Windows and other things

[mrbstephens]

My DH and I are getting ready to build our hen house tomorrow. I have a couple of questions. First.......we have 7 hens and would like to get maybe 3 more next year. I don't want more than 10 total. We'll be building the hen house 4'x6' and 5' tall. It'll be raised 1' off the ground. I'll have a pen around it, about 15'x10' for the chickens to roam around in during the day and when I'm home I'll let the free range my fenced in backyard.

I'm thinking we'll have two windows, one on each side covered with hardware cloth(that's the wire fencing material with 1/2" openings?) Then we'll have wood covers on hinges to go over the windows for the colder weather, but we'll be able to open them for ventilation. My question about this is, when they are closed there won't be any sunlight getting into the coop. How important is that? The chickens will be able to go outside during the day as long as the weather isn't too bad. I won't have a covered run so I'm not sure how much time they'll be outside if it's raining or if there's a foot of snow outside.

We'll have three nesting boxes that can be accessed from the outside.

A large door for maintenance.

A small chicken door with a ladder.

It'll be similar to this one: http://www.horizonstructures.com/mini_coop.asp accept it'll be a little bigger and the windows will be as I described above for the ventilation. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[mrbstephens]

Anyone?

 

[briteday]

Depending on the weather where you live and lots of other things...

4' x 6' = 24 sq ft so most people go with the 4 sq ft per bird rule which gives you room for 8 chickens total.

Personally, even if it's raining or snowing my birds prefer to be outside. They only come in to eat and sleep in the coop.

If you have the nest boxes outside and keep the food containers fairly small (I like 4" PVC pipe along the wall filled with food that comes out in a smaller PVC pipe, holes drilled in it so birds can get to the pellets, convenient to fill less often, less waste, takes up very little room), maybe only have water in the run (not in the coop), and plan your roosts accordingly...you can probably house 10 birds. Jsut don't buy any Jersey giants!

I don't have windows in any of my coops. And all of my hens lay right through the winter without any problem. Ihave some holes cut with hardware wire over them for ventilation, but then I live in a VERY dry climate so humidity is not an issue. Your windows sound fine though.

More info about where you live, climate, breeds...would help.

 

[mrbstephens]

I live on Long Island New York. Zone 7. Gets humid because we're near bays and ocean. Summers get into high 90s at time. Winters usually don't get colder than mid 20s.

I have 2 EEs, 1 RIR, 1 Barred Rock, 1 Austrolorp, 1 Light Brahma, and 1 Partridge Rock(whick I think is a rooster in which case I'll be rehoming it). I'd like to get a couple more chicks next year.

 

[Randall]

Using the 4 square feet per chicken rule, a 4x6 coop (24 sqft) is adequate for 6 chickens. I've seen a chart that says 4 SQFT for Heavy birds, 3 SQFT for Light birds, and 2 SQFT for Bantams. The folks advertising the Amish coop are being generous (or stingy, depending on your perspective).

10 birds implies 40 SQFT, which is 5x8 (even 6x6 is too small).

 

[CityChook]

My chickens don't like to go outside if it's snowing. Granted, you're in zone 7, which makes it significantly warmer than my MN zone 4, but still. If you're going to build on the small side, I'd try to roof the run just in case, in hopes that they'll want to spend maximum time outside.

Ditto on the windows. If they end up inside for extended periods of time, what will you do for light? Or if you have a couple weeks of bad weather? Will you leave them closed all that time? It's going to be really dark. Could you make sliders out of plexi instead of wooden shutters? Then you can get at least some light inside. I don't know, just a thought. I put double paned house windows into my coop, but that's because it gets *really* cold here. Their windows are closed up all winter. Ventilation is separate, but also close-able in case of bad weather.

Good luck!

 

[mrbstephens]

I would open the chicken door every day no matter what the weather is like. I could cover part of the run with a tarp if I had too and would even shovel out snow.

briteday, I like your feeder idea. Maybe I could do something similar with the waterer.

 

[cposz]

We're considering plexi-glass to cover the windows in the winter.

 

[Novice in New York]

I am just finishing my 4x6 coop and I live in Upstate New York where it can get very cold. I put in two double pane low-e windows. I will have a 4x8 covered run and will add 3/4 inch foam insulation to the coop walls, floor, and roof. I was looking at 8-10 hens however, it looks like I should go with 6. I have 4 next boxes accessible from the outside which for the number of hens is over kill.
Good luck with your project.

 

[Peeplperson]

We have windows on three sides of the coop (pop door & ramp to the run on the 4th side)

We decided to use hardware cloth over the windows with plexi-glass sliding windows as covers. I couldn't think of any reason the coop would need to be dark during the day, and in windy storms they'll still have some light and a view if they want to stay inside.

The neighbors may be able to see a red glowing light on cold nights, but that could just give a whole different different interpretation of 'hen house'.