New to Chickens - coop advice?

[weimr]

I own:
three dogs
one Cockatiel
a horse

I will soon own:
two RIR hens

Being in a family that consumes a large amount of diary, it seems to me that it would be beneficial to have chickens. We've decided we want just two to start out with (may expand later on, but for now, just two). I'm considering getting them from animal control, as there seems to be an excess of adult chickens in animal controls near me. I haven't called yet, so I don't know if they have any RIRs, but if they don't, I may just get myself two chicks from the Murray McMurray hatchery.

In any case, I have two sheds and a dog run for the chickens. The metal shed will not be for the chickens; it will be off-limits. However, the other shed, which is slightly older but much taller, may be converted into a semi-chicken coop. We'll still use it for storage, but we'll organize it so that the chickens aren't endangered and can safely nest in the shelves higher up on the walls. We'll provide nest boxes. I'm probably going to install a doggie door in the shed for them so they can come and go at will and have as little draft as possible, especially considering how cool it is right now. In the summer we'll probably just prop the door open for air flow.

I was considering using the dog pen as a chicken coop by using plywood and attaching the boards to the side of the run and creating a coop that way, but as compared to using the shed, this seems like a lot of work.

Any advice?

Thanks!

 

[NottinghamChicks]

Quote:
Welcome to BYC!!
You are proably better off converting your storage shed instead of using the dog run because predators could get under the chainlink by digging. Also if you leave a portion as an enclosed run raccoons and other animals will easily grab your hens and chicks and kill them. I learned the hard way and lost my favorite EE to a weasel while I was at a chicken swap and my husband was working in the yard!

Air flow is most important and you do need good ventillation both in summer and winter. Research this on this site so you do not end up with unhealthy conditions. What I mean is just a doggie door wont cut it you need windows for light and vents for circulation. My coop has vents where the roof meets the walls, two windows and a 16" x 21" door that is open except at night, year round. I do not get any condensation in the coop which means no frostbite, and in the summer it is never stuffy or stagnant.

Good luck and have fun

 

[weimr]

Welcome to BYC!!
You are proably better off converting your storage shed instead of using the dog run because predators could get under the chainlink by digging. Also if you leave a portion as an enclosed run raccoons and other animals will easily grab your hens and chicks and kill them. I learned the hard way and lost my favorite EE to a weasel while I was at a chicken swap and my husband was working in the yard!

Air flow is most important and you do need good ventillation both in summer and winter. Research this on this site so you do not end up with unhealthy conditions. What I mean is just a doggie door wont cut it you need windows for light and vents for circulation. My coop has vents where the roof meets the walls, two windows and a 16" x 21" door that is open except at night, year round. I do not get any condensation in the coop which means no frostbite, and in the summer it is never stuffy or stagnant.

Good luck and have fun

Thank you very much. I've been flipping through some of the threads in this category and got some really good ideas for the shed:
- The shed is off the ground; it's up on cinderblock-esque supports, so I want to install a drain for summertime power-washing inside.

- Ventilation won't be an issue - I can easily make vents at the top and sides of the coop to provide for airflow. Windows may be an issue - my mom isn't invested in putting a lot of money into this venture, but we'll see how that goes. How expensive are windows to install? I have several places in the shed that would look nice with windows!

- We have a big black Lab that patrols the yard at night; while he's a wimp, he keeps most of the wildlife out of the yard. Any wildlife that is brave enough to try to get into our fenced-in yard then faces my Weimaraner, who makes quick of getting them out of the yard. They're good with chickens, though, as we've boarded at a farm before where there were chickens and the dogs let the birds have wide berth, haha.

Thanks for your advice! That helps a lot!​

 

[patandchickens]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

the other shed, which is slightly older but much taller, may be converted into a semi-chicken coop. We'll still use it for storage, but we'll organize it so that the chickens aren't endangered and can safely nest in the shelves higher up on the walls. We'll provide nest boxes. I'm probably going to install a doggie door in the shed for them so they can come and go at will and have as little draft as possible, especially considering how cool it is right now. In the summer we'll probably just prop the door open for air flow.

COuple of things to consider:

1) chickens are phenomenally dusty, especially when going through molts (i.e. constantly until 18 wks or so, and then during their yearly molts, and note that not all chickens in your flock will necessarily molt at the same time). If you are going to have storage in the chicken building, seriously think about how you will deal with dust. Your main options are basically, 'just have it be super dusty', or store things under cover (cabinets, plastic-curtained shelves, tarp over large objects... tho remember dust will pile up on tarps or curtains), or build a mostly-solid divider between the chicken part of the shed and the storage part. I say 'semi-solid' because some times of year in some climates there is a lot of advantage to being able to open up a buncha ventilation between coop and rest of shed. Yes, even in the winter when it is cold, you need vents open; yes, more than just the popdoor.

