New member

[holup]

Hi everyone! I just joined BYC. We dont have chickens yet but we will come May 15th! We're very excited! Weve never had chickens before and are on the process of planning our coop. Any good suggestions on coop plans?

 

[Kiki]

Welcome to BYC and congrats!

How many chickens do you plan on keeping?
What is your weather like? Very cold winters?
How much money do you want to spend?

(answers to these will help you/others on giving you advice

)

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Welcome to BYC!
There are so many options when it comes to coop design - the primary factors to consider are proper ventilation, security and adequate, appropriately designed space allowance for the birds being house.....from there it's a matter of picking the one that you like. Do you know how many birds you want to have? Are you planning to keep them confined to a coop/run setup at all times or will they be free ranging for part or all of each day? Do you have any breeds in mind yet - or know if you want to keep bantams, large fowl, layers or meat birds?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

This is one good place to start looking at various coops folks have used that you might like https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/2/Coops -- it can be helpful to look at several and find the pieces of each that appeal to you, then you can meld those pieces together for your final design.

 

[redsoxs]

Greeting from Kansas, holup, and

! Happy you joined our flock! A great place to begin your poultry education is the Learning Center here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center It has a multitude of great articles and will put you on the fast track to maintaining a happy and healthy flock.
And should you want to chat with some local poultry folks, find your state thread here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/270925/find-your-states-thread
Best wishes and thanks for joining BYC!

 

[holup]

Thank you for the great welcone everyone! We are starting with 8 hens: Buff Orpingtons, Easter Eggers, and Wyandottes. We are in southern MI. There can be some very hot summer days and the winters can be quite cold, you never know what the weather is going to be in MI!. We will have a 20' x 20' run and were planning a 4'' x 8' coop. Im just worried we are going to love having chickens so much that we will want more so im not sure about the coop size!

 

[N F C]

You've already been given some good information so I'll just say hello and thanks for joining us!

 

[reneec1301]

Hi . I'm new to the forum

 

[micah wotring]

Welcome to BYC! (Both of ya) This is THE place to be for anything and everything poultry related...
I'm a HUGE fan of Opringtons. Can't go wrong there!
Whether you're looking for help, info, insight, poultry breeders, ideas, or just friends, you've come to the right place!

Anyway, great to have ya here!

Make it a great day!

~MW

 

[Sharwig]

Hi from Idaho! I'm pretty new here myself and still learning.

Congratulations on your new chickens! Everything I've read about coop size says to allow 3-4 sq ft per chicken if they are going to be allowed to free range/forage outside. They will need substantially more room if they are going to be confined to the coop. When it comes to the nests, we currently have 8 birds and four nests, but find that only two of the nests get used...sometimes I'll find an egg in a third next, but not often.

Good luck on your coop. Post pictures when its all said and done!