Frankencoop

[chickensarecoolsoye]

People have different tactics when raising parrots. You can keep a large bird in a smaller cage provided they spend significant amounts of time outside the cage. You have provided criticism but nothing actually constructive, not only that you glazed over 2 details that ive said. When the time comes if it needs to be bigger altering this is no large task, chickens will be free ranged spending the night hours in coop.

 

[chickensarecoolsoye]

Also only going to have 2 or 3 chickens.

 

[CatWhisperer]

I see you are new to BYC, so welcome. The folks on this site are here to help and there is a lot of useful information to be found. As a newbie to chicken keeping you would do well to heed the advice of our more experienced members. Listen with an open mind to helpful advice and don’t be so critical of those who have years of experience in something you are completely new to. We only want to help people new to chicken keeping from making (sometimes expensive) mistakes. I believe Aart is correct in his critique of your new ‘coop’. You may have lost any more help with your new hobby here by your aggressive reply.

 

[chickensarecoolsoye]

1) Coop still isn't finished

2) It was just assumed I had no intention of making it bigger.

3) No advice was offered, just criticism with no constructive feedback.

4) Chickens will be free ranged and not confined to a run.

5) I appreciate advice, but snarky one ups and critiques without substance don't help or give me anything to go off of.

I.E I'm a pilot. When I get flight training and I do something wrong my instructor:
A) Tells me what I did wrong
B) Debriefs what was going through my. mind
C) Tells me what I need to do to fix it.
D) Then gives me advice on what works for him.

Telling me it's too small and then trying to eek in the last word isnt exactly helpful.

 

[aart]

The cabinet is too small for more than maybe 2 birds.
Common (but bare minimum in most situations) space per bird is 4sqft in coop and 10sqft in run.
Free ranging does not make up for too small of a coop, especially during extreme weather/predator events.
In your climate you will need copious ventilation, much easier to do with a larger and taller coop.

I'd suggest your chicken keeping 'pre-flight' research be done thoroughly before building a larger coop.

In case you didn't/can't see the links in my signature,
here's some good info for newbies to read before making a coop:
Great discussion on VENTILATION, one of THE MOST IMPORTANT aspects of coop design.
Fantastic treatise to help decide how much SPACE your chickens need.
Coop Stack-up - how high should stuff be.

 

[2 many chickens]

That cabinet is too small for even 1 chicken.
I wouldn't do it. I can't even imagine a single chicken living in something so small. No offense. Don't take anyone's advice the wrong way. People are only trying to help. You put 2 or 3 chickens in that, they are going to be absolutely miserable.

 

[chickensarecoolsoye]

I'll be sure to account for that in my modifications. We will also be gettibg bantams instead of full sized chickens. Ventilation has been my number one concern, and I'll check out the thread. Keep in mind:

- Coop is not finished -

I'll ignore the snarky misuse of an aviation pun, and say thank you for the advice. I'm unsure of how to make it taller but have already planned on making it longer.

 

[chickensarecoolsoye]

Planning to add another 2ft to the back end of it as of now. Which will add another 6 square feet.

 

[Breakfast for dinner]

Being very new to keeping chickens I can only add that the store bought coop I started with isn’t much bigger than the cabinet in your pic. Now just a few weeks in we’re building an addition...for room only. Not only did we notice how cramped our girls were but they get aggravated with one another and peck until they settle down. We have 3.

I hope the best in your endeavors and look forward to your future posts.

 

[chickensarecoolsoye]

Thats one reason we didnt want to buy anything from a store or online. It would be more expensive, harder to modify, and smaller than starting with a cabinet.