2) you will almost certainly need to add considerable extra ventilation to your shed, as chickens produce a LOT more ammonia and water vapor than seems plausible

And humidity can lead to a number of problems including frostbite (if you live in a climate that gets down to freezing in winter).

3) I would suggest not encouraging the chickens to roost on existing shelves, rather, remove everything preexisting they could roost on and then install a proper roost so you can control where they sleep and where their overnight poo is deposited. There is a lot to be said, also, for designing things so you can have a droppings board under the roost, to clean every day or week or whatever suits your particular style.

Your overall plan seems completely reasonable though and you should be able to have a good setup that way.

I was considering using the dog pen as a chicken coop by using plywood and attaching the boards to the side of the run and creating a coop that way, but as compared to using the shed, this seems like a lot of work.

Yup, the shed is almost certainly better. However, is the dog pen moveable by any chance, so that you could relocate the fence panels over to the shed and use it as a secure run for the chickens? Even if your plan is to generally let them free-range, it is *awfully* useful to *also* have a run, for those times when you really want to confine them for a while without having to actually lock them indoors -- like, when training pullets to lay in the boxes as opposed to hiding eggs all over your property, or if a loose dog is hanging around bothering the chickens, or if one is injured or ill, or things like that. It's not like you *must* have a run if you free-range, but most people find it a lot more useful than they'd expected

Good luck, have fun,

Pat​

 

[weimr]

Quote:
Hi PatAndChickens!
We may move everything from the wooden storage shed to the metal storage shed.. that would be easiest, I think. We only use the wooden storage shed for the lawn mowers and bikes anyhow. Dustiness is not particularly an issue, but thank you for the warning!

Quote:
We're in Virginia, so yah, it gets REALLY cold down here sometimes!! Like I said in my previous post, I'll install vents in the top of the shed on all four sides, a drain in the bottom, and a few vents low on the walls as well.

Quote:
There are already "cubby" style shelves on the walls that I was thinking would be good for roosting; is that not advisable? They're large enough for a large hen, but wooden and sturdy and very well-made. They're about four feet up from the ground. Do roosting boxes need to be higher than that?

Quote:
The dog pen is mobile and I could move them over to the shed, but my yard is fenced-in and so the chickens would be contained to a sizable area (it's a pretty big yard). We only ever use the dog pen to contain the pups while we wash them in the summertime, so it can be devoted to the chickens when need-be.

Thanks so much!

 

[NottinghamChicks]

Hi weimr,
Windows new are pretty expensive, but there are many alternatives. Craiglslist is a good one for used windows, also the side of the road (free). Installing them may cost you a bit also. Perhaps you know someone who is handy, a family member, neighbor? Be sure to put wire over them so when they are open nothing can get in

Networking is the key so talk to lots of people. I knw that our local SPCA has lots of chickens for adoption so check that option out when you are ready. Be sure to get younger birds, 6mo to a year so they are in their prime. Lots of birds don't lay strong for vey long so start with the young ones.


Pat is very right about the dust, be sure the barrier between birds and storage is good! I am doing a solid wall with a door to collect eggs on my grain shed conversion.

Happy farming!

 

[weimr]

Quote:
I just glanced at my Household CL section - found a huge vinyl window for $45, never used. Done deal! I have a neighbor who we dogsit for occasionally that has a roofing company.. I bet he could install it for us! Yay!

Quote:
I may try to get some younger chickens from SPCA or AC, then order chicks to have chickens who can lay eggs when the others get too old to.. how long do chickens live for, anyhow?

thanks!

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Low vents won't hurt (much, as long as they're closed in wintertime) but they will not do much GOOD either, not compared to simply removing a large area of siding and replacing it with wire so you have a BIG open area to deal with summer heat. (Chickens do not cope with heat well). Then you can bolt a panel back on if you need to close that area of wall up for wintertime.

When you do vents at the tops of the walls, make them big. Really big. Rreally really. It is much better to have more ventilation than you need (you can always close some off) than to need more than you have. Check out my ventilation page (link in .sig below) for suggestions.

There are already "cubby" style shelves on the walls that I was thinking would be good for roosting; is that not advisable? They're large enough for a large hen, but wooden and sturdy and very well-made. They're about four feet up from the ground. Do roosting boxes need to be higher than that?

Well, the usual arrangement is to give chickens a ROOST to sleep on, and then NESTBOXES to lay eggs in. What you describe might be usable for nestboxes, depending on their dimensions; but you would then need to put the roost noticeably higher than that, because chickens strongly prefer to sleep at the highest point available and if you get them sleeping in their nestboxes they will also be pooing massively into the nestboxes and you'll have really filthy eggs.

