We are planning to build a chicken coop and would like idea/plans. We are thinking of raising about 4 different breeds. I'd like a coop that I can divide long wise with 3 or 4 different entrances and a long run that I can also divide into 3 or 4 different runs. I want one part big enough to house most of my hens (all breeds together). Maybe about 12 for our own personal eggs. And then the other 2 or 3 will be a lot smaller and big enough to house one roo and maybe 3 hens. This will be used as our breeding pens. We were thinking of buying a book to help us. Do you have a book you can recommend?
Sorry not Storey's This one is Pangman http://www.amazon.com/Chicken-Coops-Building-Plans-Housing/dp/1580176275 Gives you a bunch of different ones to look at and plans but most of the plans don't give you lengths or angles and stuff like that. Chicken Coops for Dummies. Check out the thread on Woods Coop==Awesome coop, some one on the thread downloaded a link to the book itself Purna has a good plan on their site.
Dangit all to hades. I'm pretty sure my multipen bitmap was one of the things lost when my hard drive crashed. I'll look, and if I can find it I'll post... might give you some idears at least... but that's the other puter that is currently showing a blobby green jobber beating up cranky bad guys on WoW... he's a dork... but then I've got (or had) multiple word and paint files of chicken research so...
Click on the chicken coops link on the BYC banner at the top of the index page. Lots of good ideas there. Good luck and keep us posted on what you decide to build, and be sure to post pics during the build!
Yes. I strongly recommend you NOT BUY A COOP-BUILDING BOOK. The ones I have seen range from poor to "fine if you want a real small coop". What you want is a SHED building book. There are quite a lot of really good ones on the market -- check your library, bookstore, amazon.com -- some of which have excellent step-by-step instructions with detailed photos of construction and complete materials and cut lists to refer to. Just pick a shed of the appropriate size, build it as per the book, then add popdoors, more ventilation, divide into pens (it sounds like you want to) and roosts, and there ya go. Figure out what size you want this thing, actually -- remembering the number of birds you will need to keep if you are genuinely trying to *breed* each of four breeds, which sounds unwise unless you have done this before, and remembering you would need grow-out pens for all them chicks right up to nearly full size -- because if it will be *big* you might actually be better off with a pole building such as are used for horses, hay storage, drive shed, that sort of thing. There are good books on constructing pole-built sheds too, again see your library, bookstore, or amazon. Good luck, have fun, Pat
