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:yesss: :welcome :yesss:
Miss Piggy Sue says, “Welcome to our eggcelent flock here at BYC!”

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Generally speaking, heavier breeds (dual-purpose) and especially ones with smaller combs (Wyandottes, Olive or Easter Eggers) do very well in cold climates. Though Barred Rocks, Buff Orps and many production breeds like Rhode Island Reds are very popular. Frost bite is the main concern so you want to make sure your coop has plenty of ventilation to let out moisture that collects in the air from chickens' body heat and breathing... they are also very susceptible to respiratory disease. So, make lots of good ventilation! Then pretty much any birds you pick will be happy and healthy!

A lot of us here did start with a prefab, that's why we say they're terrible. You can weatherproof, reinforce them and ADD ventilation, but I don't see how you can really add on later. By that time it would have been easier to just build from scratch, even from recycled materials. If you do decide to get one, DO NOT look at how many chickens the box says will fit... it's a lie! Well, maybe truth for housing them in cramped factory conditions where they're only expected to survive a year or two.

It's possible to make do with a prefab as only a roosting house without the attached run (it's worthless anyway). Then put that coop inside a large penned area or attach an outdoor dog run to it. That way you can put your money in a bigger coop space... or convert a shed like @Meg-in-MT and @DobieLover mentioned.

Here's a few articles that are totally worth reading:
How Much Room Do Chickens Need
Chicken Coop Ventilation - Go Out There And Cut More Holes In Your Coop!
Keeping Chickens Without Free Ranging
Key Points to Successful Free Ranging

Best wishes starting your new chicken adventure!
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Welcome :welcome Glad you decided to join us! FlappyFeathers posted a few good links already. You can also check if anyone is selling a playhouse, shed or chicken coop in your area. Last year a lady around the corner sold a wooden playhouse (too small for my flock plus it sold quickly for $25). It would have been ideal for my 5 chickens that I started with. Sturdy and easy to convert into a coop. Check out the coop section for some ideas :)
 
Hi Leslie and welcome to BYC :frow We're so happy you've decided to join us :ya

We have a contest going on right now just for new folks like you. In order to enter you'll need to copy the link from your first post in this thread and post it in the contest thread.

To copy your link address, right click on the link to your thread and click copy or copy link
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then click on the following URL
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...t-new-byc-members-win-a-byc-calendar.1287752/
Go down to where it says "write your reply..." tell us this is your entry and then click on the link button
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Paste your URL into the box and click "insert", then click "Post Reply".
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That's all there is to it. Once you've finished this, you're eligible to win a nice BYC Calendar.
 

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