I don't understand

[Jason38]

I have no idea where to start. I see many coops presented here. I am capable of physically building any of them myself, but I'm looking for the least expensive choice. As in zero dollars.

Why can I not just put some chickens in a fenced area and be done with it?

 

[Blooie]

Excellent response from Ol Grey Mare, as usual. There is a lot of information out there. If keeping chickens just within a fence was adequate or safe for them, believe me most of us would be doing that rather than building coops and runs. And remember, as far as just putting up a fence and letting them live there is concerned - chickens are birds. Birds can fly. If they want to get out they'll find a way.

I am probably going to get blasted for this, but if you want "easy" then goldfish make nice pets. I don't mean that as disrespectfully as I'm sure it comes across, but that was the advice I got when I got started with this chicken stuff, and as irritated as I got it over it that was the piece of advice that ended up making the most sense. Keeping chickens healthy and as productive as they can be does take work, and until you get a setup you can work with then no, it isn't easy. On the other hand it isn't rocket science either. Chickens are kept in all kinds of situations around the world and do just fine. My setup was built with my 8 and 9 year old grandkids in mind, because they are my chicken sitters when I have obligations out of town, which I do frequently. Mine is so easy to care for that I can safely and comfortably leave them in charge and they have no difficulty whatsoever. Clean the poop board, top off the food and water if those things need it, gather the eggs, and make sure to lock up when they are done. That's it. But that's after we did the initial work to make it work that well. If it was complicated to care for the chickens, I'd be staying home rather than trusting two little kids with everything. It's the initial work in getting your needs, wants and budget balanced against what the chickens need that takes the time and work in the beginning. After that it's just caring for the birds, maintenance and housekeeping - oh, and enjoying the fruits of your labor. You don't have to get as elaborate as some of the coops I'm sure you've seen, but shelter for chickens should meet the following:

Secure - nothing can devastate a flock faster than a weak spot in the coop, run or range allowing a predator access to your birds or allowing them to escape, never to be seen again. My run is extremely secure so I leave my pop door open all night. I ain't an early riser, and they are, so by leaving it open they can go out for a drink and a nibble while I'm still sawing logs. Some leave it open, some don't.
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Clean - chickens kept in dirty surroundings are more prone to illnesses and parasites, and the eggs and meat aren't real appetizing either.

Dry and ventilated - this is critical. Warm, moist air must be able to escape out of upper ventilation gaps or vents. Moist air in the winter is what causes frostbite and respiratory infections, and that moist air comes from the chickens' breathing, pooping, rain or snow seeping in, and waterers in a closed up coop. Those respiratory infections can spread like wildfire. Also the ammonia from chicken droppings needs to be ventilated out. Many of us use "poop boards" under the roosts. Chickens poop a lot when they are sleeping, and by using a poop board with either sand or Sweet PDZ it's almost sinfully easy to use a cat litter type scoop in the morning and clean that board exactly like a cat's litter box. The less poop in the coop, the less fume in the room! (I made a funny!) Cold isn't as detrimental to their safety as the moisture and ammonia fumes. It's even more critical in the summer because heat kills more birds than cold does. I don't insulate, nor do I provide artificial heat and I live near Yellowstone Park in Wyoming, where we KNOW winter well.

Draft free - sounds counterproductive to advise as much ventilation as possible but advise against drafts, but they are two different things. Drafts allow cold winds to come right down onto the birds as they roost, and that ruffles their feathers, which allows all of that warm air they have trapped in their insulation to escape. Think of wearing a warm down coat in a howling blizzard, then suddenly having the zipper break - that cold wind sucks out all the warmth that the coat kept trapped next to your body - instant iceberg. And speaking of trapped warmth, flat roosts like a 2x4 with the flat side up lets them sit on their toes instead of having them exposed while they try to cling to a round perch all night.

Nest boxes - these mean cleaner eggs, less breakage and less egg eating, always. (That said, if you do have an egg eater, where the egg is laid won't matter, but if they learn young where to lay and use those areas exclusively then at least they aren't following their natural instincts to peck at anything on the ground.) You don't need one per bird - I think the recommendation is 1 box for every 4 birds, although most of them will end up using only one or two favorite ones. These don't have to be sticking out of the outside of the coop. Folks have very successfully provided their birds with everything from 5 gallon pails laid on their sides to milk crates, Rubbermaid totes, cardboard boxes, big flower pots....you name it, it can be a nest, and it can sit right on the floor if you want. You can lay them side by side, scatter them around, or attach them one on top of the other, depending on your space in the coop.

All kinds of coops meet these 5 basic requirements,whether they are small and simple or huge and elaborate. I do like being able to stand up in my coop so I can clean effectively, check on the birds, and not walk around in there hunched over, but then I'm old and not as flexible as I once was. You can accomplish all of this with a small coop geared to the size and number of your chickens. A small, A-frame structure has worked very well for lots of people. Play houses have been converted. All you are after is just what Ol Grey Mare pointed out....shelter. Period. And shelter provides a clean, dry, ventilated place for them to sleep and lay eggs, free from the threat of predators.

