Brand new to chickens. I'm raising 6 meat birds, and think that even though they'll be dinner in 4 more weeks, they may as well have the best chicken life I can allow them to have. Today they got a new pen and coop. Well, coop may be stretching it, but I already have plans for mods for when I do this again! In the meantime I'm breaking apart my pallets and planning for the layers.
My husband over-engineered a dog house that the dogs NEVER used. This is almost perfect and 6 birds will fit fine. There's even a little roost in there for the chickies. I propped the roof open with a 2x4 for ventilation. Hopefully no raccoons will visit. The chickens have been overnighting up to tonight in a pen in the shed with the doors shut. I have a feeling tonight will be restless.
Kittie in NC
Your meat chickies won't be around long to worry about amenities for them. Just keep them out of reach of crows or predators as my friend lost 2 Cornish Crosses to crows killing the juvies right through the wire. Those chickies are so listless that they don't move fast enough to get out of harm's way. My friend won't raise them again. She says her 6-month EE cockerels dress out just as big as the Cornish X and have more taste. She says the Cornish X are bland and have to be marinated 24 hrs before cooked otherwise a bit flavorless. And the poor chickies grow so abnormally fast their skeletal frame and internal organs can't keep up with their fast muscle growth and will limp or crawl and sometimes can't move 10 feet to a waterer and dehydrate. Really sad.
Prop the coop on skids or legs off the ground. Rain will soak in and rodents will chew their way in if left on the dirt. Lift it high enough that free-ranging hens can sit or hide under it.
Love the repurposed doghouse. We recycled one as an outdoor shelter for our ranging hens along with low-lean-to shelters, popup canopy, rosebushes, plants, for them to snooze/hide under from aerial predators. I can't believe how expensive doghouse are - love the one you have!
