want to get chickens

[CluckerFamily]

I live near Los Angeles, so not many Amish here, but a farm store is a good idea. How did you build your coop? I'm not super handy but if there's an easy way you suggest that would be great!

I built my coop as a lean-to structure like a shed but raised off the ground a foot. If you can find a premade shed, that would help.
You mentioned your school has a farm, does your school have a club or class that looks for projects to build? We have schools in Wisconsin that have classes were students build and create buildings to help students determine if they would like graduate High School and start a career in construction, electricity, etc. Maybe your school needs a project and they can build you a coop.
You can always learn how to build structures. I built my own after running ideas of how the coop should look with my dad. We only talked about the plans we never drew any out. Anyone can learn how to build a structure! I am a 30 year old woman and built my coop myself but I have also been helping my dad completely remodel houses, roofing, building sheds, etc. since I was 7.

 

[hookie]

I built this one for 200$, it was very easy but would not built it like this again. After it was built i found out that it was only good for 4 chick's and double it. You don't need that much roosting space, you need the space for feeding and exercise. I used hardware cloth buried 8 in into the ground. They have a huge outside 40'*40' run that is fenced in and covered with chicken wires to stop the Hawks. The ladies go in every night. I'm new to fenced in chickens and learned a lot from this site.

 

[black_cat]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm not sure how big the run is because I've only just started looking into getting chickens but probably about 20 ft ish long, 6 ish ft wide, and 8 ish feet tall?Also, the chicken wire in there is pretty small, and I don't think any of our local predators could get through it. How many chickens would you suggest to start, and what size? my school has a farm and about 10 chickens, so I know a little about chicken care, but these would be the first ones I would have, so I'm definitely a beginner. thanks!

With that run you could fit 12-14 standard size chickens chickens, but I recommend starting with 4-6. You need like 60-70 square feet in the coop for that many chickens, and I'd recommend building it big enough for all those at first because you'll probably want to add more later! Lots of predators like dogs and foxes and raccoons can just rip through chicken wire. You don't want openings larger than 1/2'', as weasels and things can fit through larger gaps. I would recommend roofing part of the run, and the other part you can just use heavy duty bird netting. Starter chickens I'd recommend:
-Speckled Sussex: Beautiful and friendly birds that often get along well in the flock
-Barred Rock: Dependable egg layers with lots of personality
-Easter Egger: Super cute with their little beards. They come in all different colors, and lay blue, green, or pink eggs!
-Black Australorps: Sweet black birds that lay lots of eggs
-Cream Legbar: Fun, goofy little crests and lay blue eggs! These are also autosexing-no need to worry about accidental roos!
-Olive egger: Sweet birds with lots of personality. Lay green eggs!
Requirements for a chicken coop:
-Nesting boxes. I like to have these be external so I can just open the top and grab eggs without going inside the coop. External ones have an added bonus of not filling up floor space.
-Roosts. These should be higher than the nesting boxes to make sure that your birds don't sleep in them. Chickens roost flat footed, so a 2x4 with the 4'' side up works. You can also add a ramp if they're really high up, and also poop boards. Poop boards go under the roosts. They have a lip and you fill them with something like sand or sweet PZD. Birds poop most when they're roosting, so that will save you from having to change out the bedding all the time, and you can just use a kitty litter scoop to scoop the poop boards every few days.
-Ventilation!!! You need to make sure that you have enough ventilation that you have about 1 square foot for each potential chicken. You want the majority of this to be high above the birds' heads, so that they don't get any drafts.

 

[3KillerBs]

You might look into hoop houses made from cattle panel since you're in a moderate climate and have limited construction skills.

I agree with the concern about chicken wire. My in-town coop had their coop challenged by a predator -- probably a raccoon, possibly a dog -- that *almost* managed to tear the hardware cloth apart (fortunately, we'd bought a good grade of wire). The raccoon/dog would have gone straight through chicken wire like tissue paper.

 

[Windrider]

Also what predators do you think you have? Even in a city stray dogs, hawks, raccoons, rats are all common. Dogs and coons can easily tear apart chicken wire, rats can simply climb through. Measure the openings in the wire and if it's anything over 1/2", they'res too big.

I agree. I live in Los Angeles, too. It is really surprising how adaptable predators are.

Raccoons are probably the worst predator here and are found even in the most urban areas of Los Angeles - even in downtown! They rip right through chicken wire. Other common predators here are possums and skunks (my dog got skunked once in her own securely fenced backyard - I found that small hole real quick!). Surprisingly even coyotes will come into the city sometimes and kill small dogs and cats until animal control takes them out. You even hear an occasional news story where a bear comes down from the Santa Monica mountains and uses someones pool in the heat of the summer! The Griffith Park mountain lion had his own Facebook page with trail cams posting his pictures, until he got hit by a car on the freeway, so like I said - it is really surprising what we have here!

Not too many species of big hawks, but we do have Cooper's Hawks which feed primarily on birds.

And then you have those dang Los Angeles roof rats, which are smaller and climb more than the black rats found in most parts of the country. They are so extremely trap shy that you can't even control them that way, you just have to keep them out. Definitely take the chicken feeder out of the coop/run and put in a secure bin at night.

We have pretty much all the common predators found in rural areas, just not weasels, fishers, martins and that family. No snakes unless you back up to the foothills. There used to be foxes here when I was young, but I haven't heard of any in ages, but again, maybe those too if you live closer to the foothills.