Dreaming of building NEW farm style chicken coop!

[Kristin Brown]

I have dreams of building a new chicken coop! Please offer your advice and topic-related pictures with consideration to my flocks "needs"!

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Currently, I have an 8ftx8ft coop that was converted from an old shed. It features 12 simple plywood nesting boxes and a low roost. For extra roosting space, I added a primitive farm ladder I found at a rummage sale. It rests against the center roof support. The coop is outfitted with a radiant heat bulb, corner storage cabinet, heated base + drinker fount and hanging feeder. It has a wood floor. The door features the only window as well as a "doggie door" which the chickens happily use. The fencing has been 100% so far to keep out predators. Occasionally the chickens free-range our 5-acres, especially May-September.

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What I want is an old fashioned farm style chicken coop that can house 50+ layers chickens. I need it to have a main space for chickens, sectioned off brooding room and a separate storage room. Our chain link panels we would keep as the outdoor run - adding more if needed. My boyfriend is a master builder/machinist, so keep in mind he would not be open to any redneck construction! My budget is $500-$2,000 realistically. I'd like it to structurally jive with the style of our other structures. Due to the strong winds, a coop mounted in-ground would be best however a portable building would be neat too.

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This year we built new fencing, a portable barn and run-in horse shelter!​

We did a horse corral for under $400 with two gates, electric fencing, 8 wooden posts and 10 support wooden posts all in concrete. The run-in shelter cost around $700, however while the majority of the materials were new, we did up-cycle the plywood and 2x4s used on the kick-board. The tin roofing and paint I got a major discount on at Home Depot. The front corner posts are in concrete. The white portable barn was built and engineered by a family member. It is about

20ftx16ft and on steel beams to transport it. Lets face it, it was totally over-built!!​

Please send me pictures, details and traits of your favorite farm chicken coops and "amenities"! I need inspiration from Back Yard Chicken bloggers. Include pictures - I am a visual person! Here is my thoughts on the ideal chicken coop...

• Main Room
• Brooder Room
• Feed/Storage Room
• Wood Floor
• Galvanized Nests
• Variety of Roosts

• Tin Roof
• Windows
• Electric + Lighted
• Heat Lamps
• Vents and Fans
• Netting Over Run-Enclosure

 

[Hollow Point]

Actually not quite finished with another I am building, but if you look at the picture, the left side is going to be for my boys pheasants, the middle for his doves and the right side will be closed on three sides for about 20 chickens to roost.

This is where the chickens roost right now, which is an older picture.

 

[Kristin Brown]

I live in Colorado where we often have chilly weather and occasional snow storms - so I really need an enclosed chicken coop that is capable of keeping the chickens warm in the harsh winter storms/wind. Here is a photo I found of an old fashioned farm chicken coop that actually happens to be on a Colorado farm! What I like about this style is its warm enough for winter, however allows for plenty of light, too. On days of adverse weather my chickens already won't come outside, so it is important to consider that I provide enough indoor space to accommodate the flock comfortably.

 

[Azriel]

I built my coop out of lumber we cut and sawed ourselves, it is 14x24, has a main 12x14 layer flock area, 2 7x8 breeding/grow out pens, and a 4' center alley that I use for storage and to access the pens. it is wired for lights and could heat it, but I don't use heat just heated water pails. I don't have any photos of the pens up, but I use chain link pens on both sides and the back, and they all open into large free range areas.
It was just about finished in the 1st one


just started in this one

close to being done, I have a 12x14 covered outside area on the east side open to the east and south, but covered to the north,shown in this next one



my home made nest boxes, and across the alley the small pens, and the last one is the roosts. I have heard that the chickens will fight over the top roost, but I really don't have any problems.

 

[Sweetly Silkies]

My coop is nothing special. Sorry its not painted all the way yet, it started getting chilly and we needed some paint on it for he winter!
Its fairly new, made in the spring. Its my little (lol, okay its not little! ) mansion.

 

[Kristin Brown]

Thank you for the pictures! I love the style of both coops! I especially like all the natural sunlight coming in through the windows on these chicken coops. Here are some Questions....What do you most like about your coop? What do you now wish you would have done differently?

 

[Time-Out]

• Main Room

Is this the main area for the chickens?
This is the outside of our 'coop'. It's an old, run-down, abandoned stable block that we've spent the past year fixing up.



This is the end stable: we've divided it into two 'breeding' pens (one for bantams and one for LF). Each has access into their own run.



