New Member/ looking to start building a modest coop

[coje]

The family and I are excited! We want to construct a modest coop in the back yard for six Leghorns with the ability to add up to six more in the future. I am looking over a lot of DYI plans, but can't decide. Any advice for a newbie? Thanks in advance!

 

[Bridebeliever]

Have you looked around the Learning Center? This is the area of BYC that helped me A LOT when I was brand new at this!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/housing-and-feeding-your-chickens

My best advice is build BIGGER than you think you will need! Chickens are ridiculously addicting (we all lovingly use the term "chicken math" when referring to getting our chickens!) It's easy to not use all the space you have but impossible to stuff more chickens into a small space! As an example...we were going to get 6 chickens. We wound up getting 9 and now we are getting more which will bring us up to 15! Mainly we are a family of 6 that LOVES fresh eggs and I have one friend that wants eggs from us too!

Enjoy your new adventure! I know we have. We love it more than we ever thought possible!

 

[N F C]

I agree with the tip to build it bigger than you think you want. A couple other things...make it easy to clean and make it tall enough you can stand up in it. Also allow for lots of ventilation and make it as secure from predators as possible. If you have questions while you are doing your build, post on the Coop & Run forum. Also, looking over other member's coop builds (under the Coop tab) can give you lots of ideas.

Good luck, it's nice to have you here!

 

[Pork Pie]

Hi and welcome to BYC - I'm a fan of prefab sheds as coops, but as other greeters have said, theres so many designs on which to base yours in the Coop section.

All the best
CT

 

[BantamFan4Life]

Welcome to BYC! I'm glad you joined us!

 

[drumstick diva]