Need advice for new chicken coop.

[Vermont Poultry]

I currently have 20, 10 week old birds (14 chickens and 6 guineas). The guineas have started picking on the chickens so we were going to take the chickens out of their current coop and leave the guineas in there. I was hoping to build a medium or small sized pole barn to house at least 50 chickens, have a storage space for food and shavings, brooder pen (not necessary), nesting boxes, and breeding pens. Now the main thing I would like to know is how to go about all of this, what should I focus on, like what type of flooring to use, or basic interior layout ideas. If someone could give me a price estimate that would be great, I would not likely need to hire a contractor because I can do most construction on my own.

 

[tmarsh83]

It's a pretty vague question.

If it were me, I would have a building that was 12 feet deep and as long as you want determined by pens.

I would be building pens six feet wide and 8 feet deep. The additional four feet is one long "aisle" or storage area in front of each pen. I would do eight foot walls on the aisle side, and six foot walls on the far side, with a single slope roof.

That's the basic design I would use, FWIW.

 

[Vermont Poultry]

Alright, was thinking of having the width within the realm of 12 or 16 feet. Length would be separated by 8 foot increments, so it would most likely be around 24-32 feet long. Dimensions themselves wont be much of the issue, mostly placement of rooms. One main question I would like to have answered is what should I do for the floor, dirt? Crushed stone? Decided to completely opt out of the idea of concrete, seems a bit hard on the birds legs, and quite expensive option.

 

[Howard E]

How committed are you to this long term? Enough to justify the expense of housing for 50 birds?

If so, may I suggest a full size Woods Colony House, which is 10' wide x 16' deep and will house 40 birds. If you want to go larger, you double the width (20' W x 16"D), and divide it in the middle to make two 10' x 16' houses. It can have a dirt floor if you want to use a deep litter / built up litter management. It will work well as long as the site you chose is well drained.

 

[Vermont Poultry]

I'm relatively new too chickens, I've become more interested in getting more due to the demand for meat and eggs were I live. The expense is just something I will have to work hard to cover.