Sooo many question (Not sure where to put them)!

[eksulli]

Yes, thank your for for clearing up COOP, PEN, "run", I didn't know what was what.

They will always have to be in the pen, no free ranging allowed, which is why I am going to make some sort of tractor to move them about the yard in a bit. They will be in the coop only at night and when the weather here is simply too crazy for them otherwise. Like today, it's about 5 degrees out, according to the thermometer out my kitchen window. Yuck!

Our house doesn't have a basement only a crawl space...literally CRAWL and we've never had a problem with snakes. We had some mice this year, but EVERYONE had mouse problems this year. lol. We have a problem with earwigs, slugs, spiders, house centipedes, slugs, oh and did I mention how many slugs we have?!

I will check out Ridgerunner's stuff.

I certainly don't want to start a DE debate, I just love the stuff so much that I put it in my coffee everyday, and my dogs get it in their food regularly. I can always do that with the chickens too though.

I had started a really nice Illustrator image of the changed coop (much much MUCH better than the one already here] but my computer decided to crash and now part of my hard drive is corrupt, I'm fixing it now, but I have to use my husband's computer until mine is feeling like working again. lol

 

[Ridgerunner]

I took this photo when the temperature was 4 degrees Fahrenheit. I leave the pop door open and let them decide what they want to do. As long as a cold wind is not hitting them, they prefer being outside. They have food and water both inside and out, so that's not why they were outside. Many people think that because they are cold their chickens are cold. That is not necessarily correct. Think of all the birds you see living outside in your weather.

If there is snow in the ground they will not go outside for a day or two, until they get brave enough to try it. Then most, not all but most, will try it and go out in it, especially if they can free range and there is some dead grass or weeds sticking up through it so they can forage some. I have had them wade through 9” of snow to check out the compost heap.

 

[salt and pepper]

Well, if they are in a pen, that is a different story then the coop. The pen needs to have 10 square feet per bird in it, and the coop needs to have 3-4 square feet per bird. Even if the weather is nasty, always give your birds a chance to be out. Also, it is advised to make the roosts and nest boxes at least a foot off the ground. that way they don't take up any floor space. Have fun with your chickens!

 

[eksulli]

That's awesome! I guess that's true, about all the bird that winter over! So what are some instances where you don't let your chickens out?

 

[eksulli]

Ok so now, the entire pen would have to be 4 to 6" off the ground, with the coop part being 2.5 to 3' off the ground.
The entire pen size is the 10' x 6' or 12' x 6' with the coop being somewhere around 6' x 3'.

 

[fisherlady]

Here is a TERRIBLE picture of where the chicken coop will end up being.
That would be a 10' long coop. I have neighbors on every side, two in the back as a matter of fact. The bunny hutch you see is about 5' tall and about 4' long and 2' deep, not that my drawing is any help, lol. Oh you know.

If you have any way of doing it, I would elevate the coop about 18" or more off of the ground, then cover the pillars with hardware cloth to creat more run, this would allow you to have another 60 or 80 square feet of 'outdoor' space available for your birds... it also will be a great place for them to hang out in the shade on a hot summer day or dust bath. During winter weather you could add plastic around the wire to creat a wind break and it would allow them an area of sheltered space to still get outside. 18 or 24 inches is easy to deal with for people access by adding a couple of steps or a ramp.
Realizing you just did a quick sketch.... make sure the roof drainage is directed away from the wall of the existing building, otherwise you will end up with some foundation and major mud problems.... one thing we will be adding to our coop in the spring is gutters, to redirect roof runoff away from the outdoor run area. Last thing you want is a swampy run. you may need to add some type of gutter system to the existing building eave also, to avoid runoff in the coop area.
You probably could artificially 'elevate' the ground level where the run is going to be pretty easily using old landscape timbers or salvaged rail road ties partially buried in the ground. This would allow you to fill in a couple of inches of small gravel or sand to creat a drainage base... If the ground already has a noticable slope away from the existing building (I can't tell very well from the pic) then artificial drainage won't be as important. But planning for wet weather drainage and winter draining ahead of time can make things much easier.

Have fun and enjoy the birds... and plan the coop as big as you can. You may start with 6, but chicken math usually ends up happening at some point and you find yourself wondering how you ended up with 12???? If the extra space in the coop isn't actually needed for birds, it will always come in handy for storing bird care related items! And if you end up with a broody hen at some point it will allow you a bit more flexibility in giving her some space of her own. (again, that's the chicken math factor!)

