I need help for my new coop

[BillyC]

Hi, I'm 16 and have gotten my first chickens the past summer. I currently have 4 hens and a rooster, I bought their coop off of the neighbour who I bought my hens off of. It is a 4x4 1/2. I want to keep some chicks in the spring if my hens go broody and will need to build a bigger coop. One to fit about ten hens. I live in newfoundland so it is warm in the summer but cold in the winter. I was wondering if anyone could help me with a design to build a coop for this amount of hens, and suitable for this area, thanks!

 

[justplainbatty]

Hi, I'm 16 and have gotten my first chickens the past summer. I currently have 4 hens and a rooster, I bought their coop off of the neighbour who I bought my hens off of. It is a 4x4 1/2. I want to keep some chicks in the spring if my hens go broody and will need to build a bigger coop. One to fit about ten hens. I live in newfoundland so it is warm in the summer but cold in the winter. I was wondering if anyone could help me with a design to build a coop for this amount of hens, and suitable for this area, thanks!

Congrats! And welcome to BYC. Your coop will need 4 square feet of floor space per bird, 8 inches of roost space per bird and no less than 3 nest boxes (1 per 4 hens). Chickens do very well in winter as long as the coop is draft free and has good cross ventilation. Insulating the coop can help but is not mandatory. Look up an English to metric conversion chart for your measurements.

 

[BillyC]

Thanks!

 

[Mojo12]

Again, from me, welcome. I'm kinda new, too. I thought I bought 8 girlie chicks and ended up with 7 girls and a rooster. Which added to my rooster population, since the only reason I bought pullets was because I had a stray rooster show up and I fell in love with him and wanted him to be happy. LOL
Anyway, I have an 8x8 inside space, with one 8 foot roost bar and a three rung, 4 foot ladder roost (that was what I started with when they were little). They have an 8x8 foot outdoor space that is available 24/7 unless the temps fall below 30, when I shut the hop hole door from dusk to daylight. I am expanding this spring so they have more space. I'd love to allow them to be free-range, but we have dogs and coyotes and other critters that eat anything smaller than them all around us. Once I expand, they will have about 30 more square feet of outside space. Also I'm going to isolate one of the roosters: he's getting a little too aggressive with the hens. Or maybe I'll look for someone who wants him. He's a very beautiful Silver Laced Polish, and he was a complete accident.