We have to move our chickens because, even though they're happy in their wood-store-turned-coop, we are going to take down the building because the forest service says it's too close to the residential building.In the long run, it is good because the current coop, while comfortable, leaks and got pretty wet in this winter's storms here in the Pacific Northwest. The new coop is a building which is smaller but adequate. It is dark, though. The front door is glass (faces east) and there's a space between the roof and the walls which will hopefully provide sufficient ventillation, but that's it for light. Do they need more light than that? They're outside most of the day.
If they are outside most of the day, I'm guessing that they'll only be in the coop to sleep and lay. I wouldn't think they would need a lot of light just for laying, and certainly not for sleeping.
The days are getting longer, so you probably won't have any trouble if the chickens are outside most of the day. Next winter you might need to put a light in the coop. I would suggest LED lights because they use a lot less electricity. Someone on this forum said they were using white LED Christmas lights. But, you do have a lot of dark and rainy days in the Pacific Northwest. It might be too dark all year. I have a question. Does the Forest Service do code enforcement on private land? I thought they only oversaw federal land, specifically Forest Service land.
The Forest Service doesn't manage our land, comes on invitation to give advice. If we pass their standards, we get some kind of rebate. I'm not sure how it works.
Amen to that. They can really be a PITA but you can work it out of need be. I would try and and build something like this. It would be easy and so cheap to build and easy to put together. http://www.greenchickencoop.com/Large_Coop_Designs.html
