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That's one of the great things about the BYC forum. It's a really awesome community with so many helpful members. Glad you're going to participate regularly and looking forward to getting to know you!
How many hens are you thinking of getting? The number of birds you have will determine how big of a space you need and will probably impact the kinds of heating options there are available to you. It is recommended that you have about 4 square feet of floorspace per bird inside the coop and about 10 feet of space for each bird outside the coop in the enclosed run. Giving the birds enough space will keep them from feeling too crowded and will reduce nervous habits like picking at one another. (If you're thinking of raising bantam-sized (smaller) chickens, you can probably go with 3 square feet inside and 7 square feet outside per bird...)
Keep in mind that as you get into raising chickens, you may want to add new birds to your flock and increase your numbers. I have heard a lot of complaints from new chicken owners on BYC that they wish they had built their coop "roomier." I haven't heard any complaints that their coop was too big.
Other things you should consider are if you're going to want to stand up in the coop (do you need enough headspace for humans), how you're going to clean the coop, and how you're going to collect the eggs (there are some ingenious methods you'll see in the coop design pages showing access to the nestboxes from outside the coop -- very smart!).
I know you're probably on information overload right now, but don't worry too much. Raising chickens is actually quite easy and is a very rewarding and fun experience.
Just keep reading and posting here, and the BYCers will help you out.
See you around soon!
That's one of the great things about the BYC forum. It's a really awesome community with so many helpful members. Glad you're going to participate regularly and looking forward to getting to know you!
How many hens are you thinking of getting? The number of birds you have will determine how big of a space you need and will probably impact the kinds of heating options there are available to you. It is recommended that you have about 4 square feet of floorspace per bird inside the coop and about 10 feet of space for each bird outside the coop in the enclosed run. Giving the birds enough space will keep them from feeling too crowded and will reduce nervous habits like picking at one another. (If you're thinking of raising bantam-sized (smaller) chickens, you can probably go with 3 square feet inside and 7 square feet outside per bird...)
Keep in mind that as you get into raising chickens, you may want to add new birds to your flock and increase your numbers. I have heard a lot of complaints from new chicken owners on BYC that they wish they had built their coop "roomier." I haven't heard any complaints that their coop was too big.
Other things you should consider are if you're going to want to stand up in the coop (do you need enough headspace for humans), how you're going to clean the coop, and how you're going to collect the eggs (there are some ingenious methods you'll see in the coop design pages showing access to the nestboxes from outside the coop -- very smart!).
I know you're probably on information overload right now, but don't worry too much. Raising chickens is actually quite easy and is a very rewarding and fun experience.
See you around soon!
