New Zealand total newbie needs help with a coop

[colokiwi]

Kia Ora! Hello from New Zealand! I have recently acquired 3 chickens. Two laying Black Orpington's and 1 bantam mix pullet (I think that's what she is). We inherited the bantam pullet when she was a chick (with a cockerel that we have since passed on to a friend), but now with the two big Orpington's, our dog kennel converted into a chicken coop isn't big enough.

I am on the hunt for plans for an appropriate and easy coop for these three ladies. My husband has great building skills, but doesn't want to spend forever on this project. We have a bunch of pallets that we'd love to use if possible as the price of wood in NZ is outrageous right now. So is buying a pre-fab coop of any kind. Using the pallets is not a deal breaker though!

We have plenty of yard space so we could do a coop + run, or a coop over run design.

Our climate:
-Temperate oceanic
-Summer rarely above 30C (85F), Strong sun and lots of it
-Will drop below 0C (32F) only once or twice during the winter, at night
-Similar rainfall to somewhere like Portland, Oregon (2-4"/month)
-But occasionally very very heavy rain. Though or backyard drains very well because we live close to the beach
-No snow, ever
-No frost at our house
-Very few predators (no coyotes, raccoons, etc in NZ. Rats and possums possible, and also neighbourhood dogs and cats)

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

colokiwi

 

[Ursuline Chick]

Welcome from New Orleans. You can make a great coop out of pallets. Check the Articles on coop building. There is lots of great information there. Also lots of good stuff about how to repurpose stuff for your girls. Let us know how it goes and send pictures of your hens and coop if you are comfortable. You will also find good information on how much room you will need per hen. I, personally would build bigger than I needed. Often people end up with more chickens than they intended to keep.
We had 10 and a broody hen hid a nest, filled it with eggs and sat there. We thought we lost her. Then I heard peeps from under my house. Now I have 25 chickens, she hatched 15 chicks under the house.

 

[rjmyooper]

Welcome. Many have the same questions, so finding the answers is just a matter of looking around a bit. There's so much information and many friendly people here.
Enjoy and post pictures please.

 

[Alaskan]

I would highly recommend that you build an open air coop.

So basically an aviary, NOT a closed up box. In your climate you want ventilation, shade, predator protection, and lots of space.

You fo NOT need an closed up anything.

I really like the pictures of this open air coop (from etsy.com )

IIf you have occasional hurricane force winds, you can build it with shutters that close.



I built 2 coops and a tractor from trash, and all have worked well.

Just gather all trash and scrap you can find... lay it out on the lawn or parking area.... decide how it will fit together... then screw it together.

seriously... that is how I build.

Pallets are great... I also found busted up free metal roofing, a truck camper top, a wooden fuel tank frame... I found fencing that someone wanted gone ... so I removed it from their place and took it to mine....

 

[BYC Project Manager]

Welcome to BYC @colokiwi - for reference, here are 10 Stunning Low-Cost Pallet Coops built by some of our members. Plus you'll find lots more HERE.