I raise Dorkings and Delawares. I started out with just one coop but keep needing more structures. This is what I have now:
I have the set of 8 breeding pens that are 4x8 each, with exercise run. I use my 16 ft x 16 ft. pig farrowing barn as a brooding barn, for newly hatched chicks. When they start flying out of the brooder, they are moved to a coop that is about 20 ft x 20 ft. I open this coop door during the day, so that they can range on the grass. There are trees and bushes here to protect them from hawks.
When they start showing signs of sexual maturity, I separate the males. I have 3 wire, roofed, open air coops. One 8x16 ft. for pullet/hen culls, one 8 x 16 ft. for cockerel culls, and one 16 x 16 ft. for cockerel grow outs. I have a mobile layer coop, made from a 20+ foot travel trailer, out in my pastures with the other livestock. My adult hens are kept here, when not used for breeding. I rotate cocks out there, so they each get some free range time.
I added two more coops when I started breeding the Delawares. One is 8 x 10 ft. The other is 16 x 8 ft. Each of these coops have 2 large fenced areas on both ends, so I rotate growing forage or garden on one side and let the chickens roam the other.
I also have a 4x6 ft. kennel that I modified into a mobile coop. I use this when I need to separate birds. I recently bought a 10 x 10 kennel to upgrade into a pullet grow out pen. I used to put older pullets out in the layer mobile coop but the hawks are attracted to young birds. They leave mature large fowl alone, luckily.
Since I would like to show, I need a place to cage train and condition birds for that purpose. I bought some exhibition coops, but am still trying to figure out the best place for them. I have them up on platforms in the cockerel grow out pens, but, since those are wire walled, predators and sun are a concern. I either need to cover that wall or move them. I also need more exhibition coops because I need to cage train and I use them for evaluating growing birds.
My plan to use the breeding pens for conditioning isn't going to work because the cocks shred their tails on the wire when they are on the roost and turn around. My husband's going to lose it, if I ask him to build me more coops! But, I need conditioning coops.
I really could use another set of pens, similar to the breeding pens, but maybe a little smaller. The cockerels in the grow out pen are starting to scuffle a bit. The smaller, younger Dorkings are bullying the larger Dels, which is unusual. It's difficult to have slower maturing breeds because you have to have so much space for cockerels.
I think most breeders have smaller size coops, but I feel so bad for caged birds that I like to give them as much space as possible. You might ask Yellow House Farm, I think he does this with less or smaller buildings. One difference is that he has to deal with extreme cold. I deal with extreme heat. That can make a difference in design.
