Show me your chicken coops!!

We are planning on getting chickens (about 30 of them) I will have a few bantams seperated just for me and the kids. I am going to build them a cute little coop/run in the front yard and the layers and broilers will be in the back yard (hubby's) chickens. So I was curious about coop sizes and what and what no to dos from all you more experienced chicken tenders .

Here is the one I am almost finished building. Just need another day or 2 of pretty weather. It is 8X4 run with a 4X4 coop and 5 feet high. A good guide is 4 SQF per chicken in the coop and 10 SQF per chicken in the run. These are only a guide and you can certainly get by with less SQF per chicken in the run if you need to squeeze it some.

More info here http://www.thegardencoop.com/

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bnoles, I get the idea that you are so proud of your new coop.
I would be too, it is a lovely looking chick coop. Looking forward to seeing it in action. When will that happen?

For a few years we used an empty lamb jug/tie stall in the barn. We put a roof of tarp over it and a pole for roosting and hung a light in there in the winter for warmth. They were fed and watered on the barn aisle. The run was the whole yard.

One summer my kids and I built a leanto shed on the south side of another shed. It is 8x16 and one wall is 4' and the other is 8'. The foundation is cement block just laid on hte grass there. The roosts are at the short wall end and the human door is on the tall end. It is big enough for 50 layers on the roosts with still half the room available for feeding/ feed storage, water, chicks in transition to being with the big guys. There is a small door on the south side into a run.

The run is around a few trees and bushes we planted as a wind break and needed fencing from sheep and deer. The bigger the run the less often you have to clean it. Like we never clean ours, all they leave there is for the trees. They also run the whole yard. The pile under the roost is what I use for compost.

Black Sex Link hen with her Americana cross chicks.

Kelejan wrote:bnoles, I get the idea that you are so proud of your new coop.
I would be too, it is a lovely looking chick coop. Looking forward to seeing it in action. When will that happen?

Sometime in mid April after we return from vacation.

Thank you for the nice compliments.

Check out chicken tractors. If I were going to get chickens I would go with a movable chicken tractor.

Lindacol wrote:Check out chicken tractors. If I were going to get chickens I would go with a movable chicken tractor.

We did that for a while, but I didn't like how the chickens tore up the yard. Even moving it every day wasn't good enough. I still have ruts in the yard from them.

We did turkeys in a tractor that we dragged across a pasture. It had to be tied to a fence post or the wind would tumble it like an umbrella. It was made from bent cattle panels with a tarp over one end for shade and rain protection. That worked pretty well.

bnoles wrote:...It is 8X4 run with a 4X4 coop and 5 feet high...
More info here http://www.thegardencoop.com/

bnoles, I saw this website when I was researching coops. The big one was too big for me, the mobile one too small. Looks like you made a custom size - so did you buy the plans for the larger coop then? That's the one that says it can be easily modified... Did you buy the "Quick Kit" for the hardware?

Hi Gwen,

Yes, I purchased the plans for the full size coop and modified them to my needs. I wanted something in between a tractor size and a full size coop. My plans are from 2-4 laying hens, but I could squeeze in # 5 if I just had to. I did not purchase the hardware kit since it was for a specific coop and design so I just went to Home Depot and picked up what my needs required. It has been a fun build, but I had to do it all around the winter weather swings which has been frustrating, but I am almost there and it will have been worth it all when I am finished. It is nice to have it customized to your personal needs and wants. Can't wait to get my girls in it and enjoy fresh eggs and compost additives

'm on the same mission, and decided on doing my own after I aquired a large 9ft x 6ft pallet. There are two books I have read recently from the library,'Poultry house construction' and 'Back yard chicken coops for sale ' both good, back yard was a better book for measurements the other had more and varied designs, but less easily understood (due to poor writing up of the measurements).I would say worth reading both as you get a better 'feel' for the less easily understood one!

http://cricketsongfarm.blogspot.com/2013/11/cattle-panels-make-sturdy-chicken-run.html

This is a link to my large chicken coop.  Sorry I don't have a picture of the nesting boxes that are accessible from the outside.  They are all along the south side of the coop and contain 9 nesting boxes.  I spoil my hens daily with large amounts of greens from the gardens, slugs from the green houses, and lots of milk from the milk goats.  They run free range when the gardens are not in.

Kate888 wrote:

Lindacol wrote:Check out chicken tractors. If I were going to get chickens I would go with a movable chicken tractor.

We did that for a while, but I didn't like how the chickens tore up the yard.  Even moving it every day wasn't good enough.  I still have ruts in the yard from them.

Where I live we are not allowed to have chickens. I wonder if these coops will accommodate rabbits?

cricket wrote:http://cricketsongfarm.blogspot.com/2013/11/cattle-panels-make-sturdy-chicken-run.html

This is a link to my large chicken coop.  Sorry I don't have a picture of the nesting boxes that are accessible from the outside.  They are all along the south side of the coop and contain 9 nesting boxes.  I spoil my hens daily with large amounts of greens from the gardens, slugs from the green houses, and lots of milk from the milk goats.  They run free range when the gardens are not in.

I enjoyed reading your blog.  Nice work!

Hi again everyone. I'm Jordan and right now I have 1 chicken coop that is good for 6 laying hens. I am planning on  getting another 3 hens but I have not decided yet on how big the coop would  be. My mum said to have the same size as the one that I have so that I don't need to change it when I decided to get another chicken again. I think my mum is right but we will see how it goes.