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buckaroo's wife

buckaroo's wife

Songster
10 Years
Dec 10, 2009
246
6
109
North Central Texas
HI!

My husband and I recently bought 5.5 acres. We have 3 horses, 3 dogs, a cat and are planning on adding a few chickens in the spring. We are still researching coop design, breeds, etc. so I thought I'd join this site to help aid in our research.

I am especially interested in Ameraucanas.....

Drop me a note and say hello!

Thanks
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Hello and welcome from PA. I'm new to BYC as well - just joined today. I'm new to chickens, too. I have 3 Rhode Island Reds for only 1 month. Good luck and have as much fun planning for you coop and flock as I did!
 
Hi! welcome. Design is one of those things that you really need to figure our where you want the coop first. Then look at things like shade, light, think summer heat and winter cold. Think hard and heavy rain and then long dry spell. Think about where the feed will be kept. how far away is water,how far do you want to travel to gather eggs and lock up the coop ..at night,,in the cold/rain/darkness?
THEN think about how many chickens, what size chicken and how much space each chicken needs. The run and coop space per bird differs, so do a search for that. The breed you get also has different needs to be happy. some stress more than others at being in a confined space.
After you have figured all of that out, start drawing.
We have a real door with a keyed lock on ours. two windows and a big roof vent. It has water and electric running to it. It has a light in the coop and one in the run so if need to be out there at night for any reason, we can see the predator or problem more easily. We spent a bundle.
If that is a problem gather recycled things and see what you have to work with then design the coop. ALWAYS factor in Murphy money, Murphy time, and predators. if it can go wrong, cost more and take forever, it will. and while you are at it, Murphy chickens because they seem to be addicting. Good luck!
 
3GoodEggs - Great advice, Thank you!!

The property we bought came with a pen that is approximately 15' by 10 ft'. The old folks who owned the place before us kept a few goats in it. There is a 3 sided metal "shed" (for lack of a better term) in it right now. I'm going to try and figure it into my coop design, because I think it would be easy to modify. The pen is currently fenced with small-ish box wire, although I think I'll need to reinforce with chicken wire. Since then pen is fenced itself, I probably don't need a "run" attached to my coop do I? Luckily, this is right near our barn (with our horses) so we're out there every night anyway. One question though - on the fencing - how high??? It's about 5 feet right now.
 
We dug a trench all the way around the coop and run and buried hardware cloth six inches down and then bent it like an 'L and had it fill the bottom of the trench facing out from the fence. We figured the predator would try to dig in. But the goofy girls are working on digging out, so either way it was a good idea for us.
Also we have the run and coop high enough for us to stand up and walk around in comfortably. I only plan on getting older, and stooping isn't a thing I enjoy NOW, I doubt I will enjoy it any better when I am older.
Also, our coop is next to a wooded area, and we have so many different hawks and owls and you name its, that we covered the pen with 30% shade cloth. look at my BYC page. I have not added new pics, but you can get an idea.
Good luck with all of this! Check out a lot of the member pages, you will see some interesting ideas. Best one though will be yours. Make the coop fit the location.
 

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