Hello from Kristy and Jeremiah near St. Louis MO... looking for Coop Kit recommendations

[kamksu]

Hello,
My husband and I and our 3 young kids are just planning our chicken fence/ coop layout in preparation of purchasing some chickens! I am passionate about gardening and am hopeful these ladies will be a fun addition to our yard. I just finished reading the book Free Range Chicken Gardens by Jessi Bloom. I highly recommend it. We joined the forum for great tips and because we are looking for recommendations for KITS to purchase to build our coop. Estimated we will have about 8 hens. Thank you.
Kristy

 

[mwgranite]

Hey Kamksu....I'm on the same page as you. Brand new and looking for where to buy a coop to. I've found a bunch on Amazon, but they seem too small for 6-8 hens. The only question I will add is......I'm in western New York State, so what considerations should I make for the colder weather. Thanks for starting this thread

 

[L2fly]

Welcome to the forum!

You are doing it right by asking here FIRST, before buying a kit coop! I bought a kit coop from TSC then found out how SMALL it really was, barely big enough to hold the 3 hens I wanted, despite it 'claiming' it could hold 6-8 (no way!)

So really do your homework regarding size, there are lots of good threads out there about the 'standard' recommendations (4 sq ft of coop and 10 sq feet of run per bird) and how those need to be adjusted for where you live (so its helpful if you add your location to your profile). For example, in the warm Central Valley, my birds can handle a slightly smaller coop than the standard 4 sq ft per bird, as they will rarely be 'cooped up' for any great length of time. But, I've been warned that I'll never be able to introduce a new bird to my flock, as they just won't have a place to hide, if needed, in my small coop/run.

I suspect most people will recommend you build your own, and there are a lot of good plans out there. I'm going to design and build my next coop, when I have more yard space, for sure.

Have fun!

 

[L2fly]

Start by reading this:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/how-much-room-do-chickens-need

 

[drumstick diva]

 

[Teila]

G’Day from down under Kristy & Jeremiah

Welcome!

General rule of thumb is that most kit coops will accommodate half the full grown chickens they advertise it will. Large chickens need at least 10 square foot of run space, 4 square foot of coop space [not including nest boxes] and 2 foot of roost space each.

Have you considered converting a shed? If you pop ‘converting a shed’ into the search option you will see there are many threads on the subject.

I hope you enjoy being a BYC member. There are lots of friendly and very helpful folks here so not only is it overflowing with useful information it is also a great place to make friends and have some fun.

You might want to also pop in and say hello on your local thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/26/where-am-i-where-are-you ‘Find your State’s thread.

If you would like to share pictures and stories of your flock when they arrive, you have come to the right place. BYC’ers never tire of these and do not back away slowly or commence eye rolling when the photo album or home videos come out