You are going to do just fine, Jason! I didn't intend to make it sound like I was discouraging you one bit, because this chicken keeping stuff is a lot of fun, always interesting, and very, very rewarding. But it is work to get it started at first, and I wish my eyes would have been opened before I started so I could have avoided some unpleasant surprises. If you have a family, get them involved from the beginning and it becomes less like work and more like a new family adventure. And relax! You have thousands of good people out here who have your back. We want you to succeed and enjoy the ride. There isn't a question that hasn't been asked and answered. The beauty is being able to take the bits and pieces that work for you and your situation - and then blowing off the extra stuff.

 

[chicmom]

Well, they need a shelter to protect them from predators, and also the weather. I do think you could make a coop from some free materials. Lots of people make them from pallets. You could check Craigslist in the free section to see if someone is giving something you can build with away.

You see, at night, chickens are very still. A raccoon or possum or fox, or hawks, owls, skunks, all those things like to eat chickens. So they can just literally walk up to them in the dark, and grab them.

 

[ridemcowgirl]

Ok here is the coop my hubby and I ( mostly the hubby) started last weekend. We used 5 pallets. One for the floor and 4 for the wall frames. Then we just cut left over plywood to size for walls and we cut some 4x4 pieces left over from cutting fence posts, for the legs to raise it off the ground. We also used the nesting boxes and some hinges from the old coop and an old closet rod cut in half for the 2 roosting bars. We have some shingles and siding left over from the previous homeowners so I just got the shingles on the roof and we plan on putting the siding up this weekend. We had to go to Lowes for some hardware cloth that we put over the openings at the top. We left it open for ventilation. And I went to hobby lobby to buy decorative handles and a cute door knob for the front door ( because I'm a girl and it has to be cute lol). When all is said and done we only spent about $25 for a 4'x4' chicken coop. Even if you don't have as much scrap wood laying around like we do, I'm sure you could find someone who does that would give it to you for free just to get rid of it. Our pallet coop is very sturdy and we've had some bad storms in the past few days and it held up very well. Oh and if you want to paint it but don't want to spend a ton on paint, home depot and Lowe's sell premixed paint that people returned for whatever reason, for like $5 a gallon. Just look around until you find a color you like.

 

[tntchix]

Jason, please go to the Learning Center tab on the top of the page. It is where I was directed when I started this journey. It was an immense help to me.

Security really is the most important thing to consider first. Once they are secure, everything else falls into place. I have learned it is a work in progress, always adjusting and changing and trying new options.

I was nervous too, but someohow we have only lost 2 out of 30 chickens. One to a barn cat on first day outside the other a 2 day old chick died. (inside house)

Things will happen, lessons will be learned, just have fun with it.

Oh by the way, mine LOVE grasshoppers. They have to fight the barn cats for them.

 

[RavenGemini]

I have no idea where to start. I see many coops presented here. I am capable of physically building any of them myself, but I'm looking for the least expensive choice. As in zero dollars.

Why can I not just put some chickens in a fenced area and be done with it?

Predators..... at least in my "neck of the woods". (Dogs, Wolves, Coyotes, Chicken Hawks, Minks, Opossums and Raccoons to name a few)..... My hens two ducks and two drakes have free run of the fenced in yard during most of the day with plenty of places to hide, but at night they like to go somewhere more secure..... i.e. under our enclosed deck or their coop. Also knowing where they are at the times they lay their eggs saves me from an every morning Easter egg hunt.
I made a temp shelter for about $50 but had to fortify it against the creatures that wanted my birds more than I. In the beginning of the year I started with 12, I know have 5.
Good luck to you

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

I have no idea where to start. I see many coops presented here. I am capable of physically building any of them myself, but I'm looking for the least expensive choice. As in zero dollars.

Why can I not just put some chickens in a fenced area and be done with it?

Well, you can - to a degree - but doing so is about assessing the risks and your level of acceptance to losses. There are predators everywhere - the exact number and species vary by location, but they truly are in every location. The number and species of predators factors into the likelihood of losses to your flock and the type of structure that would be needed to narrow that risk. Your personal willingness to accept the financial (and emotional for some) losses of birds taken by predators also factors in.
You *can* have totally free range birds in an unenclosed area with a simple shelter -- you can have your birds locked down in a "predator proof" coop and run - or you can go middle of the road with providing some layer(s) of protection but still having a fairly "free" flock. It's all about assessing the dangers, knowing your level of risk acceptance and then proceeding accordingly.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Since you sight cost as one of your concerns, you can look around here for lots of great ideas of ways people have managed to build some really nice structures at little to no out-of-pocket cost - pallet coops, upcycled, recycled, etc projects.

 

[Jason38]

Thank you all for the information.

Honestly, I'm trying to grasp the concept of the coop. Do they ever get to come out of the caged area?

Every night when I pull onto my drive there are at least four jack rabbits rooting around. I've never seen any "predators". Is a chicken coop going bring them to my back door automatically?

 

[RavenGemini]

Thank you all for the information.

Honestly, I'm trying to grasp the concept of the coop. Do they ever get to come out of the caged area?

Every night when I pull onto my drive there are at least four jack rabbits rooting around. I've never seen any "predators". Is a chicken coop going bring them to my back door automatically?

The chickens themselves will attract the predators..... that's just natures way. The coop would keep them safer.....