My daughter is getting 4h chickens and we need to build a coop

[Jtp79]

The wife and I have agreed to get some 4h chickens because we have bought farm fresh eggs for years and our youngest daughter loves animals and is wanting some chickens.

I need the dos and donts of building a coop and a run. I have some dog kennel that I could use for the run but I believe the wire would look better. There are going to be either a dozen red star or black star chickens.

How much room is required for each chicken?
How many laying boxes? and so on

we are looking at building this. What would you guys change? or would you go a totally different route?

http://blog.homedepot.com/free-plans-for-an-awesome-chicken-coop/#more-59891

 

[sylviethecochin]

4 square feet per hen in the coop, 10 in the run. One laying box for every three hens should be sufficient.

The linked coop is too small for a dozen birds--if anyone tells you how many chickens something should hold, ask them if they mean bantams (tiny) or standard-sized birds.

Check out this thread--lot of reference materials
and this one for actual coop designs.

EDT: Oh yes, and Welcome to BYC.

 

[staceyj]

Welcome to the family flock of BYC!
You guys are in for an AWESOME family experience. Check out the coop pages.
If you are planning on 12 hens you need a minimum interior space of 4 square feet per bird. So plan bigger than that coop.
ALWAYS PLAN BIGGER than you think you'll need, you'll learn about this thing called "chicken math" along the way.
Run: 10 feet square per Bird minimum.
And I'd suggest a coop big enough for an adult to walk into, such as a converted shed design. You'll find that there are times that a kid needs a grownups help and you don't want to be crawling through the poo to accomplish that.
People here are fantastic mentors. You'll learn a lot!
Very best wishes on your
CHICKEN ADVENTURE!

 

[lazy gardener]

For 12 hens, you need at least 48 s.f. of open floor space in the coop, 120" of perch space, which is at least 18" below the ceiling and 12" away from the back wall with lots of room in front for the birds to jump down. The perches need to be at least 2' above the floor of the coop. You will need between 5 - 12 s.f. of ventilation in your coop, and 3 next boxes which are below the perch in height. Each box should be a minimum of 12 x 12 x 12", though taller is better. I recommend a WALK in coop. This will make it much easier for you to manage the flock.

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC and wishing a great 4 H experience for your daughter. Great links/advice provided by previous posters.

 

[Jtp79]

I like the idea of it being on legs like the one I linked. Because of giving them some shade in the run if you wire the bottom of it.

The coop space? I could make this one wider and make it closer to 8x8 which would be 64 sq feet.

 

[Nardo]

You'll get more ideas than you can sift through...only thing I'll add is that 8x8 is hard (almost impossible) to clean with only one side opening as I see in the picture. So maybe make it longer rather than wider so you can get to the inside from one side's opening - or put another opening on the other side. Have fun and good luck!

 

[Jtp79]

What needs to be inside the coop? As far as roost and things of that nature?

 

[sylviethecochin]

All that's in ours is the nesting box and the perch.

As Lazy Gardner said, they need at least ten inches of perch space each, (total of ten feet) preferably more than 2 feet off of the floor, but less than four. I recommend a ladder perch--

--so that they can hop up and down. If you do go that route, secure it well.

Nesting boxes should be a decent size, (12x12x12 is probably ideal, as recommended by Lazy Gardner, but ours are 12deepx10x10 , and the chickens don't seem to object to that)

 

[lazy gardener]

JTP, your location would help to give appropriate advice. No matter what your climate, good ventilation is key. And that ventilation must be provided in such a way that the birds do not have a draft on them while they are perched. I had a "short coop" as my first coop, and found that it had huge issues with providing enough ventilation, resulting in much greater risk of frost bite to the birds in the winter. Increased cubic feet of air space = less issues with moisture = improved air quality for decreased risk of frost bite, and decreased risk of disease issues for the flock.

Shade can be provided in the run with shade cloth, or giving the birds a couple of pallets tied in an A frame structure, or even placing a pallet over 4 cinder blocks.