Need Coop Ideas. I have 4 hens and a rooster

ummm hi i am new . i have two baby chicks and i am not a chicken expert .do u think i should buy buy them a chicken coop???????

i always had chickens ,i dont kill them ,i love to raise them .i love chickens.... In fact my 2nd favorite animal is a chickens


do u know where i could buy a chicken coop online???????

 

Check out the coops under coop design at the vety top of your screen. There's lots of great looking coops..in all different sizes. Many have pics from their building process. Good luck and welcome!

 

I'm working on building a coop as well. I've got A LOT of good ideas from this forum and the Coop Designs section of Backyard Chickens. My best advice is to look around here. It's not the fastest way to answer your question but you'll get a idea of the pros and cons of all the different ideas there are out there. Good luck! -kc

 

I've seen some pretty great converted dog houses and play houses, both of which you could search for on Craigslist and then retrofit. There are some so so houses available from Petco and feed stores or you can check your area Craigslist for a local chicken coop builder. There are just so many great options.

 

I have a friend who has two hens she keeps in an old little girl's playhouse.Unfortunately, she just shuts them in there, day and night, and only goes in to feed and scoop out the eggs. NOT the way I want to keep my hens, but the idea of the converted playhouse really appeals to me. It would look great beside our house, painted to match!

I took the cheap route... as we drove along main roads, back roads, in-town streets... everywhere... I had the kids keep their eyes open for anything that remotely looked like it would serve as a chicken coop. We actually found one beside someone's house, partially overgrown, and stopped to inquire about it. The tried their hands with "pet" chickens (2 roosters, kept together, no hens, in the coop 24/7), got rid of the rooster that survived (one got run over), an they wanted to coop out of their way. $75, and all we had to do was move it.

FWIW, we've found lots of great things behind people's homes, things that look like they are no longer used and are in the way, and many times the homeowners will let us have it just to get it out of the way. We got a humongous Little Tykes playhouse, similar to this one http://www.littletikes.com/toys/secret-garden-playhouse.aspx, and a jungle gym like this http://www.littletikes.com/toys/little-tikes-playground.aspx (this is actually the exact one), FREE, just for hauling them out of the way.

 

Ok, here is my deal of the century. I bought this shed on CL for $125 and converted it to a coop. When you walk in the grain cans are on the right with shelves above. On the left is a wall that comes down to around three ft off the floor (which alllows for storage underneath the birds). There is a door that is big enough to clean the coop out and tend the birds when they are inside. Straight ahead from that door is the pop door that goes to the ramp and into the run we added on. I also put a 2x4 perch across an entire wall with poop boards underneath for catching their messes. The coop stays really clean!

I will have to get interior pics and add them. Here are the exterior shots





Looking inside:



Yup, they have a skylight!

 

Just be sure you can EASILY reach all areas of the floor for cleaning purposes!

 

Quote:Awesome! You lucky dog -- er, chick! I keep watching CL, hoping to find a deal.

 

Quote:Check as many times a day as possible--search for shed, building, storage, etc. It took me several months to find my awesome $100 deal (which turned out to be just 3 miles from my house and some of the local bubbas moved it for me!), so it was worth the wait and the searching!