Expanding "The Garden Coop"

[bacbacbac]

We jumped on the backyard chicken bandwagon three years ago. When I posted a pre-fab coop for sale on craigslist that I was considering, the great folks here on Backyard Chickens recommended I read Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens and other great advice. I took a class at our local co-op, built this coop: http://www.thegardencoop.com/ to their specs. We housed five chickens (a barred rock, a black australorp and 2 RIR's) and it was just the right amount of space with two nesting boxes inside. We now have moved to the country and have two chickens -- thanks to a neighborhood dog and me leaving the electric fencing off one afternoon -- and we are preparing to add about 12 chickens. I'm hoping for advice on adding nesting boxes and interior roosting space. How would you increase the space to this coop?

 

[Folly's place]

Can you add on to the left side, a full sized 8x8 or 8x12 building? Or a separate coop either attached to the existing tiny run, or nearby? Chicken math is happening, so larger is better... Mary

 

[bacbacbac]

I've heard references to chicken math. That has been in full effect but I think my sense of reason has overridden it until now. Now I'm in denial because I have six chicks in my garage and plans to get six more. And we want ducks.... We are so ready for fresh eggs again! I was hoping to just add on, but apparently I didn't think big enough with the first coop. I certainly want them to have enough room and be happy. I do let them out into a large fenced area, and then lock them back in at night, so the current coop is mostly a sleep-and-wait-for-my-keeper-to-wake quarters. I'm hoping to add a solar powered door this time, too.

 

[pipemum]

I added to my garden coop by building exterior nest boxes, and building a little side shoot off the front, so it's a small L shape. You can see my addition here. The orange thing is a planter box:


I'm space limited however. If I had space, I'd just continue building another couple panels, making it a really long rectangle. Or vary the shape. To expand the coop, remove the outside wall panel and add on to the coop side. The Garden Coop is so easy to modify!

 

[bacbacbac]

Pipemum that reply was helpful because I was worrying a bit about the amount of time/$ to add but you are right, it is a solid plan and easy to take a full side panel off and add it somewhere else. So that will help a bit!

 

[niter]

I would love to see an update to this thread. I have the Garden Coop and I am trying to figure out how to expand it myself as well.