Newbie needs help!

[Qi Chicken]

Hi everyone! We had a mini-tornado last year that took down a few outbuildings and since we have been wanting chickens for a long time we are taking this opportunity (courtesy of state farm!) to build a new multi-purpose building.

We are in Iowa and are hoping to raise some heritage breeds. We live in the country but are essentially city-slickers and have not raised any farm animals before. Our builder is wanting to get started and I am overwhelmed by the requirements. I know 4 ft. per chicken and concrete hurts their feet. We would like to build a barn like building that we can partition off a 5X10 (?) area with a ??X?? secure run. We want to have enough chickens to sell some eggs I was thinking about 20 but I don't think we have enough money for that big of a buiding.

I would like to let them free range completely but other posts have terrified me, we have a dog, coons, foxes and groundhogs. Don't know if a groundhog would hurt a chicken or not!

I would like to be able to access the eggs without allowing the chickens a chance of escape, and I can't really come up with any configuration that would allow this.

In short, what I would love to have is a list of chicken must haves and probably more importantly a list of chicken must NOT haves.

And not to sound like a complete novice, but is a roost something they should be able to sit on and get comfortable or do they just want to get up high?

I have been dreaming of having my own chickens forever and now that we are getting closer I would SO appreciate your help. Sorry this is so long. Once I know enough, I'll know what to ask!

Anne mom to Ella and Jack and hopefully Ella's eggs

 

[cmom]

I had 20 birds in this coop. It's 8x8. I realize the 4 sq ft per bird but most of the time they're not in their coop except to roost at night and to lay their eggs. I have 6 nest boxes.

 

[cybercat]

I will answer last question first a roost is the perch that they sleep on in the coop. For a heavy heritage breed like mine they should not be too high unless they have a ladder of some sort. If you go to my blog I show pics of the inside of my coop. If you read the blog from the start it follows my chickens journey from day one.

Now a great place for coop study is right here on BYC in the COOP DESIGN area. Look all the way up to the top of this page to where the ad is right above the ad you will see underlined words one is coop design between breeds and BYC store. Also read in this section and do searches here in this section for everthing you have a question about for it has been answered many times. How to do that is when you hit search make sure to put it into TOPIC ONLY. That will help alot trust me. Search button is in the blue bar area up above below ad.

For 20 chickens you will need bigger than a 5 x 10 coop. Think more of 10 x 10 you get some cold winters there you will need the space when they are locked up for it. Remember you will be collecting eggs in winter also so think on that too. But then again you do not need to build a coop just use a stall and have a door open to the run. Have a dirt floor use deep litter method. Just make sure it is closed off from interiour of the rest of the building have your door acces from inside the building. If you do this like an enclosed horse stall you can have the run attached to the outside wall and just have a poop door for the chickens to use. You can have the egg box next to the door you use to enter the coop from the insde of the building.

Do not worry so much of the chickens excaping. I too was worried but they tend to back off from the door opening to give you room to get in without them getting out. Hope that helps some.

 

[newchicksnducks]

Great idea for planning ahead. If you have to rebuild anyways, why not include an area for some chickens!While I'm still a newbie too, personal experience and info gleaned from other great BYCers might help you in your design choices.

5x10 will probably not be enough for 20 chickens when they are full grown. While big commercial places may have 2 sq ft per bird, most agree that 4 sq ft is the minimum that you will want to go. This helps keep the chickens healthier and happier, and the coop easier to maintain (which will make you happier!). Out side run should be min 10 sf/bird. Do you NEED a run? No. But a somewhat secure place to leave your chickens outside while you are gone is great. I will never leave the chickens in the run overnight...we lost 2 ducks our first month of chicken/duck raising when we left the ducks in the run overnight. Weasels can get through 2x3 fencing!

Inside your coop area, a roost will be the place your chickens sleep. Since you also live in a colder winter climate, I would suggest a 2x4 placed 4"side flat. The chickens will roost on this and use the larger area to keep their toes warm under them in winter. Under the roost area I would suggest the use of a droppings board. Use a search for this...there are many great designs. This really helps in cleaning. Also search for deep litter method...working great for me.

I would also suggest reading a couple of the chicken raising books available. Many questions will be answered there, and then peruse the many sites on BYC, especially coop design and the frequently asked questions section.

Good luck on your new adventure!

 

[Qi Chicken]

Thanks so much for all your help. We've been out of town and are just now getting back into the swing of things. A few questions based on your answers. We were thinking of getting dorking chickens. (With a couple of easter eggers and lacey wyandottes)

How high is too high for a roost?

In the first pictures it looks like you have a smaller enclosure that has a roof and then an additional fenced in area. Does this setup work well for you?

I was thinking that the nest boxes could have a thick plastic floor that could be removed for cleaning.

It looks like in the nest boxes there are circular holes or lights in the boxes. How much light does the coop need. Do they like light in the boxes?

The search engine tip was very helpful. Thanks so much.

Anne

 

[patandchickens]

Hi, welcome to BYC

I know it seems like chickens should try to escape when you collect eggs or go to enter the coop, but IME they really don't. I mean obviously you don't leave a door hanging open and then wander off, but it is not like being greeted at the door by someone's dogs <g>

I would suggest building your coop as large as possible, both in an absolute sense and in a space-per-chicken sense. Unless you can provide a large very *sheltered*, winter-protected run, they may be spending a looooot of time indoors during wintertime, and the more space you have, the easier management is and the less your chances of having a cannibalism problem get started. Mine have 15 sq ft per hen indoors (plus run) and I do not see me ever going less than about 10 -- this is from having *kept* them with less space and *seen* the difference in their behavior, even though I never actually had any problems at the more crowded stocking density. Even if you do not want to give them that much room, at least give them all you absolutely can.

To me, you don't want the roost higher than you can conveniently reach, because there are a lot of things most easily done by taking chickens off the roost at night (when they are sleepy and can't see in the dark and generally just sit there and let you do whatever you need to do, instead of a daytime rodeo). So for me, 4-5' would be the highest I'd go. However, purely from the chicken perspective, light breeds can roost considerably higher with perfect ease, as long as they have enough horizontal room to fly down in the morning. Heavy breeds can get leg/foot problems from plummeting down from too high a roost; for something really big, 3-4' would be about the highest roost to be conservative.

You don't really need a removeable nestbox floor, because they will be filled with bedding that you remove (just dump on coop floor to add to regular bedding) and replace with clean stuff when it gets at all soiled. The bedding intercepts all the poo, so, no real reason to need a special bottom mat

Hens like dim-ish nestboxes, but unless you are crowding them to the point where stress is causing picking/cannibalism, the coop is best off being pretty well windowed for light. The more natural daylight you get, the longer the day is from the hen's perspective, and the better they will lay in the shorter-day parts of the year. (Some people add a lightbulb on a timer during the shortest day parts of the year, to promote continued egg production in breeds/ages that would otherwise slack off or take a break til days lengthen. Others of us let them take that natural 'rest'.)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat