Greetings from Central Oregon! Little background. I'm in the process of buying a home with a yard! WooHooo! I've wanted chickens for years. My pinterest is full of chicken stuff and the hubby makes fun of me for watching HOURS of chicken keeping videos on youtube. I do breed reptiles and have done so for the last 10+ years. I do know it's a completely different animal but the experience should be helpful. I want to do this correctly but money is a big issue with the home buy. I'm not extremely handy so I want to have a coop made and then add the run myself. What I want/ need to know is a coop that is 3x4 with 2 nesting boxes okay for 6 chickens? In reality I'll most likely not get more than 4 to start. I'm hoping to get a mix but all larger eggers and only pullets/hens/girls/females/dams. haha! No Roos. A local friend breeds chickens and I'm thinking I'll get 1-2 easter eggers and one- two blue laced red wyandottes that she keeps. Thanks for any and all help.
Greetings from Kansas, LunarGecko, and ! Great to have you with us! Awesome username and avatar, btw! The number of nesting boxes you describe is sufficient as are the space requirements if you limit it to 4 birds. Here's a link that describes the space requirements of chickens https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need Six might be pushing it a little. True confession....my coop is smallish for the number of birds I have - but they have an extensive run and also free range so the coop is only used for laying and roosting overnight, so I am able to get away with it. Hope you get all the girl variety pack!! Also, if you wish to visit with fellow Oregon (Oregoners? Oregonians?) folks, you can find the OR thread in this link https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/26/where-am-i-where-are-you Best wishes and enjoy your flock!!
Hi and welcome to BYC - glad that you have joined us. The rule of thumb for coop size is 4 sqft per chicken, so the size coop that you are considering will only realistically house 3 birds. All the best CT
Thank you for the answers, links and welcome. I changed my ideas for my coop based on your help. Here is my new idea if you would like to give me any input. Post to my idea/plan here.