While your building has *room* to have a roost 6' high or so, you may want to consider whether you actually desire to do this, as it can be hard on the legs of larger-breed chickens such as Orpingtons (sorry, I forget if you said which breeds you want) and because it makes it much harder to reach chickens on the roost. Being able to easily access them when they're roosting is extremely valuable b/c chickens are pretty inert at night so that is a real good time to catch them if you need to deworm, mite-dust, rearrange, check health, etc.

I mean, certainly there are lots of people who DO have head-height or higher roosts, it's not like you can't do it, just make sure you've thought about the pros and cons, as you may find you don't want to do it yourself.

If you want a lower roost (like maybe 4' off the ground), is it possible the cubby-style things could be moved lower? Or could they be closed in with cabinet fronts to use as storage?

Pat​

 

[NottinghamChicks]

A well taken care of chicken will outlive it's laying years. They can live to be ten or even older. They don't usually lay for more than three years but different breeds and bloodlines vary. This being said you need to know if you want to commit to feeding them or have them feed you when egg production is done

Congrats on the window!!! Install it on the south east side if possible, this gives them the most light for laying in the wintertime.

 

[Ridgerunner]

We are at somewhat the same latitude, although separated some. We just had (-)9 degrees Fahrenheit. That is 9 below zero. I have a coop that is pretty draft-resistant low down but has lots of ventilation at the top that always stays open, even at (-)9. Most of mine have single combs, similar to the Rhode Island Red, and mine did not have any problem, no frostbite or anything wrong. I agree that heat is more of an issue that cold, provided the coop is ventilated and drafts do not blow on them when roosting. My roosts are well below the vents, so any breeze or draft is well over their heads when roosting. I do not supply any heat.

I think all those links under Pat's posts should be required reading for anyone building a coop.

Water is your biggest risk. Humidity causes problems if your ventilation is not sufficient in your coop. If your coop or run get wet, they can stink. If they stay dry, you hardly notice any smell.

Don't underestimate the power of chickens and dust. They shed a lot of dander. They poop a bunch in the bedding, then love to scratch around in the bedding. When that poop dries, it becomes dust. It gets everywhere.

My 8' x 12' coop is an end of what was a 12' x 60' shed. I store a tiller, lawn mower, and a lot of other stuff in that shed, which has a dirt floor. During windy weather (mine don't like much wind), snowy weather, or the heat of summer, mine love hanging in that shed, scratching, pooping, and dust bathing. If I don't cover certain things, that dust makes it hard to start and maintain that equipment. They also love to perch and poop on that equipment. I don't know what that storage shed looks like, but you might want to consider either keeping them out or covering certain things.

Retrofitting a shed into a coop is great. You can get a fabulous coop that way. Some things I recommend you consider. You need a roost in there. That is all you absolutely have to have. They will normally roost on the highest spot available, normally. They are living animals and you can never predict for sure what they will do, but they do have strong tendencies. I suggest making the roosts noticably higher than anything else but as low as possible. They can hurt themselves jumping down, especially the larger breeds. They spread their wings to gentle the descent so it doesn't happen each and every time they jump down, but it can happen. Something else. The higher the roosts, the more clear room inside the coop they need to fly down. Larger chickens are not real graceful flyers. I have had pullets launch off a 4' high roost, fly forward about 6 feet, turn an 90 degree, fly out the door, and land in the run, so they can fly. But the higher they start and the bigger they are, the more room they need or they can run into walls, nest boxes, feeders, whatever.

Something else that is real good to have in a coop (most of us think it really is necessary) is a nest box. You want to encourage them to lay where you can find the eggs. The nest box can be on the floor or higher up. The chickens don't seem to mind so make it convenient to you. Some things to consider. The lower it is to the ground, the more likely they are to hang in it a bit just hanging around during the day or scratch stuff into it when they are spreading that dried poop around. If they are real low and you have a bad back, well you understand where I'm headed with that. But the more you raise them, the higher the roosts need to be. There is no right or wrong answer to this. We all do it differently. The normal recommendation is one nest box for every four hens, but I like a minimum of two. I've had occasions where an extra nest box comes in handy, say when a hen goes broody and hogs the nest box. I also had a hen that spend hours in the nest box and keep others out. She was not broody and she did not always lay when she did that. Just a bully I guess.

Some other things you might want in the coop are feeders and waterers. People feed inside the coop or outside. There are advantages and disadvantages both ways. I do both. I have two feeding and watering stations so the adults don't keep the young ones away from the feed and water.

One last thing. Chickens are social animals. They really don't do well by themselves. You mentioned you may start with two. I'd recommend a minimum of three. If you have living animals you will eventually have to deal with dead animals, whether pets or livestock. If you have three and something happens to one, they still have company.

That's probably enough for now. Welcome to the adventure.