I have lurked on this forum for years it seems with my homeschool children. We have hatched chickens/ducks a few years now in late winter and kept the chicks/ducklings for a little bit before bringing them back to a farm we got the eggs/bator from. It was always a great experience for us all but bittersweet that we could not keep the birds. We are moving though! Down to GA and found a rental house who said we could have chickens. We are in hopes of getting that home, wish us luck that they pick up! I would love to just buy a coop/run and put it together as a place to start. We eat a lot of eggs so I think 6 chickens for our family of 6 would be great. I am finding adorable coops to buy but most are just for 3 chickens. My husband said just get two of them then but wouldn't all the chickens if let out into the yard go into one coop at night? I know you all love building them but with the move and so many other things we will have going on I think buying one would be the best option!
4 x 6 would be a minimum size.... for six chickens.... A lawn shed would work for a coop. just make a pop door for them. It would also be a good idea if you can to make a run for them for those days you cant be there. I use dog kennel panels for both. deb
A lot of the pre-made smaller coops with runs are junk. I bought one from Orscheln's that fell apart when I tried to drag it across the yard. I decided to build my own so I exchanged the broken one for another one that was slightly different but same manufacturer and gave it to my sister. The first night her pullets were in it, something ripped it to pieces and killed all the chicks. Your best bet would be to build one.
X2 Look through all of the pictures on the coop pages, think through what you want (maybe you want a movable one since you are renting). Then hire someone to build it for you. Ask around, it doesn't always have to cost an arm and a leg to pay someone to do it.
