Yard Tuff Coop Questions

[Aradisew]

We recently purchased a yard tuff coop to get started. I plan on starting with 4 hens. I’m wonder where to keep the food and water. The area inside the coop is rather small and there are two (what I assume are roosting bars in it) I thought I shouldn’t keep the food in there because I assume they would poop in it. Am I wrong? Also do I close the sliding door to the coop every night to keep them in or is it ok to leave it open all night so they can come and go?

 

[Coolbreeze89]

I’m a newbie, too - WELCOME!!! You’ll love BYC! So many helpful people. More experienced folks will chime in, but my first thought: add 1/2” mesh to cover the bottom so snakes and rodents can’t get in. Then, I’d leave the water on the ground at night, and the door down to the run open. I wouldn’t leave food out at night because of ants (I live in central Texas). Access to the run area (and water) would be important here for ventilation (still over 90 degrees at 8pm). I hope you have fun with your new chickens! Beware: what they say about “chicken math” is true... and it spreads to ducks, geese, turkeys...

 

[X_and_Z]

Are your chickens going to have significant free range time? That coop is much too small for 4 chickens otherwise. Typical recommendations are 4sqft in the coop (do not include nest boxes in this calculation) and 10sqft in the run per chicken.

With a coop more appropriately sized to 4 chickens you have more options for food/water placement.

 

[Aradisew]

The recommendations for this coop say it’s good for 4-6 chickens. I do plan on letting them out to roam for an hour or two each day. We have 1.5 acres.

 

[X_and_Z]

Manufacturers recommendations are gross over estimations - usually pre-fab coops are good for less than 1/2 the number of chickens that they say.

They would need to be out for much more than a couple hours a day for this coop to handle 4 chickens.

Can you put up some predator safe fencing around this coop so that the chickens can have access to that during the day in addition to this coop?

Many people start out with these small pre-fab coops and end up using them for isolation coops for single chickens/as brooders for chicks after they build a more appropriate coop.

Or, if you don't have chickens yet, look into getting just a couple of bantams (small chickens).

 

[kwhites634]

View attachment 1421230 View attachment 1421233 We recently purchased a yard tuff coop to get started. I plan on starting with 4 hens. I’m wonder where to keep the food and water. The area inside the coop is rather small and there are two (what I assume are roosting bars in it) I thought I shouldn’t keep the food in there because I assume they would poop in it. Am I wrong? Also do I close the sliding door to the coop every night to keep them in or is it ok to leave it open all night so they can come and go?

They won't be coming & going at night; shut the door for their safety. I keep my feed in the basement in a big plastic garbage can. I also use a gravity fed PVC feeder that I cap off at night.

 

[Flamens Farm]

Wow, is that around 5' x 2' not counting the nest box? The picture sure makes it look very small. I would not put but 2 chickens in there. But then I have a 50'x50' completely fenced in chicken yard for 13 chickens in one pen so anything like this would look too small for chickens to me. Even my 3 Bantams have a 20'x10' yard and I was concerned that it was too small an area. Not trying to put your investment down at all but I would suggest fencing off an area for the chickens to be able to move around and not be cooped up in that all day especially if you put 4 of them in there.

 

[Aradisew]

We definitely have room to add fencing around for them to add more space.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Add fencing to build a more reasonable sized run (minimum 10 sq ft per chicken) and convert the entire structure to serve as the coop. Remove interior walls if possible, cover up any exterior walls facing prevailing winds, run a new roost bar lengthwise. That'll at least give your birds a little more breathing room while still putting the coop to use. Even then, I would keep the food and water outside to save on space inside. Put the food in a rodent proof container (a metal trash can is popular) at night to keep rodents from becoming an issue.

 

[GRB73]

Our coop is about that size and we have three chickens. They've been happy in it for over 2 years. They only go there to sleep and lay their eggs, anyway. Chickens don't eat or drink at night; they turn into little zombies that don't move around much.
I keep their food and water in the run all day. At night, I store the food in a metal trash can in the garage. I dump out the water on the garden and start with fresh each day. We use a 1.5 gal container. I think food and water left out all night attracts unwanted visitors.
Close the pop door every night. No exceptions. They are so much safer behind a closed door. Reinforce the wire with hardware cloth. You may also want to get a spring loaded lock for the doors. Raccoons can unlatch simple latches. They are tenacious when hungry.
I agree the run looks small for 4 hens. Ours is 16 x6, we have wire on the top to protect the girls from hawks. They free range about 3 hours a day, more on weekends. Watch out for fox if you have them, they are quick to steal free ranging hens.
Good luck and have fun! Chickens are a true delight. My blood pressure goes down when I hang out with my 3 girls!