Dream chicken coop—let’s design one together!

[Greystone farm]

Hey everybody! My family has recently bought a new house. It’s got a pond for our ducks and lots of space for our chickens to forage in, but unfortunately, our current chicken coop isn’t mobile, and we have to buy or build a new one when we move. However, there is a 12 x 14 foot shed on the property that we probably won’t use…
I’m trying to convince my Dad that said shed would be a perfect chicken coop. He says that since we only have four chickens, it’s way too big. And he’s right. But let’s just talk dreams for a minute: if you had the same shed and opportunity at your house, how would you design it? What features would you add? Try to imagine that you only have four hens too, and I’ll see if I can use everyone’s ideas to convince my Dad to turn this shed into a dream coop!
Here are my dream coop ideas:
-at least half could be divided off by a wall to be a feed room/storage room for treats, or medical supplies. There could be a big chalkboard on the wall to write notes.
-either in the feed room or in a separate corner of the shed I could put a small utility sink for if I ever have to give my ducks/chickens baths (which I do pretty often in the winter) complete with storage for towels and stuff
-fairy lights! Everywhere! Pictures on the walls, cute curtains on the window…basically tons of cute decorations. Lots of signs and flowers beds on the outside, plus cute light fixtures
-the coop itself could be connected to the feed room with lots and lots of perches.
-Ooh, I could paint the walls!
-I could insulate it for the winter
-a MASSIVE run off the side with planter boxes full of edible greens that I could bring in and out for the chickens


Add to the list! What would your dream poultry setup be in a 12 x 14 foot space?

 

[Iluveggers]

Sounds like your main problem is you don’t have enough chickens!

 

[azygous]

Having a blank slate is tremendous fun. Having a large shed to work with is a treasure, so I recommend you not place unnecessary restrictions on this windfall. Even four chickens can happily use the entire space of the shed.

Sectioning off the shed is a terrific idea. Storage space, however, needs only a quarter of the square footage, if that. A better use of space would be to create a chick brooding safe space and a section that can be closed off to segregate a problem chicken, labeled by those of us with such a space as "chicken jail".

Having a partitioned coop can also accommodate your chickens during bad weather when they don't feel like going outside. Restricting coop space unnecessarily restricts your chickens' comfort and freedom.

 

[ruthhope]

My suggestion is somewhat opposite to azygous .
Its a great sized shed and perhaps you need to meet your father's need for a shed as well as your need for a new chicken coop. Maybe take 12'x4' for your coop -- that is big enough to further divide a safe brooding area if you need it. Have a separate entrance to the coop from outside for the chickens. Then the rest of the shed can be storage for your dad and his gardening equipment, as well as your chicken grain store [in metal bins]. Having your utility sink in there might be OK, but I would have my utility sink outside the shed, along the outside wall to the coop area. Painting the shed the color you father would like is another peace offering to him that might sway him to let you have part of the shed as the chicken coop!

 

[azygous]

Yes, this is my run. I live where the weather can be extremely un-nice at times, so my run is large and completely enclosed like a coop. I have two coops with only sleeping perches and laying nests which are situated at opposite ends of the run. The run is where the chickens spend most of their time even on warm, lovely days since it's so large and accommodating to their needs.

Right now, there's a raging blizzard, but my chickens are blissfully unconcerned about it, as am I, since they are protected from having to deal with it. When I built the run, people gave me all sorts of recycled materials including five full-length glass doors. I installed those as permanent wind breaks and they also serve to bring tons of sunshine into the run so the chickens even have places to sun themselves and take dirt baths in the sand (I use sand as bedding in both coops and runs) without having to go outside.

 

[Greystone farm]

Having a blank slate is tremendous fun. Having a large shed to work with is a treasure, so I recommend you not place unnecessary restrictions on this windfall. Even four chickens can happily use the entire space of the shed.

