Is this a good coop design?

[MuscoviesBeta]

I am getting four chickens in about three months, and with our incredible busy schedule and almost no spare time I decided that we needed all the time we could get, so I already planned our coop. These are the plans:

Do you think that they are good, is there anything I should add?

It consists of a run on the bottom which is about 6 ft 8 in long and 2 ft 8 in wide and a coop on top of the run that is 4 ft long and 2 ft 8 inches wide. This is their night coop, during the day they would be free ranging around my yard. My yard is very small.

Thanks so much!

 

[Yay Chicks!]

Can you possibly make it a little bigger? It seems a bit small for four chickens...maybe banties? Also, make sure you have an easy way to get to the water you have in the run under the coop. I used to keep food in a space like that but it was too hard on my back so I moved it to the part of the run where I could stand upright.

 

[Cargo]

You will want more room for 4 chickens.
I would build a bare minimum of 4'x4' for the coop and 4'x10' for the run. More if at all possible.
Your chickens will be much happier. It is easier to build it right the first time vs modifying after you have chickens.

 

[MuscoviesBeta]

Yeah I keep thinking that the size is an issue. How expensive is it to buy a larger coop than it is to build a bigger coop, because I remember building a tiny iguana gage and it being 100 dollars! It is only a night coop, the rest of the time they will be free ranging in our yard.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

I built a 4x4 coop for 140 dollars. Have 7 chickens and they love it, nesting box is attached to coop though. 10x10" holes for them to enter the two nest and that box (with divider) has a lid on hinges for roof. Night time roost providing 2.5 sq ft per bird and adequate roosting space is fine. They really only use it to pass through to nesting boxes and to sleep.

Your run you'll want bigger even for 4 birds. I'm on a small lot and thought I'd be letting the girls free range a lot more. They start to wander with less food about and have to keep em in the run excepting 2 hours a day now. Winter and not much range feed so their really ranging far and wide.

 

[NoseyChickens]

You are going to need at 4 sq feet per standard sized bird and 2 sq feet per bantam sized bird. They also need 10 sq feet of run space per brid for them to not be over crowded. I would say your design is only good for 2 birds at most. Bigger is always better, everyone always winds up wanting more than they thought they would. I started with 4 a year and a half later I have about 50. Who knew?

 

[MuscoviesBeta]

I live in Florida, south Florida, no less, so its summer all year long! I found a nice coop on the BYC Coop Designs page That I will be using. Here is the link: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=
Do you thing that will be good?

 

[MuscoviesBeta]

Sorry, glitchy link: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=26070

 

[MissJenny]

The part of the run that is beside the coop -- I would make that full height so you can get in there. I didn't think I'd need to get in my run or that my hens would need more height. I do get in there -- I clean, I fiddle, I sit with my birds. I have a few straw bails in there which they love to sit on and just "be up high" -- it's the chicken version of "king of the mountain." You'll always be happier with a little more room and so will the chickens.

It is very cute and a very good place to start.

 

[MuscoviesBeta]

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions I'm going to re-design it, make it bigger and rethink my choices of posts.

Thanks,
Charlie Pie