How big??

[horseyjess]

Does a coop really need to be? My guys and girls for that fact are ONLY in the coop to sleep and lay eggs. In the Am we feed and open the door to freedom. I have 3 acres as their run and they even get out of the fence(its horse fence) from time to time and roam a little more. Then after dark they all roost and the door is shut. Right now I only have the few in there 14. I am getting a ton more but I think I am going to split them with another person. Right now the coop is only 5 foot wide by 6 foot deep. Thanks

 

[Big Red Roo]

That sounds like a chapter from my book.

What you have is the very same setup I have. I did put up a 6x15 run to one side but I open it every morning and let them free range. They go back to roost every night and I shut the door. The only thing I dont like is with 14 birds in a 6x5 is you have to clean it often 14 birds = a lot of poop.

 

[patandchickens]

Given where you live, I can believe they really ARE out all day every day all year round, as long as there is sufficient shade; so you really only need room for sufficient roost length (8-12" per chicken, minimum) and nestboxes.

A run is awful handy to have, though, even if you free range them, b/c it gives you an instantly available Plan B if you have to keep them in for a little while, e.g. there are loose dogs roaming the neighborhood attacking your chickens or you want to observe an injured or possibly ill bird.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[LuggNutt]

Greetings everyone, new here and new to chickens.

Was given an old coop (I had to take it apart and move it). Its 7.5' X 12.5' and about 8' tall, more of a shed then coop. The walls are sheet metal over wide wood boards. I plan to devide it with an inner wall with the birds haveing 2/3s and using the other 1/3 for storage.

I had planed to use 2" X 4" fencing to wrap the coop and run with 1/4" hardware cloth 2' up on the bottom and 2' into the ground.

The run will be roughly the same size as the coop but not as tall.

Others have suggested that the 2 X 4 fence is too big and I need to use something smaller.

Plan to get between 6 - 10 birds, most likly Buff Orps.

Thoughts and Sugestions please?

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Hi, and welcome to BYC

You might have more responses if you start a new thread for yourself with an appropriate title, but:

I had planed to use 2" X 4" fencing to wrap the coop and run with 1/4" hardware cloth 2' up on the bottom and 2' into the ground.

The run will be roughly the same size as the coop but not as tall.

Others have suggested that the 2 X 4 fence is too big and I need to use something smaller.

It is easier and just as effective to do an 'apron' of that hardwarecloth rather than burying it (use the search function to find discussions of how to do that) but in general it does not sound like a bad plan to me. You might want to bring the hardwarecloth up 3' rather than just 2' high on the run walls, as orps are fairly tall.

The only problem with 2x4" mesh is that rats, weasels and baby possums and the smallest baby raccoons can go through it. REalistically, you are not going to keep rats or weasels out *anyhow* (without an extraordinary amount of effort and vigilance anyhow). And baby possums and raccoons are very seldom out hunting in the daytime -- it does happen, but not often. And of course, unless you have a strong wire mesh top on the run, possums and raccoons can just go *over* the fence anyhow.

So it depends on your personal level of risk tolerance. If the run will be topless, I see no point in using anything more than what you describe, assuming the 2x4" wire is very heavy gauge. If the run will have a top and you want to go to teh effort of preventing rare events, then it would be better to switch to 1x1" mesh, or even all hardwarecloth if budget permits.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

Quote:
It kinda depends on what a "ton" more is LOL. I have a sleeping coop that is the same size as yours for the same number and it is more than suffecient. I have at times had up to a dozen more sleeping in there, but I notice that they get a bit hot - the ventilation really needs to increase with the number of bodies.