Number of coops

[TCL]

I am new to chickens-this is my retirement hobby to do with my 4 y.o. granddaughter.
I will have a mixture of orpingtons, barred hollands, silkies and polish -but 12 total (wanted more docile breeds for my grandaughters sake).
I have 4 acres in the country but not much flat space that has available electricity.
My questions.
I can fit a 10 X 20 ft run with 2 smaller houses (? 2 nestera wagons placed inside the run) or a 10 X 13 ft run with a 8 x 6 ft wooden house attached to the outside of the run.
My plan is to have an auto door(s) to let chickens from coop to run at dawn and then I'll let them out to free range 6 hours hours /day.
I would appreciate any input.
I have 4 months to get everything together.

 

[NatJ]

Where do you live? (Which state in the USA, or which country if you are somewhere else in the world.)

Climate can make a big difference in what is the "best" way to house your chickens.

 

[Yardmom]

Personally I would go with one larger coop. An established flock will not want to separate at roosting time.

 

[TCL]

Where do you live? (Which state in the USA, or which country if you are somewhere else in the world.)

Climate can make a big difference in what is the "best" way to house your chickens.

Virginia,USA- generally 90 degree summer days (max),
20-30 lows in winter. Lots of shade on property.
All chickens will be same age within a few days hatching of each other

 

[RubelliteRose]

We have 2 coops attached to one run. We started with a smaller 4x6 coop and then added a larger walk-in 8x10 coop after chicken math hit. If I had to do it over, I would have just one large coop. One coop is easier to clean both daily and for whole coop cleaning (like when we had a mite outbreak). The large coop is the one I have to use to integrate new birds because there simply isn't enough room in the small coop. Also, we occasionally have as many as 12 birds try to cram themselves into the small coop overnight which can lead to overheating in the summer or frostbite in the winter. Fortunately, many of them know their names so I can tell them to get out and go to their own bed
FWIW, if it would make it easier to locate your coop and run farther away, we don't have electricity in our coops and have not missed it. We do not have an auto door, but they do make solar operated doors

 

[NatJ]

Virginia,USA- generally 90 degree summer days (max),
20-30 lows in winter. Lots of shade on property.
All chickens will be same age within a few days hatching of each other

I agree with the other posters who suggest one large coop.

Do make sure there is lots of ventilation for the summer time, and quite a bit even in the winter time. A common rule of thumb is to have one square foot of ventilation per chicken all year long, with more in hot weather. That adds up to several large windows always open (covered with hardware cloth to keep out predators), or a long strip across the top of several sides of the coop, or something of the sort.

For extra ventilation in the summer, you could consider something like a screen door. Cover it with hardware cloth to keep out predators, but then you can leave the normal door open all summer long, which gives your chickens a lot more air movement while still keeping them safe.

 

[TCL]

I agree with the other posters who suggest one large coop.

Do make sure there is lots of ventilation for the summer time, and quite a bit even in the winter time. A common rule of thumb is to have one square foot of ventilation per chicken all year long, with more in hot weather. That adds up to several large windows always open (covered with hardware cloth to keep out predators), or a long strip across the top of several sides of the coop, or something of the sort.

For extra ventilation in the summer, you could consider something like a screen door. Cover it with hardware cloth to keep out predators, but then you can leave the normal door open all summer long, which gives your chickens a lot more air movement while still keeping them safe.

Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[Ridgerunner]

HI, welcome to the forum! Glad you joined!

A 4-year-old granddaughter! Wow! Sounds like lots of fun!

I agree with the others, I'd go with one coop instead of two. Some people manage with two coops but it generally takes more work and they do not always behave the way you want them to.

Your dimensions are workable but are on the minimum. I find the more I crowd them the more behavioral problems I have, the harder I have to work, and the less flexibility I have to deal with issues that show up. That will probably work. I don't know what your limitations are but if you could see a way to expand either building size or run size I'd suggest considering it. Silkies and Polish are generally fairly small compared to the larger breeds so they will not be as crowded as the raw numbers imply.

What are your future plans? Do they include adding more chickens later, either buying them or hatching them? You do not have room to add more.

Are you getting baby chicks or started pullets? Do you want any males? Barred Holland and Orpington baby chicks can usually be ordered as sexed but that is by vent sexing. Vent sexing is around 90% accurate which means you have a chance of getting one or more roosters. Each hatchery is different of course, but Polish and Silkies baby chicks are often not sexed at all so you have a probability of getting males. Polish and Silkies are often harder to sex even after they get older. If you only want pullets started pullets are something to consider.

Some people on this forum seem to consider that every male will single out small children and try to blind them or beat them up, injuring them or ruining the chicken experience for them forever and that every female is a cuddling delight. I personally do not subscribe to any belief that absolute when it comes to living animals. I do believe the more males you have the more likely you are to have issues. In your situation I'd consider 0 boys a better number of boys than 1, and 1 a lot better than more.

While the girls are better than the boys from a risk factor, I do not believe them to be totally safe either. Occasionally a hen will attack a human, especially a young kid. Even if it is not an attack or aggression, a pullet or hen can peck people, either on the skin or the eyes. Dogs use their tongues to explore the world, chickens use their beaks. I do not want to discourage you from the adventure, I think it is great, but I encourage you to never leave a young child unsupervised with chickens.

 

[perkolator]

Another agreement, you only need one coop. It also doesn't need to have any power nearby, so you've got options with 4ac of space.

Auto doors such as the Run Chicken ones will allow you to setup the timing like you mentioned, having one open at sunrise to let them into the run, and a second setup with a delayed timing so they can range in the afternoon/evening; both close at dusk.

Most of my property is sloped, so I decided it was best to terrace my chicken setup on a less sloped section. My mild CA winters are similar temperatures to yours, but hotter summers, and my flock chooses to sleep in the attached run as if it's an open-air coop; they have an auto door to a 2nd large run for daily ranging. Thought about another auto door to allow them to free-range, but I only let them out under supervision due to daylight predators in my area.