Sectioning off the shed is a terrific idea. Storage space, however, needs only a quarter of the square footage, if that. A better use of space would be to create a chick brooding safe space and a section that can be closed off to segregate a problem chicken, labeled by those of us with such a space as "chicken jail".

Having a partitioned coop can also accommodate your chickens during bad weather when they don't feel like going outside. Restricting coop space unnecessarily restricts your chickens' comfort and freedom. View attachment 2985265

Having a blank slate is tremendous fun. Having a large shed to work with is a treasure, so I recommend you not place unnecessary restrictions on this windfall. Even four chickens can happily use the entire space of the shed.

Sectioning off the shed is a terrific idea. Storage space, however, needs only a quarter of the square footage, if that. A better use of space would be to create a chick brooding safe space and a section that can be closed off to segregate a problem chicken, labeled by those of us with such a space as "chicken jail".

Having a partitioned coop can also accommodate your chickens during bad weather when they don't feel like going outside. Restricting coop space unnecessarily restricts your chickens' comfort and freedom. View attachment 2985265

Wow! Good to know Having the coop divided into sections sounds like a great plan. Is the coop in the picture you attached yours? It looks amazing

 

[Hermits Garden]

I'd say split it in half, a shed with a door for your dad on one end, and a coop with a door for you on the other. That way when chicken math happens, you'll have space. Make the run so that it leaves the shed end out of things (so your dad doesn't have to trod through poo). We did this with a 12 x 10 bld, and I'd have LOVED to have 12 x 14. My division wasn't quite as equitable, since the hubs only asked for "a few feet" for garden tools, but there's a door on either end, and he doesn't have to do the poop walk to get or put away tools.

I think you'd like having a separate walk-in brooder too, if you intend to hatch/buy chicks in the future. All the other things on your list are totally do-able, if you store stuff under poo boards, but you might reconsider the sink inside. There are all kinds of how-to's on how to make an outdoor garden sink using the water hose when you need it.

Have fun!

 

[Stephanie8806]

Regardless of the design, it may be good to talk to your dad about your long-term plan for chickens. You have four, but would there ever be a chance for you to get more? How long have you had them? After two laying seasons, their production generally drops off quite a lot. Are you going to keep them as pets once they’re done laying? Are you going to keep the old ones and get new laying chickens? Are you going to butcher them and get 4 new ones?

If you think you might have ducks, you can always partition the shed and it can be a split coop. Or, it can be a shared coop and you can partition off half of it or more for storage(feed, garden supplies, etc.).

Also, where do you live? What’s the climate like? In colder/wetter climates, more space than what you “need” comes in handy when inclement weather is happening. Not quite as important to build a weather protected outdoor area, as they’ll have sufficient space inside.

I’m my experience, Men(husbands, dads, etc)who are generally not the “lead” on the chicken ownership journey don’t usually care about “dream” coop setups. They usually want the practicality over the aesthetic. Ask your dad questions about his/your long term plan for birds. Are they pets? Are they for some type of production? Both? Are they a long term lifestyle investment for you, or just something he thinks might be fine for a few years and then stop? If they are a long term decision, having more than what you need gives these animals a better quality of life… regardless of their purpose.

 

[Greystone farm]

Sounds like your main problem is you don’t have enough chickens!

Lol yeah

 

[Greystone farm]

Yes, this is my run. I live where the weather can be extremely un-nice at times, so my run is large and completely enclosed like a coop. I have two coops with only sleeping perches and laying nests which are situated at opposite ends of the run. The run is where the chickens spend most of their time even on warm, lovely days since it's so large and accommodating to their needs.

Right now, there's a raging blizzard, but my chickens are blissfully unconcerned about it, as am I, since they are protected from having to deal with it. When I built the run, people gave me all sorts of recycled materials including five full-length glass doors. I installed those as permanent wind breaks and they also serve to bring tons of sunshine into the run so the chickens even have places to sun themselves and take dirt baths in the sand (I use sand as bedding in both coops and runs) without having to go outside.

Wow, that’s amazing! Lucky chickens