what would you do different?

[jennifer11]

you've got your coop and it's full of chickens, but if you had it all over to do again... what would you do different?


i'm planning my coop design and figure ya'll are the voice of experience.

 

[lux_interior]

MAKE IT BIGGER!!!

 

[gocrow77]

Would have made it bigger with seperate runs and area inside for each breed to keep them from creating moxed babies - and done more research on breeds to determine which ones I "HAD" to have. I am working on this now and will still keep my backyard mixed flock.

 

[Anny]

As always, make it bigger.

I would make a formal plan, with sketches and measurements all drawn out. This would have saved us a few head aches.

I would have included a dropping board (which I'll be adding this summer hopefully)

I would have planned for the Deep Litter method, making the door height off the ground so pine shaving don't end up all over the run.

 

[vfem]

I would say make it bigger too... I wish mine was bigger now that I'm adding to my flock.... however I don't only want it slightly bigger (another 3'x4' would be all I need in the coop) but I would try to pen an area off for when I'm breeding.

I only wanted 1 type of chicken... but now I have 1 type and 3 colors of that type?! So now I want to split up my colors for better breeding.

Oh well.... I'll come up with something. I just hate having to cut a hole in my old coop to add a new room.

 

[lurky]

I would have just bought a FARM in the first place

 

[CityChook]

I would have put a window on the covered run side of the coop so that I didn't have to run out to close up the coop in case of rain.

 

[joedie]

Made it BIGGER! I planned on only having about 12 chickens but did get a coop 10 x 12 which is much more than they needed and the run is 300 sq ft so good there too. Then I thought, I have enough room for more. Every time I went into the feed store the cashiers would say, We've been waiting for you! That's bad! We have this breed or that breed and I ended up with 30. I still would like more but I've reached the amount that I can have in the coop. It is very addictive.

 

[lux_interior]

Quote:
Agreed! I started out just buying 5 chicks.. RIR's and Red Sex Links. That was supposed to do. I would raise them and have eggs and be happy.

But it doesn't work that way. The more I read about different breeds, the more I wanted some. So now I have hens of like 10 or so different breeds, and I am also hatching EE eggs..... It's an addiction.

 

[CMV]

I would have used better materials. My coop was built from leftovers and it's wearing out fast, even with everything primed and painted. It's all well and good to use recycled materials, but I think next time I'll spring the cash for new wood. And make it BIGGER, of course.