Hello I am considering getting some chickens I think I will need 6-8 birds. I have 3/4 acre in town was wondering the beat way to get started looking at building a coop. How big does it need to be and how much will it cost to build.
The size of your coop depends some on the type of chickens you want to raise. Dual purpose birds need at least 4 sq. feet per bird of coop space (not counting the room taken up by feeders, waterers, etc.) while bantams can do with a bit less. The more room you can give your chickens in the coop, the happier they will be...they hate being crowded and don't deal with that well. As far as cost goes, that varies considerably. Some can use an existing shed and just make minor adjustments, some people want the ultra fancy coop that matches their house and some go the recycled route and build nice, serviceable coops with free materials. Check out the Learning Center for some good articles on coops and all sorts of other poultry topics. And click on the Coops tab at the top of the screen to see photos and descriptions of other members coops. Good luck to you, hope you get a nice flock and enjoy them.
Some folks build using shipping pallets (pulling nails and using the food), others hunt around for appliance stores that may give them large shipping containers. You can also look at re-hab stores and repurpose materials like doors, or windows etc. Craig's list sometimes has coops & chickens given away as the owner lost interest. Also a lot of fencing materials or dog run panels on C's list as well.
