What do you wish you knew before you built your coop and run?

[thistlewick]

wish I knew that tractors weren't really viable for 10 acres with such a small flock omg, wasted so much money, on 2 tractors

BUT, on the bright side, it allowed for us to create a bachelor pad for unneeded cockerels \o/

I wish I knew I would need a tall walk-in space to save my back.

that more than anything else. we free range, so the shed we got can house up to 40 chickens for roosting. we have 18 (and 6-10 pullets growing now, not sure how many cockerels we have out of a straight run batch haha)

 

[Gazergirlstar]

Oh yeah. So let's say you want 4 chickens, right? Then when you order, you realize there's a limit of 6. Or maybe you notice one lone chick left in the bin. What's another 1 or 2? Then you hear about the blue egg layers. You'll just get a couple of those to add to the colored basket. Then you start selling eggs and realize you need more chickens because the demand is high.

Next thing you know you have 18 and people are calling you the Crazy Chicken person.

you just described my life to a T lol

 

[Bockbockbaboq]

I wish I'd known to put a sheltered table/workspace near the coop and run. I have one now. It's so handy for preparing food/treats, treating ill or injured hens, doing small repairs and cleaning and other projects. It's under a tarp so it's protected from sun and rain.

I also wish I'd built for atypical weather conditions. We had a tornado last summer that destroyed nearly everything (the flock was okay). Tornados almost never happen here but it only took one to lose our run and all of our hard work. We're rebuilding and adding multiple deep cement anchors this time.

What do you wish you knew before you built your coop and run? What changes have you made?

Seconding the cement. I just took off three tarps from our coop, leaving only one, because of 40-60mph gusts and possible tornadoes. I would like cemented posts and a coop triple the size of what I've got.

 

[saysfaa]

It took me a while to think of anything I would do differently because, thankfully, I've really liked almost everything.

Anyway, what I would change is leveling it where it waited for a couple of weeks until the builder could move it onto the foundation. It was built of green wood and I think it started to season as it waited and that contributed to the problems I had getting it squared up after it was on the foundation.

I would also place the grit/shell cups in a place where I could fill them more easily.

Then there are some things I would do if circumstances were different but don't regret because the circumstances were not different. Things like: build it out of boards with fewer knots (that would have been a lot more expensive). Build it bigger (it had to be appropriate for the setting). Build it myself with my own trees, with a cupola, true timber framing techniques or maybe log style (didn't want to take the time for that).

 

[Seaslug]

I wish we would have roofed our entire run. I didn't, thinking that direct sun would be needed to grown plants in the run! HA HA. As if plants will ever grow in my run again!

 

[StinkyAcres]

I wish I placed my pop door higher so bedding wouldn't get in the way.

 

[EmmaDonovan]

Oh yeah. So let's say you want 4 chickens, right? Then when you order, you realize there's a limit of 6. Or maybe you notice one lone chick left in the bin. What's another 1 or 2? Then you hear about the blue egg layers. You'll just get a couple of those to add to the colored basket. Then you start selling eggs and realize you need more chickens because the demand is high.

Next thing you know you have 18 and people are calling you the Crazy Chicken person.

This is such a good explanation!

 

[redinator]

My human run door pushes inward, which I love…but I would have put a 2 in board at the bottom and started the door higher. When it drops to freezing temps I have to make sure the area behind the door is low because a frozen poop will block the door from opening sometimes, or a dirt pile that slowly grows. It’s hard to shovel it down when the ground is frozen. I am proactive about it now but in the beginning I panicked a few times when I could only open the door a few inches before it hit a frozen and unmoving poop pile.

Glad to know this, I have a simple run at the moment https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQT3FG98?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2&th=1 and I've been thinking about setting it on horizontal 4x4 posts for added weight/security. My thought was it'll be harder for chickens to scoot out, or dogs to scoot in w a 4 foot step to maneuver over. Now that I know about the bedding blocking the door I'm definitely doing it. Thanks for the push, lol

 

[redinator]

Now for the Newbies...what exactly is "chicken math"? By the comments I'm guessing "2+2=6 or 8"? Am I on the right track??

Actually it's more like switching the + (plus) w x (times) if you only think you'll get 5/6 plan for double or triple, lol

 

[ValkerieGunn]

I wish I had known that chicken math was a thing. We started with a small coop and a small flock but our flock has increased so we added on to it but my husband hated how trashy it looked with it mismatched so this month we were planning on moving the coop location and building a new coop. My husband kept putting it off. He can't anymore since the 80+ winds yesterday flipped and destroyed part of it. Now my chickens should have at least part of the new coop done this weekend.