post your chicken coop pictures here!

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Yep.... general consensus is four square feet per chicken. So a four foot by four foot space would generate sixteen square feet. or four birds. and add to that ten square feet per bird for the run... give or take... So a run that is ten feet long by four feet wide would be enough for four birds.

It also depends on how many eggs you want on how many chickens. I had four in my city coop set up... and they each gave me about four to six eggs per week.... Thats sixteen to eighteen eggs per week. With one adult and one child in the family.... I was giving them away.

Oh and consider the run as part of the setup as being an exetension of your safe zone for the chickens. Letting them forage in the yard is fine for days when you are there to supervise and protect them. But the run serves as a safe place for exercise and dust bath for those days when everyone is gone or hours for when you are away.

deb

 

[perchie.girl]

I might add coops vary in size and construction according to:

weather

predator load

accessiblity

Square footage can also be dependant on how active your chickens are. Too cramped and you get behavioral issues.... And size of bird. for instance Bantams you might get six in that four foot by four foot coop.

Hope this helps

deb

 

[jimbob86]

I might add coops vary in size and construction according to:

weather

predator load

accessiblity

Square footage can also be dependant on how active your chickens are. Too cramped and you get behavioral issues.... And size of bird. for instance Bantams you might get six in that four foot by four foot coop.

Hope this helps

deb

Breed of bird could also be a factor.... some breeds take close quarters better than others.

 

[TJordan]

I love my black Australorps... They are great duel purpose birds. Lay large brown eggs and are great mamas if you want chicks. They are large birds but if socialized early will sit in your lap and sleep on sunny days in that backyard swing.

 

[bruceha2000]

Wow, that picture is awesome. Look at all that snow. I live in south Florida and it just hit 50 degrees last night. I freaked out and was about to hang a heater for my birds lol Looking at this pic I think mine are just fine.

Yep. People have to remember THEY are not chickens and chickens are NOT people. My suggestion (only minimally tongue in cheek) is that people should put on the warmest winter clothing they have then go spend the day in the heated mall. No fair taking off your hat, gloves, not even unzipping your coat. You are going to be darned uncomfortable. Obviously the analogy isn't great since the chickens have "adjustable" down coats or they would drop dead in the summer from even reasonable temperatures. But they can "change" from their 70F coat to their -20F coat any time they want just by fluffing up and trapping air in their "coats".

I took some pictures today, it is 37F and WINDY so the girls are staying in the barn.



As you can see, the chickens are fine in the barn, the door was "chicken wide" open and the old barn is anything but airtight. Chickens hanging out, didn't have their warm coats on, not even the little Cubalayas. They all puff up when it gets cold.

Lol to cool. The snow looks awesome. I live in buras Louisiana. I freaked out the first winter to lol but its pretty much 50s and a few day's at 40 here to. They love the cold.

And all your coops are so cool. Mine is plain and open. I have more concern about the heat in the summer. They free range all day. Just ordered new bird's had a coon take out my flock last spring and only have 2 of them left.

Coon got through chicken wire perhaps? Sorry for your loss.

Lots of them, but I kind of need to narrow it down a bit..... how many chickens?

OR, How small IS the yard? And do you have zoning restrictions? You should check that first. At our prior house, the zoning said the coop AND run have to be 20' from the lot lines unless the neighbors agree otherwise. In that yard, the coop and run would have been 4' wide and ZERO feet deep without neighbor agreement.

 

[danverhen14]

This the coop I made out of an old desk. I got the dest at the dump for $10 an the materials were $10

 

[lynnehd]

This the coop I made out of an old desk. I got the dest at the dump for $10 an the materials were $10

It's cute. Do they have an actual roost? Do they free range during the day?

 

[danverhen14]

It's cute. Do they have an actual roost? Do they free range during the day?

Yes the bar the drawer would slid on has wood on it so they use that. And the part that you would put like a chair in doesn't have a bottom so they use that space to free range. I only use it for my old English rooster so it is perfect for him

 

[lynnehd]

Yes the bar the drawer would slid on has wood on it so they use that. And the part that you would put like a chair in doesn't have a bottom so they use that space to free range. I only use it for my old English rooster so it is perfect for him

I see. But is he actually contained in that coop? He doesn't get into a larger area?

 

[danverhen14]

No he free ranges in the larder run that this coop sits in in the day time. But gets locked up in here a night and when it's raining