Looking to raise chickens and build first coop

[SurferchickinSB]

I think you should build your own! I had no building experience either and I am 5’2” tall woman. I built my coop and run entirely by myself.

I love my little coop! It turned out way better than I thought it would! I probably spent about $1700 total but $220 of that was for my automatic chicken coop door. I built a 4’x8’ coop for my 8 chickens with a 8’x10’attached run. The run ended up being too small for them once they grew up

 

[robcam817]

Are you planning on keeping all 32 of those chicks? Your coop is only big enough for 20

I think you should build your own! I had no building experience either and I am 5’2” tall woman. I built my coop and run entirely by myself.

If you're not doin anything this summer, NW Montana is BEAUTIFUL this time of year, (well technically is beautiful ALL year...;-)

 

[SurferchickinSB]

If you're not doin anything this summer, NW Montana is BEAUTIFUL this time of year, (well technically is beautiful ALL year...;-)

LOL!! I nearly broke my back carrying all that plywood and lumber! That coop i built better last forever! I am expecting it to last for the next 10 years at least!

 

[MountainWoman73]

Take this advice -- build a walk-in coop big enough for you to stand up in, and include a storage space separate from the chicken space. This allows you to store bedding, food, etc, in the coop, without it getting pooped on. My coop is 12 by 8 feet long. There is an interior wall 4 feet from the door that is framed and covered in hardware cloth, with a screen door. This gives the girls 8×8 feet, and leaves me a 4x8 space for storage. I'm also happy that I put a trap door in the middle of the floor so that I can clean out the coop pretty easily.

 

[MountainWoman73]

Picture of my space under construction, and one recently.

 

[Ribh]

Australorps are .

 

[Hawaii Chicks]

I’m sure you’ll do great! I’ve buil my own and at least I have the feeling of I did it myself!
As others have suggest, you better get a big, large coop! Raisin chickens could be addictive!
About the breeds... sure you will want to have all kind of colored eggs in the future. If your are not thinking about breeding pure breeds, I’d suggest you to get a mix flock from a hatchery

 

[New2Chicks97]

Converted outbuildings can work for a coop. We converted an old 8x11 she’d that came with our property into a coop for our girls. It was cheaper than building something from scratch. Then we built a nice covered run adjacent to the coop.

Good luck with your coop and new chickens. We currently have 16 big girls and 4 bantams. We end up with way more eggs than we need. My husband sells some to his coworkers. Sometimes we just give eggs to friends and family. Today we just hard boiled 3 dozen bantam eggs and 18 big eggs to pickle tomorrow.

 

[007Sean]

Howdy Rob and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[robcam817]

I'm sensing a theme here....build it yourself...build it BIG. Yeah....I can do that. Thanks again to all!