens raise chicks, make a seperate indoor section in your coop where you could put water, food, a nest and have a little space for the young chicks to run around. They can't be by the older birds until they feather out, which could be awhile, so you might want this seperate part to have outdoor access/flap door to an outdoor pen designed specially for chicks. They can get through chain link and chicken wire isn't tough enough to predator proof anything.