Looking for coop ideas

[ARPdrummer]

Hi,
Right now I have 24 chicks in the brooder and looking for ideas on a coop build! I was figuring an 8X12 hen house then an attached, covered run, but wanting to see what the best affordable (and easiest) coop would be.
I plan on free ranging during the day when they can. Also want it to be well insulated as we have very cold winters (heck, we're getting more snow tomorrow :/ ). Was thinking about getting a shed and converting, but everything I'm finding is over $1000 and then we'd still have to get supplies for converting and the run.
Anyway, all that to say, please help with ideas! Would be helpful if it is a quick build, as I only have about 4 weeks to work with and our weather isn't the most cooperative this year.
Thanks in advance!

 

[jthornton]

Welcome to BYC. Put your location in your profile so everyone knows your general weather.

For cold a Woods style is great. Here is his book and you should read the entire book. You don't need insulation for a chicken coop, you need a proper amount of breeze free ventilation.

Looks like you have backed yourself in a corner, 24 chickens needs at a minimum 100 square feet of coop and 250 square feet of run for southern states, for northern states you need much more covered run for the time they can't get outside. The fastest most economical coop/run to build is a "hoop coop" using cattle panels.

JT

 

[N F C]

First off...

@jthornton beat me to it...I was going to suggest a hoop coop too. Just enter that into the Search Forums and you'll get back quite a few links you can read to see what that type of coop is all about.

 

[aggiemae]

If you have chicks you'd better start building! Our first batch was laying before we got them out of our utility room. There where just five but the dust they left behind took all summer to clean up. We built our co-op mostly out of left overs in our wood pile and free lumber on Craig's list. We even found free house wrap and tin sheets for the roof. The nails, hinges, screws and hardware cloth cost about $150.

The coop is large enough for 10 chickens and has a large covered run. It's been about 7 years and it's holding up great.

 

[ARPdrummer]

Welcome to BYC. Put your location in your profile so everyone knows your general weather.

For cold a Woods style is great. Here is his book and you should read the entire book. You don't need insulation for a chicken coop, you need a proper amount of breeze free ventilation.

Looks like you have backed yourself in a corner, 24 chickens needs at a minimum 100 square feet of coop and 250 square feet of run for southern states, for northern states you need much more covered run for the time they can't get outside. The fastest most economical coop/run to build is a "hoop coop" using cattle panels.

JT

Thank you! I updated with location, Iowa, I'll need to work on my profile a bit more
I should mention, I have 24 chickens right now, but it will be less. Only going to be keeping 2 roosters (2 different breeds), so any other roosters that come about will be sold. End number of chickens is unknown as of yet.
I will look into the hoop style cool, thanks!

 

[pintail_drake2004]

An 8x12 is enough for 24 hens-that is 4sqft per hen in the coop. My coop is 8x12, I have 24 chickens and 2 ducks and have had no issues (with standard sized hens and 3 roosters). I knew what I built would be a permanent fixture on my farm so I poured a concrete slab to build the coop on.
I do like to free range when the scene is safe, but during this past winter I had a lot of hawks and 3 eagles on my farm. This made me thankful I had an attached 600sqft fully enclosed run to keep the hens in when they were around.

 

[21hens-incharge]

One thing to remember in calculating coop as footage.......

Any place the birds cannot freely move about needs subtracted from the overall as footage.
like internal nest boxes, feed and water stations, and anything you plan to store inside the coop.

Keeping roosters, as in more than one, can be problematic. Have a plan in place if you need to segregate one or both from the main flock.