How should I build the coop?

MyLittleHachi · Aug 5, 2014

I'm a teenager who recently bought a chicken breed book. We have chickens, but not for breeding. Just eggs. The book got me itching to breed some chickens. I decided on Black Silkies to start. They may not lay much but I heard they are very broody and good mothers. Why not?

Now here comes the hard part. Designing and Building a coop. I need ideas! I'm starting off with about 5* chicks. We have somewhere to put them for their first few weeks. I plan on breeding them so need room for more chicks in the future.

I don't want much, and I want something I can add on too. I plan on getting other bantam breeds so I want to add runs (divided) for other pairs of chickens.

Any ideas? Pictures would be nice if you have something like I mentioned at your house!

* I am ordering 5 straight run mixed so they may be all males or all females, the number will matter on what I get!

Judy · Aug 5, 2014

Welcome to our forum!

Te first question is. where are you? Chickens tolerate cold better than heat, and struggle in the summer, even in the northern part of the US. Shade and breeze in the summer are necessities. In the southern half, or more, of the US, an open style coop gives them plenty of fresh air all year and breeze in the summer. "Walls" can be of hardware cloth rather than solid. In heavy snow areas, they will want to stay out of the snow, so a much larger indoor area is a good idea, and a covered outdoor area that gives them some access to dirt without snow is great.

Mine have a good sized yard with tall bushes and so many weeds they have to be mowed, but they still go in the coop in the hottest part of the day because it is designed so it is cooler than it is outdoors, as it works rather like a wind tunnel, and its "walls" are about half hardware cloth.

For the south:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/163417/please-show-me-your-hot-weather-coops/0_20

For the north:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/winter-coop-temperatures

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...-go-out-there-and-cut-more-holes-in-your-coop

Just for fun -- expensive, but shows how open a coop can be in the north:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/445004/woods-style-house-in-the-winter/0_20

MyLittleHachi · Aug 5, 2014

Judy said: ↑

Welcome to our forum!

Te first question is. where are you? Chickens tolerate cold better than heat, and struggle in the summer, even in the northern part of the US. Shade and breeze in the summer are necessities. In the southern half, or more, of the US, an open style coop gives them plenty of fresh air all year and breeze in the summer. "Walls" can be of hardware cloth rather than solid. In heavy snow areas, they will want to stay out of the snow, so a much larger indoor area is a good idea, and a covered outdoor area that gives them some access to dirt without snow is great.

Mine have a good sized yard with tall bushes and so many weeds they have to be mowed, but they still go in the coop in the hottest part of the day because it is designed so it is cooler than it is outdoors, as it works rather like a wind tunnel, and its "walls" are about half hardware cloth.

For the south:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/163417/please-show-me-your-hot-weather-coops/0_20

For the north:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/winter-coop-temperatures

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/...-go-out-there-and-cut-more-holes-in-your-coop

Just for fun -- expensive, but shows how open a coop can be in the north:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/445004/woods-style-house-in-the-winter/0_20
Click to expand...

I live in north east ohio. Our weather is very unpredictable! I have had -20 degree weather and 100 degree weather. But sometimes it's not as drastic. I planned on having a fan of some sort built in and insulation.

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