would love some thoughts on my coop plans.....

[NormaJeanChickenQueen]

Hi fellow chicken lovers-- I'm a newbie here & to the world of chickens. My DH and I are in the process of building a coop for our 4 chickens. Don't plan to have more than 6 chickens at most. Our thougts for size is a 4x4 house (photo below) with a 7x12' run attached to it.

Do we need to raise house off the ground, as most of them seem to be?

The house is actually a cedar wood playhouse we got from Sam's for a steal. We will staple chicken wire over all window openings, probably have wooden boards in the winter to make it warmer for them. DH wants to put a ramp up going to one of the windows, but if we do that, the chickens will not be flush w the floor when they enter, so another ramp inside? or should we make their entrance flush w floor? ramp would be up to the window on this side.....

We are in NC and have fairly mild winters. Does this little house look like it will be enough to keep them warm?

Thanks for your thoughts!

 

[teamsunbelt]

Not sure what kind of deal you got, but that looks nice.

Raising off the ground would give them some under coop shade. If you figure 4 sq ft per bird, you have enough for 4 birds, but with a big enough run, you could squeeze a couple more in. You will need nest boxes and roost. Looks like a nice quick start. Some of the guys I know in NC do not close up near as tight as our neighbors up north. Some only have 3 sided coops. Wire over the windows would be great.

 

[emys]

My thought - Use hardware cloth, not chicken wire and attach with screws and washers (tack in place with staples, but reinforce with screws and washers.

A determined raccoon will tear through chicken wire.

I think it will be warm enough.

 

[chickengal30]

Oooh thats lovely!!

I got my coop on Craigs List, but it was originally a Sams cedar playhouse aswell (bit different from yours though) and I JUST LOVE IT!

Its the same size as your house 4' x 4' and I have four girls in there and they have 24/7 access to their run and they seem very happy in it.
Im in Florida so will only have very few cold nights in the winter, but if you have to keep them inside the coop/house due to bad weather for any length of time, sorry to say, I think its probably too small, definatly too small for six chickens to be confined in.
My DH built my little house a wooden base to sit on as I have so many preditors around I didnt want to risk someone digging under to get to them and I have sand in my coop and run (which has a wooden base too)and they loove it. If you do leave it on the ground I sudgest you bury hardware cloth under it. I also covered all windows with the hardware cloth - definatly no chicken wire, simply not strong enough. Theses are just my findings, Im sure other more experienced ones will offer sudgestions aswell,
Enjoy putting it all together and your chickies!

 

[bluesuedepoultry]

Very nice coop !!!

 

[wava1vaughn]

Hi from Ga. It look cute

You don't have to raise it off the ground. 4x4 will be a tight fit for 6 birds. Good Luck.

 

[LaurelRidgeDreams]

Your playhouse is adorable! We converted a 3 1/2'x4' unused dog/cat house into a coop. I had used this little building for years as storage and it was very difficult to get stuff in and out of it. We raised it up and now it's much easier to work in. Here's some pictures of what we did.

Before

After

 

[saddina]

Second the hardware cloth. Also you'll want to raise it so the floor doesn't become a nesting area for rats (who'll come for the feed, but stay for the eggs/chicks). peahaps build it a 2 ft tall platform, so they can siesta there during the day, and a ramp to go up/down as needed.