Trying to be ready for when the weather breaks Need help.

[Xovan]

Ok I have been bothering the folks over at the raising baby chick thread now I am here again. I am planing on building a pallet coop. Have learned that bigger is better from all the reading I have done here. Is there such thing as too big for cold winters? Also cone someone direct me to a place to look for ideas for the inside of the coop. I have been on the coop design page and not to much about it there. I would like to know about what to put where and why. ie easier clean up, egg retrieval and such. I have a few months to come up with a design and I know from my construction experience it is easier to start with a good plan than change things later. Any and all help will be greatly appreciated!!!

 

[Going Quackers]

I do understand what you mean, you want roomy but to big with a smaller flock will be hard to keep warm in long, cold winters. Ours is somewhat in between, it could easily house 6(perhaps 8) we only house 4 in it however.

There are tons of pages of designs, and concepts that people have done, i also know Purina has a free design that people have used, there is an entire thread on how people have tweaked and used this.

I found the chicken coops for dummies book to be helpful, we also went to a big landscape centre that sold pre-made coops that helped us to see in person how things went together. Basically using it as inspiration.

The keys, are good ventilation, predator proof and ease of cleaning. We chose a 2x6 for our roost since they could cover their feet in the cold months, also think about access in the location, for us we elevated the coop to avoid needing to dig out after bad snow storms and it is tall enough for us to stand in lol

 

[4 the Birds]

I would say bigger is better for sure! You can always section off large areas into smaller areas if a small area is desired. A walk in coop is really nice to have. During blustery snowy cold days, I can go inside and close the door to collect eggs, clean, fill water containers, etc... Do alot of reading here in the archives. There are alot of great designs. How many birds are you thinking about?

 

[Xovan]

Yea thanks. I do have the Purina page bookmarked that is more or less what I was going to go with. just bigger. I plan on keeping 10-12 wyandottes and also have it big enough to walk in for most people ( not me I am 6'4") but you know what i mean. I have been told that 4 nest boxes are enough and I like the external ones fore ease of collecting the eggs. Thanks For the elevation tip for the winter I will use that. I will also will have to keep the food and water in the coop in the winter. I like the drop-down door in the back for clean out too.