Yeah, I agree with mightieskeeper, if you do put fence on the bottom, def. bury it so that your girls can still scratch around and take their dust baths......
fencing around coop
- Thread starter gossamer
- Start date
Ok, here's a critique of the coop from someone who has no experience but has researched the snot out of keeping chickens...
First thing...how many chickens are you figuring on putting in there? You've got 12 sq ft to work with. Minimum square foot recommendation is 4 sq ft per large fowl bird, so according to that 3 birds could go fit. Folks state this is a guideline to use, but the 4 sq ft *is* stated as a minimum. Does Wisconsin have any bad weather where the birds will have to stay in the coop for more than a day?
Ventilation... A possible problem I see with the coop is that the only ventilation is apparently the pop door. The little bit of information in the ad states that the window is "fixed" which to me means it doesn't open. If you close the pop door at night it's gonna get mighty stuffy and humid in there.
Roost/nestboxes... The roosts are at the same height as the nestboxes...will the chickens roost on the roost pole or in the nestboxes? I'm betting on the nestboxes.
Pop door....9"x11", seems kinda on the small size but if you're getting bantams or small breeds then it should be ok.
I'm not trying to throw water on your plans, just some thoughts your way. The coop is "cute" and it has "amish workmanship" about it but I'm not so sure about it having "poultry workmanship"...the ventilation issue alone tells me someone was building a box to sell and wasn't considering the chickens' welfare. For $600 and some elbow grease you could have a very nice 4x8 coop (32sqft vs. 12sqft) if not an 8x8 one built out of new materials that you could stand up in and a decent run to go with it. Recycling building materials would bring the cost down greatly or let you build an even bigger coop.
Of course, I tend to be a bit utilitarian minded. Cute coop, though.
Best wishes on whichever direction you go with your coop!
Ed
First thing...how many chickens are you figuring on putting in there? You've got 12 sq ft to work with. Minimum square foot recommendation is 4 sq ft per large fowl bird, so according to that 3 birds could go fit. Folks state this is a guideline to use, but the 4 sq ft *is* stated as a minimum. Does Wisconsin have any bad weather where the birds will have to stay in the coop for more than a day?
Ventilation... A possible problem I see with the coop is that the only ventilation is apparently the pop door. The little bit of information in the ad states that the window is "fixed" which to me means it doesn't open. If you close the pop door at night it's gonna get mighty stuffy and humid in there.
Roost/nestboxes... The roosts are at the same height as the nestboxes...will the chickens roost on the roost pole or in the nestboxes? I'm betting on the nestboxes.
Pop door....9"x11", seems kinda on the small size but if you're getting bantams or small breeds then it should be ok.
I'm not trying to throw water on your plans, just some thoughts your way. The coop is "cute" and it has "amish workmanship" about it but I'm not so sure about it having "poultry workmanship"...the ventilation issue alone tells me someone was building a box to sell and wasn't considering the chickens' welfare. For $600 and some elbow grease you could have a very nice 4x8 coop (32sqft vs. 12sqft) if not an 8x8 one built out of new materials that you could stand up in and a decent run to go with it. Recycling building materials would bring the cost down greatly or let you build an even bigger coop.
Of course, I tend to be a bit utilitarian minded. Cute coop, though.
Best wishes on whichever direction you go with your coop!
Ed
- Thread starter
- #13
I live in an area with heavy clay soil, too, and there was no way I was going to dig a trench around my run. I laid a hardware cloth apron around the perimeter and staked it down with landscape fabric staples. The grass quickly grew up over the hardware cloth.
I agree with the other commenter about the size of this coop: it would work for two or three birds, but probably not very well for any more. You'll also probably want to tinker around with this coop, too: adding ventilation, moving the roost/nestbox, etc. The other thing to think about is how easy it's going to be to clean out. The roof opens up, as I understand it, but it might be difficult to maneuver a droppings pan or board out of such a small space, especially if you have other things in there, like the roost, nestbox and maybe your feed and water. It could work, but I'd bet you'd need to make the roost and nestbox removable, and not fixed. Hard to say how easy it will be to retrofit until you get the thing out of its shipping crate and take a look at it.
I've ordered things from Randall Burkey before, although nothing as big as one of their coops. I like the company a lot: they've shipped items to me amazingly fast, their prices are pretty good, and I like their selection of poultry stuff.
I agree with the other commenter about the size of this coop: it would work for two or three birds, but probably not very well for any more. You'll also probably want to tinker around with this coop, too: adding ventilation, moving the roost/nestbox, etc. The other thing to think about is how easy it's going to be to clean out. The roof opens up, as I understand it, but it might be difficult to maneuver a droppings pan or board out of such a small space, especially if you have other things in there, like the roost, nestbox and maybe your feed and water. It could work, but I'd bet you'd need to make the roost and nestbox removable, and not fixed. Hard to say how easy it will be to retrofit until you get the thing out of its shipping crate and take a look at it.
I've ordered things from Randall Burkey before, although nothing as big as one of their coops. I like the company a lot: they've shipped items to me amazingly fast, their prices are pretty good, and I like their selection of poultry stuff.
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Even tho you are free-ranging, you still need a place that they can be outside and be safe when you are not there. If you start to have repeated flock losses, you will want a secure run as a fall-back place as well. Also, that coop looks like it needs ventilation at the top. It is not the first picture of an Amish coop I have seen that appears to lack ventilation. (Unless the ventilation is hidden in the roof overhang?)
Do a run of around 600 sq ft minimum for the 4 to 6 birds you are getting. Make it of 2 x 4 x 6 ft tall welded wire set in cement. Put hardware cloth around the inside of it at ground level, 2 ft tall. Install a fence charger and several courses of hot wire. If hawks are a problem, use deer netting or some such thing overhead. That way, you can allow free-ranging when you are there and still be in confidence of their safety when you need to be gone.
Even tho you are free-ranging, you still need a place that they can be outside and be safe when you are not there. If you start to have repeated flock losses, you will want a secure run as a fall-back place as well. Also, that coop looks like it needs ventilation at the top. It is not the first picture of an Amish coop I have seen that appears to lack ventilation. (Unless the ventilation is hidden in the roof overhang?)
Do a run of around 600 sq ft minimum for the 4 to 6 birds you are getting. Make it of 2 x 4 x 6 ft tall welded wire set in cement. Put hardware cloth around the inside of it at ground level, 2 ft tall. Install a fence charger and several courses of hot wire. If hawks are a problem, use deer netting or some such thing overhead. That way, you can allow free-ranging when you are there and still be in confidence of their safety when you need to be gone.
- Thread starter
- #16
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- Jun 28, 2009
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This is the thought that goes through my head whenever I see people purchasing coops. I just built a 4x8 coop for 300 some dollars. I did use some 2x6's I had and recycled corrugated steel for the roof but if you plan it out right id be willing to bet for under 500 you could have a 4x8 coop. And it would be around 6 or 8 feet tall meaning you could actually go in it which is always cool.
This is the thought that goes through my head whenever I see people purchasing coops. I just built a 4x8 coop for 300 some dollars. I did use some 2x6's I had and recycled corrugated steel for the roof but if you plan it out right id be willing to bet for under 500 you could have a 4x8 coop. And it would be around 6 or 8 feet tall meaning you could actually go in it which is always cool.
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