This is the other stable. It is used as a cockerel and grower pen. My cockerels are good with youngsters. If they're not, they don't stay for long. This was before we got the poop tray up under the long perch on the left.

• Brooder Room

I brood chicks at home. I don't do too many at once. I did 78 at once last year and it was hellish. I cope better with smaller numbers, plus it means they get out on grass at a younger age. The neighbours would have gone crazy if they saw 78 chicks running around my back garden. Imagine trying to catch them!

• Feed/Storage Room

The feeder in the cockerel pen takes a full bag and the two feeders in the breeding pens take half a bag each, so I don't need to store food with the chickens (otherwise I'd just be feeding the rats). Food lives in my garage at home.
There is an old kitchen cupboard in one of the stable. That houses screws (always in need of those), grit and feed supplements. I keep the less-used stuff at home, in the garage, on my 'chicken shelf'.

• Wood Floor

The floor is concrete. It's a good job too, because the roof was leaking all over the place when we first started working on it. The floor would have been non-existent.

• Galvanized Nests

The nest-boxes are plastic because galvanised would be very cold in winter.

• Variety of Roosts

The main sleeping perches all have poop trays, which are brilliant. The cockerel pen has a hinged ladder roost and the bantam pen has an extra perch lower down. There are also perches in the runs.

• Tin Roof

Not a great idea. Ours is and it causes a lot of condensation when it's cold out. It rains down. If you want tin, you may want to look at insulating it.

• Windows

We have half-doors, where the top half is a window. Also, along the back, under the eaves, we have put clear plastic in there to let more light in. We also remove one roofing panel and put a plastic corrugated panel there instead. It did wonders. You can see for yourself in the photos; the stables don't look dark and dingey, do they?

• Electric + Lighted

There's a solar panel on the roof that charges a leisure battery that sits on a shelf in the cockerel pen and supplies a light in each stable. This is purely for my own benefit as I don't finish work till 5pm, so it's dark by the time I get to them in Winter.

• Heat Lamps

I don't use them.

• Vents and Fans

No fans, plenty of vents. All along the tops of the walls, there is a gap between the roof and the wall. In Summer, the plastic over the doors is removed too. In winter, there is a good 35sqft of ventilation. In summer, it's twice that.

• Netting Over Run-Enclosure

I think this is pigeon netting. It's 2"x2" squares. I bought it online. Wasn't a bad price and very easy to install with cable ties. It did get covered in snow the other day and needed a good shake. We may put a couple of extra posts in the middle in case that happens again.

• What I like most

Everything. I got lots of ideas from this forum and implemented them. The poop trays are brilliant, the daylight is important, but the space is probably the best of all. Give the chickens plenty of room.

• What I would have done differently

We don't own the place, we don't even rent it, we have use of it for eggs (considering the state it was in...). Fixing this up has given me a lot of insight into how I'd build the perfect coop. My ideal one, would be a large moveable one to move around fields (one day, when I own fields). Otherwise, for this one, the roof could do with extending further on the lower side. The rain runs down the wall and seeps through in some places. I also wouldn't have built it so low in the ground. The runs are higher than the floor, which again means moisture seeps through the walls. When it rains lots, we get a huge puddle in the front. We've built a dam on the inside of the stable to stop the water going under the door. Not sure how the pony used to cope.
Other than those two things, everything else I'd have changed I have done. Nothing to stop you from correcting or improving your work

 

[Sweetly Silkies]

Thank you for the pictures! I love the style of both coops! I especially like all the natural sunlight coming in through the windows on these chicken coops. Here are some Questions....What do you most like about your coop? What do you now wish you would have done differently?

i like mine because its big! has tons of space for more chickens.. and lots of roosting spots. I would have liked it to be moveable but with its size i dont think i could have done that

 

[Kristin Brown]

Thank you for your input everyone! To the friend in UK, I especially love your flight netting... It is exactly what I had in mind for a flexible material I could install over my chain link panels. I am going to be keeping an eye out when I go to garage sales this summer. I try to find everything super cheap or free if I can! I also love the idea of replacing a section or two of roofing with clear to allow for sunlight. This is definitely something I will consider when I am shopping for building materials. Also - to the friend in Missouri, I can see why you would love all that extra space! Every chicken lover will always dream of more birds.

 

[rendezvous1838]

Put in lots of outlets for electricity. Lights, timers, heated water-ers, automatic chicken door, (I love it!) and who knows what else.



Easy to put them in as you build.