FAMILY NEW TO THE hopeful JOYS OF CHICKENS!!

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TheBankers

TheBankers

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Hello!! We are a growing family and have always had a love of the outdoors! We farm 8 Acres right now just for deer feed and someday hope to expand to a full farm someday! We have decided to start small with some chickens!!!! I have always wanted chickens and we had some extra lumber and fencing laying around so we bought some more and decided to build a chicken coop! We are only getting 5 red leghorn hens but I want to make sure we have the coop completely right before we bring our hens home! I am open to any suggestions and will kind of give a lay out of what we have so far.







So we have to fence in the rest of that. It currently is 6 feet wide and 16 feet long which I have an understanding is big enough for 5 hens? We want to free range our chickens eventually but need to figure out what we are going to do with my 5 flower gardens and large vegetable garden. I was wondering if we could fence in the whole circle and would they stay or would then need a cover fence too? We are putting a cover fence on the coop itself I am just wondering for more space if i can fence them in the whole circle as well or how tall that fence would have to be. We also are moving it over so it will have grass and dirt in the coop itself. We currently have 5 (large) nesting boxes which I also am understanding that is enough? We did put the roosting area above the nesting area which I have since read is a bad idea. I am wondering if we slant the top of the nesting area and have access via the ramp to the roosting area could we leave it where it is? ANY SUGGESTIONS WOULD BE MUCH APPRECIATED!!

Thanks much!!
 
Welcome from the Ocean State!

There is a forum on coop designs and recommend you check out the Learning Center. Good info there.
 

Welcome to BYC!
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Please make yourself at home and we are here to help.

Chickens need about 3-4 square feet per bird in their coop and 8-10 square feet per bird in their run. The chickens probably won't fly out of the fenced in area unless they are light and flighty breeds. Then you might have to make it higher. Your nests are perfect! I disagree with the idea of 1 nest per 4 hens. I think each hen should have her own. So great job on that!!
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I have my nests positioned about a foot behind the roost. It's even with the roost so the chickens don't think it's higher. You may consider the same idea. Just remember to place it either the same hight or lower than the roosts as chickens like to perch on whatever is highest. You look like you have a wonderful set up! Also be sure to check out the links attached!

Again welcome!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/2/Coops
https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/advice-for-first-time-chicken-owners
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...s-in-your-city-the-basics-of-raising-chickens
 
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Welcome to BYC!

Looks great so far! That will be a great size for 5 hens. You won't need 5 nesting boxes. You could get away with 2 or 3 max. They don't all lay at the same time. But in case somebody goes broody, it is nice to have a couple open boxes.

If you run into any issues during your build, you can always post questions in our Coop and Run Construction forums for lots of suggestions and help...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/9/coop-run-design-construction-maintenance

Enjoy this new adventure you are on and good luck with the rest of your coop build!
 

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