Need coop design advice

[vbtjvt]

We just picked up 6 hens and 2 ducks yesterday. they will be inside for awhile still but i need to get started on building a coop. I have search and read all over the INTERNET and get more confused as I go. So any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. I want to build a coop and run together but I'm confused on the size I need. the chickens and ducks will be housed together so I need room for 8 and it has to be secure, we have foxes, skunks, raccoons, and dogs to deal with. I don't mind buying plans but I want to be sure I'm buying the right ones. I need something fairly simple and not to costly. So any ideas???

 

[vbtjvt]

Anybody???

 

[Endur50]

The best one to answer your question is you! Try to think about the needs to fit your lifestyle. I am a nurse doing shift work and my husband works long hours as well (we leave at 0545 and don't get home until 2045 or so). We wanted something that the chickens could be happy for a few days in a row while we worked and we didn't have to do anything with them. We built a tractor for 2 hens that has a 2 1/2 by 3 foot indoor coop and a 6 by 3 foot outdoor run. The little front door is open all the time and they can go in and out of the coop into the run as they please, going bed when they feel like it. On my days off, they get free range time around the whole yard.

I also knew I didn't want to have to clean a coop. At all. So the bottom of the coop part of the tractor is mesh and the manure gets pushed through onto the grass. The coop is easily moved around the yard, which we do every couple of days.

Chickens are very adaptable to different living situations so it doesn't have to be any particular way. It just sounds like you have predators around so that certainly will be a consideration. General recommendation for space is 4 feet of indoor space per bird and 10 feet of outdoor space per bird. Our tractor is a little shy of this, but our birds do get to free range most of the day on 4 days out of the week so we felt ok with it.

For that many birds it doesn't sound like a little tractor will be an option. You could do a stationary coop with a permanent run. A stationary coop with a movable run (poultry netting) or even a coop on wheels if you have help (or a lawn tractor) to pull it around. In terms of materials you can use whatever you find that works. Many stores throw pallets away, so you can get free lumber. I've seen one person that took an old truck bed cap, made a floor and ladder for it, and put it up on sawhorses. Check the materials and free section of craigslist for some good finds.

 

[patandchickens]

I think the reason there have been no replies yet is that it is sooooo general a question. "How big" depends on what your aims and priorities are. For chickens alone (i.e if not cohabiting with ducks, which is a whole 'nother level of complication since ducks are so wet and messy) you *can* go as little as 2 sq ft per hen indoors plus 4 outdoors, and have some general likelihood of not too much outright cannibalism. Most people here would say more like 4 sq ft per hen indoors plus 10 apiece outoors as a minimum. Personally, having kept chickens at that stocking density and less-crowded, I would never ever go back to less than 10-15 sq ft per hen indoors PLUS ample outdoor run, because they really do act a lot more happy and relaxed and individual and "natural" with more room. It just depends what your philosophy and priorities are, you know?

Ducks with chickens can, more or less, be done if you really want, especially if you are in a year-round warm and dry climate; but it is not an ideal situation. At the very least, you'd want to have a bunch of extra room both indoors and out.

If you want to build a walk-in size coop, IMHO by far your best option is to get out of the library or from a bookstore a good book on building a backyard shed, there are lots of them, many with detailed plans and step by step photos/instructions. All you have to do is add more ventilation, a roost and nestboxes, and a popdoor, and presto it's a chicken coop

Make sure your run fencing is reasonably well constructed and secure -- chickenwire is not generally predatorproof, you want some variety of reasonably heavy-gauge welded wire mesh, no larger than 2x4" mesh adn preferably significantly smaller (at least at the bottom). You can digproof it with an apron all around the outside base of the fence, at least 2' wide, securely attached tothe base of the run fence and either covered by mulch/turf/whatever or just pegged down and let the grass grow thru. It is a lot safer to lock the chickens into a secure henhouse at night (ducks too) than to rely on the fantasy of having a 100% predatorproof run.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[vbtjvt]

Sorry for being so general, I am really lost when it comes to a coop, I see the small premaid ones that are for sell, and they say they will work, but they just don't look cozy to me. My wife doesn't work so she is home most of the time but we do have dogs and I'm nervouse about them with the chickens, so I want an enclosed run. The ducks wern't in the plan untill we went to get the chickens. they kinda tagged along. I live in Utah so we get hot and cold, I already planned on heating the coop, just trying to figure out the basics first.

 

[Emmalion]

Take a gander at what people on BYC have built https://www.backyardchickens.com/coopdesigns.html It is a great place to start when thinking about designs because there are just so many to look at with all different building styles with different materials.

 

[vbtjvt]

Ok, finally decided on a coop. I am going to use the plans on the Purina Mills website. but enlarge it to 4x8. still havent figured out the yard area but gotta start somewhere.