First coop - will we regret something this small? (UPDATED)

[Cetawin]

3 Standards nope too small. I have 2 coops this size and the interior of the coop portion gives them no room and the floor of the cage by the ramp is way to small for them. Are they going to have a run or somewhere they can be larger to spend their day? If not, no go bigger. Count 5 sqft per bird floor space not including the waterer and feeder space.

 

[Autumnchicken]

Go bigger! I'm very sad I didn't!

 

[teach1rusl]

Too small...looks like (based on measurements...basically 30 x 40") it's only about 9 sq. ft of RUN space, which means the housing would be less than half of that. With three standard sized chickens, they would really need about 30 sq. ft of run space. And of course if you're in an area that gets winters, that housing would cause serious issues with your birds.

**With only three chickens, look for something about 4ft. x 8ft if it's an all inclusive unit, with a raised housing of appx. 4 x 3ft. or a little larger. Look at dimensions, not how many chickens they "claim" the unit will house.

 

[nwtim]

Thanks for all the input so far!

To answer a few questions:

We live in a suburban city just east of Seattle on a 7600 square ft lot and the current rules limit us to 4 hens. We recently had our fist batch of chicks from eggs given us from some rural friends - 4 of them made it to the brooder. Since we started our first incubation with a lightbulb in a cardboard box and then switched over to a HovaBator on day 16, we decided to run another small batch of 5 eggs with the lessons we learned. We're on day 15 with these new eggs and they've all got a little chick moving around in them.

We don't anticipate keeping more than 3 hens, but it may be tempting to modify that in the future. The climate here is pretty moderate all year round, but seems to have varied from that tendency last couple years.

We thought we might start with something pretty small in hopes that it would be simple to upgrade to something more appropriate when the need becomes obvious. If that is the path chosen, we might possibly be able to use the outgrown "house" as a brooder??? But we also don't have a lot of extra money to throw away, either.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
IMO this is enough reason in itself to build bigger to start. I promise you that run will be way too small, even if 3 hens get along OK in the coop portion.

I hate to see anyone build smaller than a 4x8 walk in, as short coops are so difficult to ventilate sufficiently. It would go up quickly if you slant the roof to one side and make the top of the high side ventilation, provides excellent ventilation, is large enough for 6 or even 8, gives you a little storage space (I love having the feed in a metal garbage can inside the coop,) among other things. Unless you have horrible neighbors, they likely won't know whether you have 3 or 6, or care.

You could brood right in the coop if there's a little extra space. That's what I do.

 

[spotstealer]

Quote:
Unless the chickens in the picture are of the giant, 15 pound size!

 

[cafarmgirl]

That is really, really small. I honestly wouldn't even keep bantams in there. Might be ok for a broody hatching chicks or a hospital cage. Not for everyday living for several hens. The thing is, no matter what the supposed minimum space requirements are, chickens just are not happy when they are confined to small spaces. Their joy in life is getting out and about, scratching, pecking, hunting bugs, digging holes to dust bath in. Just being chickens. I think they would be very frustrated in such a small space.

That would make a nice rabbit hutch though IMO!

 

[bryan99705]

Two words should make you build your own and much much bigger ..... CHICKEN MATH (there is no such thing as too big of a coop)

Steal every idea you see and like and start building! Making do with a coop too small will bring nothing but disappointment.

Maybe design a coop and use a garden cart as the platform and go with moveable fence panels or maybe a open bottom tractor that moves like a wheel barrow

Try to abide by the KISS principle and have fun. we expect photos!

 

[nwtim]

I've modified the OP with the information added a few posts up and the following:

Our back yard is fully fenced with chicken wire along the bottom 18" (for when we got our puppy a few years ago and wanted to let her run around free back there). We anticipate letting the chickens having the whole back yard to forage in for several hours a day unless they're bothered by predators. In that case, I would make a portable "run" for their protection that we could move around in the yard.

So, we're envisioning the hen house being in a fixed location to accommodate them when they're not in the portable run. After all the advice to go bigger, we've found a couple coops that are larger and we believe would work better.

Would you guys mind taking a look at coop models CC-28 and CC-03 near the end of http://www.cconly.com/coop__hutches/chicken_coop? The CC-28 has a 36x27 "house" with a 3-wide nesting box in the back while the CC-03 has a 28x23.5 "house" with a 2-wide nesting box on the side. Would either of these be a suitable fit for 3 (and at most 4) hens?

Can I please get some comments on these other coops with larger "houses"?

 

[kichohana]

In looking at the CC-28, especially the one picture with the girl standing next to it... I wouldn't put more than 2 full sized hens in there. The CC-03 is not much bigger. The coop builder/supplier states "Will Hold up to 4 Hens or 6 Bantams"
( Very depends on breeds please see coop floor plan dimensions and make your own decisions ). Of course you can cram a few hens in either of these, but I wouldn't.

Neither of these coops has enough ventilation!

I thought I had plenty of room for my 4 hens with a 3x6 coop and 7x6 run. This winter the feather plucking started because they didn't have room to get away from each other.

Also - you're in the Pacific NW. A lot of rain. Fact of climate. I understand most of these pre-fab coops are made overseas in China (nothing against that). My concern is more that the lack of quality of the wood they are built with. Their site says they're built with "treated fir timber". Treated with what?

When you go to Lowe"s Home improvement website to look at buying treated lumber, the first step you take is determining what part of the country you're in. Different treated lumber for different climates. You're looking at investing hundreds of dollars on one of these coops that i'm afraid wouldn't last more than a few years. Your chickens will outlive the coop.

Check out your local Craigslist. I found this guy in Seattle thru Craigslist who makes coops. www.chickengardener.com (no I don't know him, but I did check out his website). I think you'll be much happier going this route if you aren't able to build it yourself.