Roosters shearing off their own tail feathers.

[August83]

The current "run" needs a lot of love. It was a pole barn style carport to begin with but, the roof had mostly rotted off by the time I moved in. (The roof was poorly done, flat plywood with no covering over it.) The framing is still strong and can be made stronger with new supporting beams between the 4x4s. It can be divided into 4 sections with the current framing. The task is a bit overwhelming, however which is why I'm looking at a large, sturdy prefab coop.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Well. Let's look at this. I will give you my opinion.
The coop and attached run is beautiful.
The "coop" portion (hen house) is 4'X6' which is 24sq foot of inside space. Ideally and personally, I would want 4sq ft per bird of inside space. You can probably get by with that space for 7 birds as long as you don't have 2 roosters in there. Large fowl take up room, so more is better.
You don't mention your location (state), so I don't know your climate. If you have cold winters, the birds will spend time inside, sometimes only coming out for short periods of time, even with a covered run. Being cramped, they will start to pick on each other.

You may want to consider getting a prebuilt outdoor building and converting it to a coop, that allows you to somewhat customize it to suit your needs. Windows and ventilation can be added. I don't know how much difference in cost it would be. I do understand things are expensive, but research everything you can, you may find that a building is about the same price and come out better in the long run.

Just my thoughts.

 

[August83]

I thank you for your input! This is not a small investment and I want to make sure that if I'm spending this kind of money on something, I'm going to get the value and space I need from it. I live in South East Tennessee. Our winters are on the milder side of things with days dropping below freezing not being many. Nights have been as cold as 12 F in the 8 years I've lived here but, have never gone below that in that time. It's still cold as far as I'm concerned. So, I'd like to have something that they can all live in happily.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

I thank you for your input! This is not a small investment and I want to make sure that if I'm spending this kind of money on something, I'm going to get the value and space I need from it. I live in South East Tennessee. Our winters are on the milder side of things with days dropping below freezing not being many. Nights have been as cold as 12 F in the 8 years I've lived here but, have never gone below that in that time. It's still cold as far as I'm concerned. So, I'd like to have something that they can all live in happily.

Yes, it is a lot of $$ so you need to look at all your options.
I'm no coop expert, I just know what has worked for me.

You may also want to pose your question on the Coops forum, there are a lot of creative people there that may to help you come up with just the right solution for your situation.

With your temps, likely you chickens with spend some time in the coop. If you have wind protection for the run and there are places they can go outside that has shelter, they will venture out too. Mine will hang out in a sunny spot with protection even in daytime temps of 9F, but they still go in the coop on really windy days. Having enough room inside so they don't squabble is something that I need.