Should I build a coop?

[Mvan42]

Depending on how many chickens you have, depends on how big of a coop you will need. And yes you can buy a coop. Just stick the panne,s together. If you only have a few one of those would work. But if you have a lot then I would build or check into getting a shed new or used and convert it. There are a lot of free ideas all over the internet and on here for reference.

 

[Lazy Farmer]

Greetings.

So I've been asking myself this question over the past weeks. Should I build coops for my chickens? I live in a rural area. My flock here already roosts on tree branches at the back of my house. So I was thinking, is it worth the effort building them coops? Also I'm pretty sure they won't roost at a coop since they are already roosting on trees. They are free roam chickens btw.

I have about 9 Hens plus 1 Rooster that stay in a tree. In fact, it's going on 3 yrs now- give or take.
We do live far rural and there are predators, but dogs make nightly security rounds. They have been fortunate so far. I have retired milk crates near by in the barn the ladies use for egg nests.
I have scores of birds in runs/housing, but the TREE birds escape and return to the tree every time I try to house them.
So I gave in.
We also have an unknown amount of stray birds living & breeding in the woods behind our property. Hurricane Irma helped with making that possible. We have been catching some of the chicks here and there when they aren't looking at us. Those are truly feral. Those get sold on craigslist.

 

[Ridgerunner]

What did your relatives do? What do your neighbors that have chickens do? Would putting them in a coop at night make it easier for thieves to steal them as opposed to them roosting in the trees? Are you collecting their eggs now? I'm trying to think how a coop might benefit you considering how you manage them.

Some typical benefits of a coop

Lock them up at night against predators. Since you free range them during the day the risk won't change during the day. I'm sure you have predators that could take them off the tree limbs at night if they find them. That might be an owl, a member of the weasel family, or a member of the cat family. Maybe something else. Chickens sleep in trees to avoid ground-based predators and hide from the others. The method worked well enough that chickens did not become extinct before they were domesticated but they are still vulnerable. You may go years without an issue or you may lose one or more tonight.

If you can train them to lay in the coop, it might be easier to collect eggs. They can be excellent at hiding nests. If they are laying now they already have nests. It can be a pain training them to lay somewhere else but some people manage.

If a predator, maybe a dog, starts killing off your chickens you can lock them in the coop or coop + run to keep them safe while you deal with the predator, provided your coop is predator-proof against that animal.

There may be times you just don't want chickens roaming free. Maybe you are throwing a party and the chickens are being a nuisance. Or they are pooping where your kids are playing. Or you are doing something that you don't want them to have access to. Having a place to lock them up gives you a lot more flexibility in dealing with things that might come up.

If you need to treat your chickens for mites or lice, it is fairly easy to pick them off the roost at night to treat them. In a tree that would be hard.


Some reasons not to have a coop:

They will poop in the coop at night and it can pile up since they are confined. You may have to work harder managing that poop. In your rainy season they now roam around and probably don't make a muddy mess. If you confine them to a coop part time it could become a muddy mess. These two together could create a stinky mess. There are ways to avoid that, mainly in considering drainage where you position it and maybe working harder in removing poop.

If you build a coop, in your climate, I'd envision a structure mainly a frame and mostly covered with wire. There will be an expense, how much depending on how big you make it and what wire you use or what else you use to build it. Is the expense worth it to you?

To get any benefit out of it you will need to retrain the chickens as far as sleeping and laying. It can be done but it may not be easy. You can probably lure them into the coop with food to trap them, at least most of them. Your relatives did catch them to bring them to you.

If you build a coop you have to decide how big do you make it and how do you build it. Will you build a run? That decision-making process can get frustrating.

If you lock them up at night, unless you feed and water in the coop, you will need to get up pretty early to let them out in the morning. Do you enjoy sleeping in, at least occasionally?

I'm sure there are other reasons for having or not having a coop. I don't know what the right answer is for you.

 

[gtaus]

I live in the Philippines.

My wife is Filipina. When she was growing up, her mother had chickens and the chickens would roost in the trees at night. I don't think she ever kept chickens for eggs. I guess at some age they would catch and cage a chicken for supper. They never had a coop.

Having said that, if you want eggs, I would think you might try putting out some nest boxes with fake eggs in there to encourage the hens to lay in that nest box. That way, you could harvest the eggs.

My wife told me that the main predator for chickens is your neighbor. If your chicken gets out of your property, then you just fed another family that day.