what do you think of this little coop?

[ferliemom]

Hi,

New here, thanks for your patience.

Trying to talk my husband into some hens. We eat *a lot* of eggs, and my young son loves chickens very much. We already have a menagerie, so a few hens would fit in well, IMO.

Husband's biggest issue is that his work could take us to a new place one of these days. (Of course, he has been saying that for years, and we are still here.) He does not want to move a large, bulky, poopy coop, and would prefer to wait on chickens until we move. That could be a long wait. To convince him that chickens are a good idea, I need to either a) find a coop that is super (super) affordable on craigslist or something, or b) rig up a coop out of found materials that, were we to move, we could easily take apart and rebuild, or just leave it and start over.

A few notes:
*we want about 4 hens to start
*we have a small area, maybe 10x15 behind our garage that is fenced. a coop could go in there, but would have to fit through the small gate, or be able to be easily take in the area in pieces and then assembled. So... ugly, ghetto coops are fine, no one could see them in our yard if they were behind the garage.
*we could also have the chickens in a tractor type coop in the grass
*we have a lot of raccoons in this area, so must be raccoon-proof, and also dog proof we have dogs.
*we also have 2 or 3 dog exercise pens that could be used to make a day run (at least 8x8 feet) in the grass for semi-free ranging if the coop we find is smaller.

Looking up ideas on the web and seeing some interesting concepts, like using free wooden pallets to build a simple coop, or making a small pen from pallets and wire, and then putting a camper shell or childrens plastic playhouse on top. Something like that could work.

Then I saw this on CL. The person is making coops like this for a VERY reasonable fee-- like $120. This coop is 4 ft wide by 5 ft tall by 8 ft high. I don't know what the inside is like. The dimensions can be changed to order, within reason. What do you think of this coop (remember, I can tweak the dimensions slightly) for 4 chickens, who can also have access to a fenced area (the small yard behind my garage or a run made from dog pens)?

I think that is only made of chicken wire, so I know that would not be raccoon proof. I would request a mesh upgrade. What about the floor of a coop? If I were to talk to move this around my yard, how could I keep raccoons out? What do you think of this basic design, since I know absolutely nothing about what to look for? Remember, it doesn't have to work forever, something to get us started for a year or two is fine. Must be cheap, portable, and raccoon proof.

Thanks for any input!
Kim

 

[ferliemom]

PS, I wanted to add that we live on the west coast in a mild climate. We do get rain, but only in the winter and early spring, usually. No snow, no heat. Temps are pretty stable between 50-70 all year, day and night.

 

[teach1rusl]

I'm not a fan of that style myself, but it could certainly work for now. Yes, the wire would have to be covered or substituted with something stronger. Make sure that it would be easy for you to access for cleaning and other management issues. You could butt the flat, wired end up against a dog run, and cut a little chicken sized opening (would have to do the same to the dog run where it butts up too)...some kind of door there that could be shut at night unless the housing has a door??? (can't tell, since I can't see from that side)
If the housing is closeable, I'm not seeing ventilation???? As a stand alone it wouldn't work, since you'll want a minimum of 40 sq. ft of run space for 4 hens...the 8x8 dog run sounds good.

Another idea... How tall is the dog run, 4 ft or 6 ft???? If it's 6 ft, then they're very easy to cover simply with 2x4s or plastic pipe laid across (drill holes and zip tie ends) to support a wire roof. Get a cheap dog house off of Craigs List and convert it to a small coop for 4 birds... If it's only 4 ft high, still doable if you arch the plastic piping across (kind of like a conestoga wagon)...do a search on hoop coops...

 

[r devries]

$120.00 for that, if your even somewhat handy You could make your own.

 

[nurse_turtle]

Plan for a minimum of 4 sq ft of inside coop space per standard size bird and 10 sq ft of run space per standard bird. These are MINIMUM recommendations.

 

[teach1rusl]

Normally I'm all about giving MORE than minimum recommendations. But if the OP lives in a year round mild climate, then I'd think she could get by with less housing space, since they would only be inside to roost. Her outdoor space would be the thing to focus on, in my opinion. Does that coop offer about 4 foot of roost????

 

[ferliemom]

Thanks, Everyone.
See, I'm learning a lot from you.

Please tell me more about using an old dog house. I'm sure we can easily find one of those, but can they really house 4 chickens? How do you keep them safe at night? Can't raccoons pull their feet and wings through the wire of a dog run (that the house would be sitting in)?

 

[aggiemae]

We have six chicks that are groing into 4 medium and 2 large size hens. I am building my coop using a collection of found scrounged and left over stuff that I started collecting in February.

But I am almost finished with my coop. Its 28 sq feet with a 70 sq ft run, It's been HARD WORK but I am almost finished and have only spent only $84.15 so far, mostly on hardware cloth and screws..

We got the chicks on April 1st and they are still spending the nigh in our utility room...if I had it to do all over again I would not have gotten the chicks until the coop was finished. I am having camera problems so will post instructions and picture next week.

 

[TheJadeChicken]

Thanks, Everyone.
See, I'm learning a lot from you.

Please tell me more about using an old dog house. I'm sure we can easily find one of those, but can they really house 4 chickens? How do you keep them safe at night? Can't raccoons pull their feet and wings through the wire of a dog run (that the house would be sitting in)?

You can put hardware cloth on the base, under, and on top the dog run. And the Plastic dog houses. That is actually what we use as a chicken nest and ours is even a little chewed up. XD
Or I took some totes and cut holes in them. I cut the lid of one and the side of another, trying different ones and my hens lay in both.

 

[thecoopbuilder]

Well here are 4 models of the coops I build and they only cost about $150 for materials but it is a lot of detail to put into it. Hope this gives you some ideas.