Seeking design advice

[Farmgirl1878]

I heartily agree with @rosemarythyme, leave the current coops where they are and build out the current run into your new coop. You’ll be amazed how nice it is to be able to stand up in the coop! I’d make the new run as large as you possibly can - cover most and leave some open, maybe under the tree (covered with fencing or hardware cloth of course). If you can, at least double the size of the run you have now. And please post lots of pics!

 

[Farmgirl1878]

Oh yeah, forgot to add that my flockers all snuggled up together for the first eight months or so, then started to appreciate a little space at night. Now they all sleep separately unless it’s bitterly cold. All totaled, they have twenty-four feet of roost area (including the edge of the poop deck where three of them prefer to sleep) for thirteen birds.

 

[Alaskan]

Oh yeah, forgot to add that my flockers all snuggled up together for the first eight months or so, then started to appreciate a little space at night. Now they all sleep separately unless it’s bitterly cold. All totaled, they have twenty-four feet of roost area (including the edge of the poop deck where three of them prefer to sleep) for thirteen birds.

Good point... how their roosting habits change with age.

 

[ValerieJ]

This is a story of flock of seven hens living happily and comfortably in their appropriately sized coop and run, and then their owner (me) got greedy and went and acquired new chicks without a plan to house them as they got bigger.

Well, it's not really a story, more of a dilemma. I'll try to post some pics to show my set-up, but it's basically a 3.5' x 4' coop with six nesting boxes, attached to a 8' x 12' covered run. I employ the deep litter method in the run. I close the coop door at night, but otherwise they're in the run most of the day. I do try to give them a little free-range time when I can supervise - on average this comes out to about 30 minutes a day. For the past year, the seven hens have thrived.

So stupid me went out and got two new groups of chickens: 4 eight-week old Swedish Flower Hens and 6 six-week old mixed chicks. The ten young ones are growing quickly and will soon need to be moved from their temporary digs, something which I've not yet planned for. Clearly, my current coop/run can't accommodate 17 chickens.

I have plenty of space, and the first thing I'm considering is fencing a larger area to include the current coop and run - sort of a larger outer run - uncovered but would include some trees which could provide shade and some protection from above. I have a small pre-fab coop and I can get a second (so that's a total of three separate coops) and if I put these in the larger outer run, I could potentially house all 17 in this sort of chicken village. My question is, if 17 hens coexist in this outer area during the day, is it realistic to expect them to all retire to their respective coops every night, or will they all try to squeeze in/fight over the one primary coop?

Option two would be to try to add-on to the existing coop and extend the run so that they could accommodate all 17. Option three would be to build a second covered coop/run in a different part of the property.

Would love any feedback on the three options.

 

[ValerieJ]

I have heard you need 4-5 SF per chicken in your coop and at least 10 SF per chicken in the run. We started with a coop and run for 6 chickens; our coop would easily accommodate 8 chickens, so I was going to add a couple more. One of my original chickens turned out to be a rooster and as chicken luck goes I ended up with a few more chickens that I didn't go out and buy. LOL So we built a second coop. A couple years later we decided the girls were slowing down and we needed to add a few but I didn't want them to be over crowded. I had space for 12 chickens exactly, and I would end up with that many, but realized I would be adding every year, so we built a 3rd coop. You might have figured out by now that we quickly became a no kill chicken farm and this summer we will be building one or two new coops. I find my girls love having all the coops and I'm liable to find their eggs in any one of them. With this set up I divided up the run into 3 sections. I have about 4400 SF run (located in my small orchard and berry patch) and use the trees for cover. When I get new chickens it's easy to integrate them because they can have a run of their own while acclimating to the flock. All this to say I think it's fine to add as you go along. In 4 years of chicken love, I have only lost one to a predator. She liked to fly up to the top of an apple tree and give speeches. One day the golden eagle just picked her off the tree. No one has been in a tree since. I think they must still talk about Little Red Haired Girl and her strange habit of sitting in the tree and trying to tell them all about life.

 

[EggWalrus]

So here's my suggestion... turn your existing run into the coop - the structure is already in place and is a very good size for the amount of chickens you have. Should be easy to run some roosts and add some nest boxes (internal, if you really want to minimize the work needed) and since it's already naturally ventilated, just board up enough of the wall space to protect the area from draft and the elements. And then add a larger run off of that, I'd aim for at least 200 sq ft but more if you have space.

Sounds like the easiest and best solution. Just slap some plywood around 3 sides of the old run if it gets cold where you are (Woods design), make some roosts and nests in it, and make a new yard/run. You can never have enough Sq feet per bird to avoid overcrowding and prevent other bad behavior. Listen to your elders.

 

[ValerieJ]

That's an excellent idea, EggWalrus.

 

[stavo]

So here's my suggestion... turn your existing run into the coop - the structure is already in place and is a very good size for the amount of chickens you have. Should be easy to run some roosts and add some nest boxes (internal, if you really want to minimize the work needed) and since it's already naturally ventilated, just board up enough of the wall space to protect the area from draft and the elements. And then add a larger run off of that, I'd aim for at least 200 sq ft but more if you have space.

Wow, what a great idea and one I hadn't even considered! I knew I could count on you all. Well this one, option 4, has now moved to the top spot. In the morning I'll go out and try to visualize this transformation.

 

[stavo]

Sounds like the easiest and best solution. Just slap some plywood around 3 sides of the old run if it gets cold where you are (Woods design), make some roosts and nests in it, and make a new yard/run. You can never have enough Sq feet per bird to avoid overcrowding and prevent other bad behavior. Listen to your elders.

It doesn't get extremely cold here in Northern California (perhaps dipping into the 20's a few nights during winter, but we get some pretty decent winds and sometimes sideways rain. Would the Woods design still work in those conditions?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Wow, what a great idea and one I hadn't even considered! I knew I could count on you all. Well this one, option 4, has now moved to the top spot. In the morning I'll go out and try to visualize this transformation.

Hope it works out! I'm all for minimizing work, so using the existing run structure should be the easiest option, plus you have the added bonus of having built it as a walk-in, so it would be easier maintenance later down the line as well.

The existing coop can be used for isolation, brooding, or maybe a small side flock of bantams in the future, etc.