Show me your coops!

[connieconnie]

Hi,

I'm building a chicken house to go in our fenced run in our back garden. However I would love to get some ideas and inspiration from those who have had chickens before (And knows what works and what you like or need).
Please show me a photo or drawing of your coop and any reasons you like the design

I'm planning to have 5 to 6 chickens. And based on other threads I've seen, is that you want to build for double. What would you suggest for 10 hen house?
If possible please include measurements (so a dummy like me can figure out the size)

I've also seen that sand is highly recommended, what's your opinion?

Thank you so much for all the help and advice!

 

[DobieLover]

The building is 8x16 but the coop portion is 8x12. Their run is 28x12 with a 4x8 jog in the back for the dust bathing area. They have year round access to a 1/3 acre pen that is enclosed with poultry netting powered with a 10,000 volt charger as I have roving dogs, black bears, fisher cats, raccoons, coyotes, weasels, fox and a colony of feral cats nearby.

WAY overkill for 10 chickens as my setup can hold 27 comfortably. But it gives you an idea of what you can do with all or part of an old shed.
You can go to the Articles tab and click on Chicken Coops to look at all the coop articles that have been written. Some have a lot of details. Some not so much. But there are ideas galore there.

My opinion on sand: I got rid of it as part of the mix I put in my poop boards in my quest to reduce dust in my coop. I also changed out my bedding from pine shavings to hemp bedding.

 

[connieconnie]

View attachment 2106851
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The building is 8x16 but the coop portion is 8x12. Their run is 28x12 with a 4x8 jog in the back for the dust bathing area. They have year round access to a 1/3 acre pen that is enclosed with poultry netting powered with a 10,000 volt charger as I have roving dogs, black bears, fisher cats, raccoons, coyotes, weasels, fox and a colony of feral cats nearby.

WAY overkill for 10 chickens as my setup can hold 27 comfortably. But it gives you an idea of what you can do with all or part of an old shed.
You can go to the Articles tab and click on Chicken Coops to look at all the coop articles that have been written. Some have a lot of details. Some not so much. But there are ideas galore there.

My opinion on sand: I got rid of it as part of the mix I put in my poop boards in my quest to reduce dust in my coop. I also changed out my bedding from pine shavings to hemp bedding.

That's incredible!!! Even your sketch is beautiful!

Thank you so much for showing me, your birds must be so happy (luxury penthouse!).

Sadly, I don't think I have enough space to create something equal to that. But I really love the arrangement of the perches over the poop board, really smart design!

So the sand produced a lot of dust? Haven't heard of hemp bedding, will definitely research it! It sounds good.

 

[DobieLover]

That's incredible!!! Even your sketch is beautiful!

Thank you so much for showing me, your birds must be so happy (luxury penthouse!).

Sadly, I don't think I have enough space to create something equal to that. But I really love the arrangement of the perches over the poop board, really smart design!

So the sand produced a lot of dust? Haven't heard of hemp bedding, will definitely research it! It sounds good.

I posted that to give you an idea of what you could do with a small shed. Just scale everything down to meet your needs.

 

[Yav]

If your chucks get a lot of free range (you have a large fenced off area?) you can get away with very small coops - that are very cheap and easy to build

 

[Yav]

View attachment 2106851
View attachment 2106849View attachment 2106850
View attachment 2106859
The building is 8x16 but the coop portion is 8x12. Their run is 28x12 with a 4x8 jog in the back for the dust bathing area. They have year round access to a 1/3 acre pen that is enclosed with poultry netting powered with a 10,000 volt charger as I have roving dogs, black bears, fisher cats, raccoons, coyotes, weasels, fox and a colony of feral cats nearby.

WAY overkill for 10 chickens as my setup can hold 27 comfortably. But it gives you an idea of what you can do with all or part of an old shed.
You can go to the Articles tab and click on Chicken Coops to look at all the coop articles that have been written. Some have a lot of details. Some not so much. But there are ideas galore there.

My opinion on sand: I got rid of it as part of the mix I put in my poop boards in my quest to reduce dust in my coop. I also changed out my bedding from pine shavings to hemp bedding.

Awesome!

 

[DobieLover]

If your chucks get a lot of free range (you have a large fenced off area?) you can get away with very small coops - that are very cheap and easy to build

Well, yes, but not really.
In cold climates with snow, the chickens prefer not to go out. When you suffer your first predator attack, you need to be able to confine the chickens into a safe predator-proof run.
A predator-proof run can be pretty pricey as well as a decent-sized well-constructed coop.

 

[MJ22]

We bought an EZcoop! We love it! Fits 15-20 chickens but I wouldn’t go that high. I want them to have room. We have hay on the bottom. Makes for easy clean up. The run is 10x20 I think. And the “snack shack” inside is our starter coop for new chicks or where we keep extra food and drink for them. We let them roam the yard most of the day. The run now is mostly sand. The pic was when we first finished. The grass is gone and our “soil” is sand. So they have plenty of room to bathe! We still put hay out in the run to help with cleanup.
go bigger! We were only going to get 4 chicks too! Now we are up to a dozen

 

[Yav]

Well, yes, but not really.
In cold climates with snow, the chickens prefer not to go out. When you suffer your first predator attack, you need to be able to confine the chickens into a safe predator-proof run.
A predator-proof run can be pretty pricey as well as a decent-sized well-constructed coop.

I agree - it all scales up with the size of the flock. But with 5 Chucks its a simple matter.. My point was the actual nighttime space is irrelevant to a degree - if they have a lot of access to free range.

 

[connieconnie]

If your chucks get a lot of free range (you have a large fenced off area?) you can get away with very small coops - that are very cheap and easy to build

The whole garden is fenced safely for them to roam I'm going to try building it as big as my small space allows, as I'm sure I won't stop at the planned 5 chickens