My First Chicken Coop is done. Let me know what you think Please!

[BeckyandHerBrood]

I have officially been a chicken "mom" for 6 weeks. The coop is done and our chicks have moved in. It is insulated all the way around, has a window and a vent. The inside coop is 30 inches by 7 feet. The outside run is 4 feet by 12feet, and we will add another 8 feet when the chicks in the brooder are big enough to go outside. How many chickens do you think that I can keep without overcrowding and odor issues. We live in a neighborhood where we cannot have fences so they will not be able to free range.

Check it out and let me know if you think it will work.

View from the outside of the shed.

Teaching the chicks how to use the ramp.

Not sure if the chickens will like the nesting box, but my four year old does. There is another box on the other end.

The coop, complete with my 7 year olds chicken mural.

Teaching our Buff Orpington to use the roost.

Everyone in the run. 4 have already found new homes and 4 more leave in a few weeks.

This has been a fun family project and I hope to be able to keep 4 Chickens and 1 bantam. Do you think I have enough room?

 

[NonnasBabies]

That is such a neat idea!! Wonderful job!!

I think you'll have plenty of room for 5!

 

[BeckyandHerBrood]

I think that I did my research well, but some things got discarded when the construction guys (aka my dad and husband) showed up. We lost some space inside and the spot for outside is rather restricted. I was just curious about experience with space and number of chickens. How many do you think we could keep without them being overcrowded? I read the minimum requiremnents, but the inside coop ended up smaller than I would have liked. The outside area will be 4ft by 20 ft when finished.

 

[dianaross77]

Nice Job! My husband and I will be sharing a shed too. I love the kid in the nesting box!

 

[Memphisjourney2seramas]

Super cute and great idea. I think that you should have enough room when you expand your run for when they are bigger.

 

[BeckyandHerBrood]

Thanks...I am glad to hear that it may be practical as well as adorable. We have 3 Ameracuanas and 3 Wyandottes (two splash and 1 BLR) in the brooder. I am happy to hear that there is enough room in our little chicken space to keep 5. My kids fell in love with a Brahma Bantam, and a Splash Cochin that I had no intention of keeping when I bought consolation chicks from Rural King to make up for our first incubating disaster. You live and learn

 

[chickenboots]

Everything looks great! We did something similar when we built ours. You may have a plan for this already, or there may be something there already I can't tell from the pics, but I suggest you put some type of barrier along the bottom edge of the shed to keep out predators. Something could dig under the shed and get into the run. We learned the hard way unfortunately.

 

[BeckyandHerBrood]

"Chicken Boots" what did you do in those spots? I have wire buried and stapled in the front and a few landscape pavers blocking the back corner, but there really is not a good way to staple wire in the back corner.

 

[Going Quackers]

Very creative! i love the idea of combining spaces. An adorable mural your 7yo made to! that will be something you'll look back fondly on when there older

I cannot tell from the pictures but do you have any smaller wire along the bottom 2-3ft? predators can reach through and grab birds otherwise. I apologize if you do, as i said hard to see from the pics i am just passing on a hard lesson learned after one my ducks was injured from a coon's reach n grab attack.

 

[BeckyandHerBrood]

@Going Quackers, I do not have smaller wire along the bottom. The wire is wrapped under the entire coop, but I did not realize that a coon could just reach through the wire. Thank you for the heads up. I will modify that this weekend. How high does it have to be?