Need Ideas For Small Coop Please.....

[adpostel]

I am looking for ideas for a small backyard coop that will house no more than 3-4 hens. I am looking for something that isn't too expensive, but that I can at least paint and make look nice. I live in the suburbs, and want to make it look like they are our pets more than they are "livestock". I don't want to raise any eye brows, if you know what I mean. And by inexpensive, I dont mean 5 or 10 bucks, but you know, something under 125 bucksish. I have paint, and wood, and a bunch of extra fence pickets, and all the tools if I have to build one, but I would really rather convert something, or buy a pre-built one that I could just paint. Please give us some ideas. We have one RI Red that is laying already and I need to give the girl some room, we let her roam around the yard everyday, but her cage is rather small and we need some Ideas. I would even take ideas for a temporary place, while I built, but I need some Ideas quickly. Thanks, and as you can tell, we're complete newbs.......

Thanks a bunch....

 

[Poulets De Cajun]

A Rabbit hutch, or wooden dog house with an attached run made out of garden fence works nicely.

 

[redhen]

H! and Welcome!!!

check out the coop page on here...also..you can get cheap wood dog houses on craigslist all the time....those make excellent coops for just a few hens.

 

[redhen]

LOL..we posted at the same time Chris!

 

[adpostel]

My only concern with a dog house, which I was quite fond of, was that it didn't have the removeable tray for easy cleaning, how would you guys suggest I get over that issue. And second, the roost and nesting box that I keep reading about. I just need to know what all to get to actually convert the dog house to a hen house....any help is greatly appreciated.....thanks for the quick responses....

 

[redhen]

well..you need to have a roost in there anyways....and then you can build a dropping tray right under the roost to catch most of the poop....but...for the floor of the coop/dog house you'll want shavings...heres a pic of mine....you can see the roosts and dropping trays under the roots and the shavings on the coop floor.

 

[chickiebaby]

Doghouse works great: take one side off and reattach it with hinges, so you can clean the whole thing out easily. Then cover the doggie opening with another small hinged door that leads into a run - et voila! Worked for us, when nicely painted -- and totally free -- for quite a while. We built after about a year when we knew what we wanted, pretty much.

I'd say don't buy anything up front if you can help it,. You can always buy later when you know more - both about chickens, and about your own tastes and habits in regard to chickens. .

 

[adpostel]

I'm diggin' the ideas. So do the chickens only poop when they are on the roost? Or do they poop when they are walking around on the shavings as well? How often will we have to clean out the shavings? We have to clean her small cage out about twice a week right now, but maybe because she doesn't have anywhere else to go? At least it is a cage with a pull out tray, so she isn't sitting in it.....We're excited.

 

[tn chick]

first off

mine poop where they want wish you could potty train them.

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Quote:
This is exactly how I felt when we got permission to have chickens. Please check out my BYC page for pics of our coop.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=2593