ejcrist
Songster
Lots of good suggestions from everyone - I don't have much to add other than suggest you have a minimum 1' overhang all the way around. If you have the overhang you'll minimize blowing rain/sleet/snow from getting into the coop. That's one thing I wish I did on my first coop but made sure I did on subsequent buildings.
Also just one more thing that I'm sure you thought of already but is important to mention. I highly, highly recommend building it for at least 2-3 times the number of birds you're planning to get. I'm not trying to be funny or anything but totally serious. When your birds slow or stop laying in a couple 3-4 years, even if you don't plan on having them for supper, you'll more than likely want to get new chicks so you can at least get some eggs. If you have plenty of room, integration won't be a big deal, and long before the new birds wear out the old ones will likely be gone and you can keep the cycle going. Just something to think about.
And besides that, they are extremely addicting, even more so than crack. I initially planned a flock of 20 but built a coop and run to comfortably house around 40. I ordered 25 figuring I'd lose a few along the way, but low and behold I didn't....ok, so we're still good. Well, now I'm up to 101 and breeding some for show - my SOP birds anyway. I did do a practice hatch last December from the layers and all hatched just fine - no losses, so that's how come I'm up to 101 now. Right after I built that first coop I built a second larger multi-coop and runs. And now I'm working on breeding pens and still yet another coop. I'm not an isolated case either. So I just wanted to pass that along because the odds of you wanting more than four are very high in my opinion, especially if you want them for pets - trust me.
Also just one more thing that I'm sure you thought of already but is important to mention. I highly, highly recommend building it for at least 2-3 times the number of birds you're planning to get. I'm not trying to be funny or anything but totally serious. When your birds slow or stop laying in a couple 3-4 years, even if you don't plan on having them for supper, you'll more than likely want to get new chicks so you can at least get some eggs. If you have plenty of room, integration won't be a big deal, and long before the new birds wear out the old ones will likely be gone and you can keep the cycle going. Just something to think about.
And besides that, they are extremely addicting, even more so than crack. I initially planned a flock of 20 but built a coop and run to comfortably house around 40. I ordered 25 figuring I'd lose a few along the way, but low and behold I didn't....ok, so we're still good. Well, now I'm up to 101 and breeding some for show - my SOP birds anyway. I did do a practice hatch last December from the layers and all hatched just fine - no losses, so that's how come I'm up to 101 now. Right after I built that first coop I built a second larger multi-coop and runs. And now I'm working on breeding pens and still yet another coop. I'm not an isolated case either. So I just wanted to pass that along because the odds of you wanting more than four are very high in my opinion, especially if you want them for pets - trust me.
