How narrow can a coop be?

[SpotTheCat]

I am trying to find a cheap and easy way of making a small coop for bantams, while searching for ideas I keep running in to coops made out of wardrobes or something similar they all was look too narrow to me, are they too narrow?

 

[cavemanrich]

A small coop is just a problem in the making. If you want to keep a house chicken, like my Seramas, they will do fine in a Large Dog cage. (inside your home), and let the pet out into the outdoors supervised.
Overcrowding is probably the leading problem peeps encounter raising chickens. That simply translates to providing too small of housing for even a few small chickens.
Few questions;
How many bantams are you planning on raising?
Are you handy with building?
What type of land arrangement do you have?
Can you get discounted building supplies, if you are short on " £ " ?
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

 

[SpotTheCat]

A small coop is just a problem in the making. If you want to keep a house chicken, like my Seramas, they will do fine in a Large Dog cage. (inside your home), and let the pet out into the outdoors supervised.
Overcrowding is probably the leading problem peeps encounter raising chickens. That simply translates to providing too small of housing for even a few small chickens.
Few questions;
How many bantams are you planning on raising?
Are you handy with building?
What type of land arrangement do you have?
Can you get discounted building supplies, if you are short on " £ " ?
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and

6 bantams max, but I was thinking of starting with 3 and seeing how they looked in the space I have.

I am not handy at all, but my brother my be able to help and he seems to be good at building or at least knows more then me.

Not sure what you mean by land arrangements?

It will probably be difficult to get anything from those sort of shops because of covid.

 

[cavemanrich]

Not sure what you mean by land arrangements?

Meaning the size of your back yard, or such.
I know there are lock-downs during this nasty pandemic. All things will pass in time since vaccine is already being administered. I know it is still some time to get to most peeps.
Plan out what you are able to make, and as large as reasonable. Then get the smaller amount you mention, and see how the chickens react. I have 6 bantams myself, and 2 large chickens. I house them in a repurposed Lil Tykes Plastic Playhouse.
Consider repurposing something similar. Plastic lasts for a long time. I built the base/lower portion out of plywood to have a walkin.

 

[cavemanrich]

Here is my flock.

 

[SpotTheCat]

Meaning the size of your back yard, or such.
I know there are lock-downs during this nasty pandemic. All things will pass in time since vaccine is already being administered. I know it is still some time to get to most peeps.
Plan out what you are able to make, and as large as reasonable. Then get the smaller amount you mention, and see how the chickens react. I have 6 bantams myself, and 2 large chickens. I house them in a repurposed Lil Tykes Plastic Playhouse.
Consider repurposing something similar. Plastic lasts for a long time. I built the base/lower portion out of plywood to have a walkin. View attachment 2502111

I was thinking about looking at plastic play houses, but I am worried about it getting to warm, and I am not sure how to add things like nesting boxes, roosts and ventilation

 

[SpotTheCat]

Here is my flock.
View attachment 2502112

What breed are the bantams? I am trying to visualise how big bantams chickens are, but it is hard since I have not seen them before, or any chicken really. I have a better idea of what size LF chickens are then bantams.

 

[cavemanrich]

Get one and we can guide you to the conversion. Ventilation is not difficult. You in your area, do not have a concern with too hot. Peeps living closer to the equator have those worries.

My banties are, 2 Old English Game hen. 3 Seramas, and 1 Japanese Bantam.

 

[SpotTheCat]

Get one and we can guide you to the conversion. Ventilation is not difficult. You in your area, do not have a concern with too hot. Peeps living closer to the equator have those worries.

My banties are, 2 Old English Game hen. 3 Seramas, and 1 Japanese Bantam.

Thank you,
I will look in to play houses more then.

 

[3KillerBs]

I keep running in to coops made out of wardrobes or something similar they all was look too narrow to me, are they too narrow?

Good instincts!

A rule of thumb to keep in mind: If it looks like a dollhouse it's only suited for keeping toy chickens.

The guidelines for standard-sized chickens are:

4 square feet per bird in the coop.
10 square feet per bird in the run.
1 linear foot of roost per bird.

And the one that gets missed most often:

1 square foot of permanent, 24/7/365 ventilation per bird.

I don't know how the numbers adapt for bantams, but I personally wouldn't make a coop smaller than 4'x4'. I have one that size and I can't imagine how I'd manage to get birds, nestboxes, roosts, ventilation, etc. into any space any smaller than that.

I will be putting up a coop page with plans for my coop today or tomorrow, but I'm afraid it's not a beginner project.