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Belated welcome but glad to have you here!
You've ordered some nice dual-purpose breeds that should be pretty friendly. Though, I wouldn't be too surprised if the random chick turned out to be a cockerel. Hatcheries are notorious for doing that with "specials", but there's still a 50/50 chance you get a pullet, maybe.

Your local feed store only has 2 order times? All my local feed stores start getting chicks in stock end of February through May... and they have all those exact breeds for $3-5 per chick with no shipping fees. Then you could see them first, maybe check into it? I just call ahead and find out what breeds are arriving on what days, then plan my pick ups accordingly, sometimes going to 2 or 3 stores so I can get the breeds I want closest to the same age, 1-2 week difference is fine.

I don't think it's ever too early to start building! Weather permitting. "The coop in the Woods" is a great design, I really wish I could have that much storage!
Slaphappy said:
Which is more of a necessity keeping it as a walk in for ease of cleaning or raising the 5x8 coop section 2 feet up to increase the run under the coop.
Click to expand...
Who says you can't have a walk in that is also raised off the ground? I've seen it done before: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/happy-hen-house-in-the-pnw.73769/
and as long as you use deep litter (not sand!) with a poop tray, you'll only have to clean it out once a year, a weekend project. Which will eventually yield a bunch of beautiful composted garden soil.

I say go big as possible with your run, and then a bit bigger. Your chickens will be happier... and so will you --especially when you realize that you might want to sneak in a few more later on. (yes you will) :lol:
It's a super great idea to be able to build a roof over that run as well. But if you do, be sure to have a drainage plan. Rainwater from that much roof space will end up pooling and flooding back into the run... you do NOT want that to happen. I have a little gutter with a rain chain and my collection bucket has a hose that just leads off to my flower beds and distributes the water through an extended soaker hose. You could also build an actual rainwater collection system:

Here's a couple articles that may give you some ideas on space requirements and confinement:
How Much Room Do Chickens Need
Keeping Chickens Without Free Ranging

Whew, sorry for the long post. Best wishes with your coop building!
 
FlappyFeathers said:
View attachment 1658912
View attachment 1658913 Belated welcome but glad to have you here!
You've ordered some nice dual-purpose breeds that should be pretty friendly. Though, I wouldn't be too surprised if the random chick turned out to be a cockerel. Hatcheries are notorious for doing that with "specials", but there's still a 50/50 chance you get a pullet, maybe.

Your local feed store only has 2 order times? All my local feed stores start getting chicks in stock end of February through May... and they have all those exact breeds for $3-5 per chick with no shipping fees. Then you could see them first, maybe check into it? I just call ahead and find out what breeds are arriving on what days, then plan my pick ups accordingly, sometimes going to 2 or 3 stores so I can get the breeds I want closest to the same age, 1-2 week difference is fine.

I don't think it's ever too early to start building! Weather permitting. "The coop in the Woods" is a great design, I really wish I could have that much storage!

Who says you can't have a walk in that is also raised off the ground? I've seen it done before: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/happy-hen-house-in-the-pnw.73769/
and as long as you use deep litter (not sand!) with a poop tray, you'll only have to clean it out once a year, a weekend project. Which will eventually yield a bunch of beautiful composted garden soil.

I say go big as possible with your run, and then a bit bigger. Your chickens will be happier... and so will you --especially when you realize that you might want to sneak in a few more later on. (yes you will) :lol:
It's a super great idea to be able to build a roof over that run as well. But if you do, be sure to have a drainage plan. Rainwater from that much roof space will end up pooling and flooding back into the run... you do NOT want that to happen. I have a little gutter with a rain chain and my collection bucket has a hose that just leads off to my flower beds and distributes the water through an extended soaker hose. You could also build an actual rainwater collection system:

Here's a couple articles that may give you some ideas on space requirements and confinement:
How Much Room Do Chickens Need
Keeping Chickens Without Free Ranging

Whew, sorry for the long post. Best wishes with your coop building!
Click to expand...

:goodpost: Excellent info!
 
FlappyFeathers said:
View attachment 1658912
View attachment 1658913 Belated welcome but glad to have you here!
You've ordered some nice dual-purpose breeds that should be pretty friendly. Though, I wouldn't be too surprised if the random chick turned out to be a cockerel. Hatcheries are notorious for doing that with "specials", but there's still a 50/50 chance you get a pullet, maybe.

Your local feed store only has 2 order times? All my local feed stores start getting chicks in stock end of February through May... and they have all those exact breeds for $3-5 per chick with no shipping fees. Then you could see them first, maybe check into it? I just call ahead and find out what breeds are arriving on what days, then plan my pick ups accordingly, sometimes going to 2 or 3 stores so I can get the breeds I want closest to the same age, 1-2 week difference is fine.

I don't think it's ever too early to start building! Weather permitting. "The coop in the Woods" is a great design, I really wish I could have that much storage!

Who says you can't have a walk in that is also raised off the ground? I've seen it done before: https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/happy-hen-house-in-the-pnw.73769/
and as long as you use deep litter (not sand!) with a poop tray, you'll only have to clean it out once a year, a weekend project. Which will eventually yield a bunch of beautiful composted garden soil.

I say go big as possible with your run, and then a bit bigger. Your chickens will be happier... and so will you --especially when you realize that you might want to sneak in a few more later on. (yes you will) :lol:
It's a super great idea to be able to build a roof over that run as well. But if you do, be sure to have a drainage plan. Rainwater from that much roof space will end up pooling and flooding back into the run... you do NOT want that to happen. I have a little gutter with a rain chain and my collection bucket has a hose that just leads off to my flower beds and distributes the water through an extended soaker hose. You could also build an actual rainwater collection system:

Here's a couple articles that may give you some ideas on space requirements and confinement:
How Much Room Do Chickens Need
Keeping Chickens Without Free Ranging

Whew, sorry for the long post. Best wishes with your coop building!
Click to expand...

@FlappyFeathers thank you so much for your reply. what a great idea on a raised walk in! After so many concerns regarding the run size im really thinking of taking away the storage area and just making the coop 5x8. That would allow me to make the run 11x8. and if raised 16x8 space including under coop.

I do intend to do the poop boards. DLM sounds awesome, but with no dirt floor in the coop it sounds impossible. I did see something about a deep bedding method. Because of the poop boards, it would seem the pine bedding would not need to be cleaned as much. just turned freshened and added on to. Thoughts?
 
Slaphappy said:
@FlappyFeathers thank you so much for your reply. what a great idea on a raised walk in! After so many concerns regarding the run size im really thinking of taking away the storage area and just making the coop 5x8. That would allow me to make the run 11x8. and if raised 16x8 space including under coop.

I do intend to do the poop boards. DLM sounds awesome, but with no dirt floor in the coop it sounds impossible. I did see something about a deep bedding method. Because of the poop boards, it would seem the pine bedding would not need to be cleaned as much. just turned freshened and added on to. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Yes you're right. True deep litter probably isn't possible inside the coop... I only attempt it as well, but the concept is the same, it's just like you said! My birds don't really spend that much time in the coop, they prefer outside during the day, so most all their poop is collected on the tray at night, which I just scoop every couple/few days. All that poop, and all the litter that I remove yearly from the coop and run, goes into a compost pile where it sits for another year to finish composting.

I'd hate to see your storage area go away, but if your backyard is small like mine, it's not like you have a long trek out to the coop to haul supplies. Could always keep a little storage shed next to your back porch instead.
 

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