Hello From California

[SurferchickinSB]

Hi all! Just wanted to introduce myself real quick. I’ve had chickens before but not for years. I currently have 13 3 week old chicks and will be keeping 6 once I determine which are Roos. We have Easter eggers, a lavender Orp, Olive eggers, some project laced Orpingtons, a polish cross that’s looking like it will be a tolbunt and a blue maran.

We are building our coop and run and I can’t decide for the life of me which direction to go with the floor so I’ll be reading up a lot in the next few days. We have a prefabbed house I’ve weatherized as much as possible and the run is 8’x16’.

I can’t wait for our eggs!

Welcome! I am in California too! I love this site and there are a lot of great people on here that can really help you out!

 

[NonnasBabies]

Welcome

 

[Kellyk126]

Lol! yes, less chickens is more smart, but more chickens is more fun! You're right about the nest boxes, and insulation isn't much concern for you at all... not in my climate either. But you'll for sure want to add some more ventilation. I have upper vents like that open all winter, and as long as drafts aren't blowing directly on birds at roost level, they'll enjoy the fresh air.

I would cut out a couple panels and replace each opening with a piece of hardware cloth to let ammonia fumes escape, as marked here in red:
View attachment 1726301
I think this coop could work as roosting house. If not, your chickens will let you know in about 9-12 months. That's usually the time the top birds refuse to let others enter if it's too crowded at night, or some may start roosting on the roof.

Please consider using a 24" hardware cloth apron around the outside perimeter of your run instead of lining the inside floor with it. I only say this because you know how chickens love to scratch all day, they could easily get bumblefoot on the wire. Plus my girls really do enjoy rolling in the dirt floor of the run, I'd hate to deprive them of that. I've also noticed some rust and disintegration of buried hwc over time, and an apron is much easier to inspect or replace if needed.

Hang on to those run panels... they could come in very handy later on. You never know when you need to add a separation area or something useful like that.... or maybe a bigger coop haha!
Oh, I forgot to leave these links earlier, they might be helpful:
Chicken Coop Ventilation - Go Out There And Cut More Holes In Your Coop!
How Much Room Do Chickens Need
Keeping Chickens Without Free Ranging

The cutouts are a great idea! I wanted to do just around the perimeter as you suggested unfortunatly the coop butts up against a fence we can’t dig under. But now I need to rethink how deep I dug it so they don’t injure themselves. Hmmmm oh the dilemmas.

Coop progress:

 

[rjohns39]

Hi and welcome back to BYC We're so happy that you've decided to re-join us