Edit to clarify... sorry, I missed seeing some of the posts on the second page when I did this reply, I didn't mean to repeat things already mentioned!

Just blame it on lack of sleep or something.

 

[salt and pepper]

why would the pen be off the ground? I'm not sure how that would work. the size sounds perfect though. it is best to have the coop up at least a foot. also make sure the coop can have proper light and ventilation!

 

[r4eboxer]

According to the plans of your coop you do have room for up to 15 hens. I think the questions you have about how many hens to get and what breed depends on how many eggs you want a day. You need to answer that question before deciding on how many and what breed. I made the mistake of wanting a variety of hens. I am feeding 20 hens a day, I have a mix of different breeds. When the weather turned I went from having 13-18 eggs a day to NONE or one. I have a few breeds of very good layers so that is where the eggs were coming from. Now that they have finished moulting and the weather got warmer last week I was getting 7-8 eggs a day out of 20 hens that were eating a bag of feed every 3 days or so.

Even the best layers do not lay an egg every day, the best layers will moult, the weather will turn cold and the days will grow short. All of that will affect egg production. I wanted a pretty flock but now I wish I had gone for production. Feed is expensive and I'd like to get breeds that will produce.

 

[Ridgerunner]

You don’t have to absolutely do anything one specific way. We keep them in so many different conditions in so many different climates with so many different flock make-ups with so many different management techniques that there really is not one specific way for any that is the best way for all of us. A lot of what you see on here is personal preference. Just because one person prefers to do it one way does not mean everyone in the whole wide world has to do it that way. In many things the chickens really don’t care but individual people do.

I think it is very helpful for people to tell us what they do and what they do it, but it is your responsibility to try to understand if there reasons and situations match yours. Someone recently posted how they handled erosional problems in a run built on a hillside. That is great information and will help some people out, but mine is not on a hillside so I really can’t use that method.

Some people have nest boxes on the floor, some have them raised a little, and some have them high enough they don’t have to bend their bad back to look in the nest. All methods work. There are advantages and disadvantages to all of them. A nest on the floor can take up some floor space, but if you have enough floor space to start with, does that matter? Chickens might scratch dirt and trash in a nest on the floor, but that depends on how it is built, what bedding you use, how dirty the floor is, and where it is situated in the coop.

Some people raise then a little to provide more floor space and keep them cleaner. If you don’t get them high enough rodents might set up housekeeping under there, but if it I high enough for the chickens to get under there, they’ll keep the rodents away. It’s also possible a hen may decide under the nest box is a safe place to lay an egg and make a nest. Sometimes just a shadow on the floor is enough to make them think it’s a safe hidden spot to make a nest. But if they are not too high, it’s a good place for younger chicks being integrated to hide from the adults.

When determining where to put your nests, consider how high the bedding will be. Also, your roosts need to be noticeably higher than your nest boxes. They tend to roost as high as they can get and they poop a lot when they roost. A lot of people don’t like poopy eggs.

Some people build exterior nest boxes to provide more floor space and allow them to gather the eggs without going in the coop. If they are built right, these can be really great, but if they are built wrong they can be weak points for predators to enter or they can leak. I personally like to look inside my coop when I gather the eggs to make sure everything is OK. I also like to be able to see inside the nest before I stick my hand in there. I have had a black snake in a nest before. Talk about getting your heart pumping if you unexpectedly grab a snake!!! Yet others blindly reach into the dark to gather eggs. We all do things differently and for different reasons.

As far as elevating the coop, I really like my walk-in coop but I have a lot more chickens and a lot more space than you. In suburbia and in your climate elevating your coop is probably a pretty good idea. It will provide more usable run area especially in bad weather and gives you a place to keep feed dry if you decide to feed outside the coop. You need to be able to reach every space inside the coop for many different reasons. You also need to be able to clean it out pretty easily. One handy ability would to lock the chickens out of the coop and in the run while you are working in there.

How much do you need to elevate it? I’d want it high enough so I could get a wheelbarrow under it so I could rake the stuff into it when I clean. I’d want to be able to reach any place under it without getting down and crawling in chicken poop. From what I’d expect you to build, 18” is probably high enough, but the wider it is the higher it needs to be for access.

 

[eksulli]

Here is a new rough sketch-up of the sideways coop. I haven't gotten all the measurements in, or even figured up, but I finally got my computer back online and couldn't wait until tomorrow to throw it on here

I really appreciate all the awesome input!