Well it's my first

[fd4130]

Hello all well I don't have the carpenter skills that some of you have by far some of those other coops look great ( wish I could do that). Any way me and some of the box builders at work came up with a simple do-able design for my 10 hens. Best of all it only cost me $50! Most of the wood is scrap from work and I only have a few more things to do but the weather stopped me. It's a 5' X 3' and 4' tall. The laying boxes will be just under 14" X 14" The access door is 2'X2' for robbing and clean out. Of course I need to paint it, seal it, add the roosting poles and put the roof on. the run will extend out from the coop about 15' and it will also be covered. Any input will be nice since this is my first coop project. Thanks

This is the front view with my helper Mattlynn

Back view of the access door

This is where the laying boxes will go

As you see once I get the shelves and divide them in two it should make 4 good boxes.

 

[Kittymomma]

I think you did a great job! The only thing I would be worried about is the size. If you have LF it's really only big enough for 5 or so, if you have bantams I think you'll be fine.

 

[95yj]

nobody ever said it had to be fancy, usually the simpler design works better. Just one thing, I don't think you'll need 4 nest boxes, with 10 chickens 1 or 2 will do just fine, the extra space will be appreciated by the chickens. (grammar? oh well...)

 

[fd4130]

Kittymomma what is "LF"??? I have 6 Reds and 4 Bantam. I was going to start with only 6 BUT my cat snuck into the garage and ate two chicks (one dead cat not really but you know what I mean) witch put me at 4 and since TSC would only sell in QTY of 6 thats where the 10 came into play.

 

[Want Less]

I like it a lot! We are building our first one too so I've been enjoying seeing what everyone else is doing. We have 6 chicks right now.

 

[Kittymomma]

Quote:
LF is Large Fowl, and I'm sorry I was being lazy and didn't type it all out. All the shorthand can get confusing. Rule of thumb is 4 square feet of coop space and 10 square feet of run per LF, you can get away with about half of that with bantams.

The concern with your coop/run set up is that it's really too small for as many birds as you have so the likely hood of pecking and aggression goes way up. Lots of people keep bantams and LF together and they do fine, but the trick seems to be to have more space then the minimum suggested so that the little ones have plenty of room to avoid any of the larger bullies.

I don't want to come across as negative about your accomplishment, I think you did a really nice job. I just know it's easier to correct these kind of logistical problems at the beginning instead of having to deal with it during the crummy weather of fall and winter when the birds are all grown to adult size and the weather has them more confined. Could you possibly make a twin to the coop you have and expand the run?

 

[fd4130]

Ok no problem and thanks for the shorthand lesson I just didn't know and your right I would rather fix a problem now than double work later. And I have a another newbee question is there a certain paint I should use on my coop? Is there a paint that might harm my babies?? There is a few differnt kinds of paint out there so I wanted to make sure? Thanks for all the help.

 

[Kittymomma]

I just used exterior enamel oopsie paint. Just wait a day or two before moving the birds in so the fumes have a chance to clear out. I painted the inside of my coop too because I wanted to protect the wood so it would last longer and the oopsie paint was only $5 a gallon so what the heck. Nothing more fun then chickens, good thing you have carpentry skills because if you're like most of us on here you'll be expanding again next year.