new to BYC need walk in chicken DIY coop

[Wilene]

im new to BYC and my husband and I are wanting to build a chicken coop for 3-4 chickens but we dont know where to start or how. its been years since i have been around chickens the coop we had when i was youger living at home my dad build and it was a walk in shed type coop with individual nesting areas along each side of the wooden shed

would like somethign similar to this but not sure how to go about it.

Thank you

 

[DarkWolf]

Since you're wanting something "walk in" I'd recommend nothing less than a 6' by 6' building, which if your side walls are 6' it'd be rather cube like..

I can safely assume that you'd gone through the small coops section of the coop design section of the site. There's alot of good ideas there.

If you're not handy with tools and lumber, you might go with an approach like this person did where all you need are straight cuts of the 2x4 lumber.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=9745

Or this is a nice style of coop, however not "walk in" as far as the coop area. Since you'd have so few birds it might do well. At 4 birds, you only need a minimum of 16 square foot of coop space (not counting the 40 square foot of run).
https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=3300-FF-EMTs_Coop

My advice is to figure out exactly how large you want to build your coop first, then with that in mind it will be much easier to come up with a game plan and move forward... Which typically starts with a foundation, framing the floor joists and getting plywood laid down..

 

[patandchickens]

Actually a 4x8 building would be a lot simpler and somewhat cheaper to build than 6x6, since plywood and other sheet goods come in 4x8 sheets.

Although, if there is ANY possibility of your wanting more chickens in the future, it would be seriously worth building larger, like 8x8 or something, b/c it is cheaper (not to mention easier) to build larger in the first place than have to awkwardly add on or build a second structure later. It could always be used as a general storage shed. OTOH obviously 4x8 will be more inexpensive up front

I'd suggest just looking thru the coop design pages (link at top of BYC page) and see what sorts of things grab your eye. Most of the pages have pretty good details on how things are constructed. Alternatively, if you really want accurate measured itemized plans you can spend $20 or whatever on shed plans (from Home Depot or ebay or wherever); not much adaptation is required for chickens.

Good luck, have fun, welcome to BYC,

Pat

 

[Judy]

The cost of building, say, an 8X8 as compared to a 4X8 will be nowhere near twice as much, and you will have twice the space - just two more sheets of 4X8 siding, a few boards and the roofing. Room for expansion plus storage (the metal garbage can for feed is in my coop, for example.) You can hardly move around in less than 8X8. Some have gotten good buys on sheds on sale at Home Depot, etc.

Patandchickens has done a wonderful ventilation page -- link is conveniently just above -- be sure to read it and ensure you have plenty of ventilation in your design.

 

[DarkWolf]

That's why I suggested a 6x6 base. Granted, you don't NEED alot of space, but as far as being able to move around, that's the min I'd suggest. All you've got to do is buy a few 2x6x12's and chop them in half.. Poof.. Floor joists. For that matter, you CAN use 2x4's for the floor, wall and roof. Given it's a small building, the floor load would be minimalistic. Save some $$$ that way, too.

Walking around in a 4' area is cramped to say the least, but once you have boxes, roosts or anything else, you only have 2' of clearance to get around.

If 8x8 is doable, I'd highly recommend that just for simplicity of butting two sheets of ply together for the floor and whatnot. Saves on cuts fur sure, which saves on time.

Myself? I'd decided on an 8x10, but I've got 8 birds and really expect to be at 14 by the end of next year.

 

[Wilene]

ty for all your helpful tips will share them with my husband and well try to get started on this if the weather is nice its supposed to be raining and cold