- Apr 5, 2012
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Good Afternoon Everyone!
I have two newbie questions, maybe some of you more veteran BYC owners can answer! I'll start with a small bit about us:
I just built our first coop. Floor dimensions are 8' x 8' on the inside with 8' tall walls. We built them a roost, with a poop catching litter box underneath. (Lucky for me, the 14 year old loves the responsibility of scooping each day!) The roost spans 8' long. and is elevated maybe 5' off the ground with a small ladder going up to it.
We currently have 5 Buff Orphingtons (Apx 4mo old), 3 Black Australorp and 3 Silver Laced Wyandotes (Apx 2mo old). (Once again lucky for us, the new babies have intermixed into the other girls very nicely)
For all intensive purposes, I have 11 Chickens and 64 sq. ft. That's 5.81sq. ft per bird in the coop.
Right now 4-6 days a week they free range in my large back yard. (At least 50' x 50'). The other 2-3 days they are in a temporary pen outside the coop which is very small (Only 10-15sq. ft). We are looking for a more permanent run option for them. I would still like to allow them to free-range, but once school starts up in the fall
QUESTION 1: What do you think of a 10' x 10' x 6' kennel with a sunshade roof on it for a run? There is very minimal risk of any daytime predator activity thanks to my dogs who patrol outside. This would give them a total of 164 sq. ft, or 14.90sq. ft per bird.
The coop that I built is 8' high on one side, 7' high on the other, so it leaves a natural angle up top that I did NOT cover with siding. It's like a perfect vent on the sides.
QUESTION 2: Do you think that having that in the winter time will render the coop too cold? I thought I had read somewhere that as long as the chickens didn't get a direct draft, they should be ok...
I have two newbie questions, maybe some of you more veteran BYC owners can answer! I'll start with a small bit about us:
I just built our first coop. Floor dimensions are 8' x 8' on the inside with 8' tall walls. We built them a roost, with a poop catching litter box underneath. (Lucky for me, the 14 year old loves the responsibility of scooping each day!) The roost spans 8' long. and is elevated maybe 5' off the ground with a small ladder going up to it.
We currently have 5 Buff Orphingtons (Apx 4mo old), 3 Black Australorp and 3 Silver Laced Wyandotes (Apx 2mo old). (Once again lucky for us, the new babies have intermixed into the other girls very nicely)
For all intensive purposes, I have 11 Chickens and 64 sq. ft. That's 5.81sq. ft per bird in the coop.
Right now 4-6 days a week they free range in my large back yard. (At least 50' x 50'). The other 2-3 days they are in a temporary pen outside the coop which is very small (Only 10-15sq. ft). We are looking for a more permanent run option for them. I would still like to allow them to free-range, but once school starts up in the fall
QUESTION 1: What do you think of a 10' x 10' x 6' kennel with a sunshade roof on it for a run? There is very minimal risk of any daytime predator activity thanks to my dogs who patrol outside. This would give them a total of 164 sq. ft, or 14.90sq. ft per bird.
The coop that I built is 8' high on one side, 7' high on the other, so it leaves a natural angle up top that I did NOT cover with siding. It's like a perfect vent on the sides.
QUESTION 2: Do you think that having that in the winter time will render the coop too cold? I thought I had read somewhere that as long as the chickens didn't get a direct draft, they should be ok...
