Looking for plans for a coop to house 7 chickens & a few guinea

[EdistoChicks]

I have been overwhelmed looking for coop plans. Looking to have six laying hens, 1 rooster and possibly a location for a few guineas. Does anyone have such plans or can point me in the right direction? We are hoping to use a lot of salvaged materials. Another quick question too. I know you need to have a coop 50 feet from a well. Can it be closer to a garden than that? I was hoping to make a compost pile close to the garden but don't want to contaminate my veggies. Thanks in advance!

 

[chickerdoodle]

Have you looked here for ideas https://www.backyardchickens.com/coopdesigns.html ? It is overwhelming after awhile

and I have been going through the same thing recently (we also want it large enough for 4-6 laying hens). Hubby and I took what we considered the best ideas from this web page and some others and came up with our own plans. They are not really exact yet as I have been drawing them out for hubby but he will be doing the building. I bet some problems during the building will pop up and we'll deal with them as we go. My idea is to make it soooo easy to keep clean we'll have no excuse for not doing it. The plan calls for large doors on two sides of a 5x4 henhouse, exterior nest boxes to add more floor space (and we can open from the outside so don't have to go in the coop) and a large covered run with playground sand and a small amount of tiny river rock (like pea gravel size) mixed in for drainage. Security is paramount so using 1/2 hardware cloth and sturdy plywood, 2x4's and a cement floor in the run (coverd with 4-6 inches of sand/pea gravel). Also will have henhouse raised 2 feet above ground to keep rats form hanging out there and a nice place for the girls to go under the house. Other details are being finalized such as lots of ventilation and exact positions of the windows. The roof will be gabled and the coop painted in our house colors as we need the coop to be nice looking and not just a utility coop.

Compost will be put in a 55 gallon barrel that is able to be turned frequently in a setup I've seen on the Internet. I have to find it again as I saved it on my old computer and not this one! Since they will have poo in mostly sand and some shavings from the henhouse this may be sufficient as it works it much faster and if not we have a larger composter and lots of folks who want their poo for their gardens.

I do have a 4x4 covered dog pen that I can tractor them around and where I want them to work the soil and add their lovely poo to for a new raised bed I wan to set up. They will also be able to go in a secondary large wood chip and grass run when we are with them. It will probably become all wood chips and I can throw them some alfalfa hay bales to scratch around in.

Soo take a deep breath, and start drawing (in pencil) and adding ideas in a pad just for this project. Make a few designs and work from there. You'll be fine with all the help here.

Holy moley!!

I just realized our chicks come in April!!