Hi... I'm new to backyard chicken farming.... really new. We got our 4 pullets about 4 weeks ago and my kids are in love. It's cold here in Oregon so we haven't moved them outside yet. We haven't even built a coop. My question is: Will a 8ft by 5.5ft space be big enough to build a coop and a run? I don't plan to free range them but I will let them out to roam the backyard often. Also, any tips on building a coop? My kids really want to be able to go inside so we plan to build one of those "playhouse" type designs. Thanks for any tips
Generally you want 4 square feet per chicken in the coop and 10 square feet per chicken in the run. You can get by with a little less if you have bantams. We based our coop on the Purina Coop plans. It's worked out well and was pretty easy to build. (Hoping this link works, if not you can see our coop build in my folder "uploads") https://www.backyardchickens.com/gallery/image/view/album/6148706/id/4823111/sort/display_order Have fun with your chickens - and get crackin' on that coop, they get big quick!
