I need ideas for a coop for my roosters.

[FF]

Hello. I have 45 laying hens and I have 8 roosters. 3 WhiteLeg. 1 PR, 2 BA, 2 ameracauna. I don't know what to do. They are all pretty tamed. I am also planning on selling hatching eggs because these are really nice looking chickens. So maybe put a few hens of the breed inside the pen. I though about a cage about 4' off the ground and just a little house and then a small run. Or I could make actual pens. If you have any other ideas please please feel free to give them to me. I need all the ideas I can get. Thanks

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

If you are going to house 8 roosters together, you need a MINIMUM of 80 square feet, I'd go much bigger though, so they aren't in each other's space, and make sure they are far enough away from the girls that they aren't in direct line of sight. It will make things much calmer in the bachelor pad. But if you are going to sell pure bred hatching eggs, I'd just build seperate pens for each breed, that way you don't have all the pecking order issues, not to mention having to segregate breeds for a minimum of 3-4 weeks to make sure they are truly pure...

 

[Lollipop]

I concur with Cloverleaf. Looks like you could get by with 4 pens, because there are 4 breeds. Then you have to consider housing new chicks. Good luck...........Pop

 

[FF]

Thank you both for the replys. Clover leaf, I am planning on making seperate pens for each breeds. Lollipop gave me the idea to put all the same breed together. never thought about that. Sure will save a whole lot of money. I believe i will do just that. I plan on giving each pen maybe 5'x8'. So about 8 birds at one time. I will rotate hens every week to make sure they are nice and clean. I will have mostly a 4 to 1 ratio. Hopefully. Thanks again. And if you have any other ideas just let me know and will be more than happy to try. Thanks

 

[Cloverleaf Farm]

You might want to rethink your dimensions a little...for large fowl, you want a minimum of 10 sq. feet per bird. If they get too crowded, they will be more likely to featherpick, etc...

 

[jeb251]

I am building breeding pens now for the same reason, my pens are 4x12 and I plan to keep 4 or 5 maybe 6 in a pinch, but all 6 breeds will have there own coop and my layers will have loads of room when the breeders move in, you can see more about the coops on my page

 

[Lollipop]

Jeb, I was reading your post just the other day and you really made my butter flutter. I have to build some breeding pens when the weather cools a little and I really like your design. For my purposes, I will make the coops about 7` tall, reaching all the way to the ground and eliminating the space between the floor and the ground. The runs will be covered with the same roofing material and will match the height of the coops, with a gate at the end. I also plan to have corrogated metal about 2` up from the ground, so critters can`t get in and cocks can`t see each other. Another thing I will likely do is lay plastic lattice panels on the ground under the runs to preclude digging predators. Plastic because they won`t rust like metal. Many of my ideas result from being an old fat guy that doesn`t bend as well as I used to and from the fact that my chickens are gamefowl. Loved seeing your drawings. Great design........Pop

 

[jeb251]

thanks pop, game cocks are what I was raised on so you probably know what we were doing with them so many years back. I still love them, but don't have any now, I was thinking about getting some mini games, I had a pair as a kid and they were really cool little birds and for the old fat guy thing, we should start a club lol