Getting Expensive!!!!

[Mikeeeeeeeeee]

Quote:
Eggzactly................

 

[Clay In Iowa]

When I plan such things I always have a phrase circling inside my head... "penny wise pound foolish"

My plans are actually very modest. I'd like a few chickens to get eggs for my family and if we have a few left over for our close friends. I have no interest in becoming a chicken farmer. At least those are my plans. In the event I get hooked as most here seem to be I am designing my coop and my flock to be easily expanded. I'm not getting hatchery eggs, I'm planning to get eggs or chicks from breeders who can verify their parentage. I'll band them and record their pedigrees. Should I desire a larger flock I'll isolate a Cock and 3 or 4 unrelated hens (at least 4 generations removed) and go for it, there by avoiding mating siblings and all the genetic baggage and deformities that can bring. I'm a molecular Geneticist so I know to avoid such matings.

My coop is going to be 10x30 and will be designed to be easily divided into 4 separate pens each with it's own access to a covered run. The coop itself can be expanded to 20x30 or larger easily. I'm going to put it in a 30x 60 building.

So if the opinion of a newb matters at all I say go for it. You'll spend a great deal more building 2 or 3 or 4 or....smaller coops on your way to your dream coop. Just build that dream coop so you can expand it

 

[the1much]

i only have 20 or so chickens i could make a big coop for,, the other 100 or so will all be split up in breeds, 2 mating herds each breed,,, so i need to build 50 or so coops,,,, wish i could make 1 BIG coop

 

[joebryant]

Mikeeeeeeeee, same thing happened to me. Being the dumbass that I am and having never built anything by myself in my life, I thought that I could build a two-section, each 4x8x8, coop and run for about $250. Seemed simple to ME. I stopped trying to keep track of what it was costing me somewhere between $3,500 and more than $4,000 because I couldn't stop once I'd started.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=94930
Edit: Oh, and by the way, I thought that I could easily move those twelve sections of the two-sectioned coop(s) by myself. Putting the roof sections on took me and my four nephews who are all built like bulls. Ain't never gonna move them or put them together to form one 8x8x8 coop. Ain't never gonna build anything else either.

 

[ibpboo]

The stand up coop is the best. Mine is 6 foot tall, I can walk around in there, and roosts are multiple levels. Mine is more of a chicken pen though, with only 3 sides solid. No snow or anything around here, only frost. I think mine is about 12 ft wide and maybe 16-20 ft long, I'd have to ge measure to make sure though. Half of it is solid roof, the other half wire. I have the 2x3 inch wire that is strong enough for a horse, as that side is in the corral, and solid wood on the other half side, and I also have corral boards so the horse can scratch his behind and not bend up the wire.

The top is just that corrugated metal stuff.

 

[cmom]

I vote for the Dream coop too. My flock has expanded. I just bought a shed that I'm turning into the nursery coop, no nest boxes. I was going to modify my existing coop but seriously considering a dream coop too, to accommodate my future chicks as well as what I have now.

 

[patandchickens]

Dream coop, hands down.

Even if you can't afford to fully finish it out right now, if you can at least get the posts and roof and some part of the walls up, you can pick away at it as further materials and funds become available. It'll allow you to house more chickens, cheaper and more conveniently, than a billion separate tractors

Have fun,

Pat