My Chicken Coop Build

Good Ol' Boy

Active member
So my wife wanted chickens back around August or so. We got chickens and one of their store bought coops that said it would house 6 chickens.

Fast forward to now, a whole bunch of learning and much bigger chickens, and now I'm building a proper coop.

Here's the progress over the last two weeks. Still have work to do to finish it off. Main reason for the height is my wife wanted ease of access. The important part to the chickens is the SQF on the ground.

Still got a few things to button up, trim on the coop, more hardware cloth (wire), caulk and paint.
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Good Ol' Boy

Active member
looks good.
we're debating chickens in a couple years. not sure about the work involved though.


Its not terrible. You don't have to build something as involved as what I'm doing.

Biggest thing to keep in mind is the basic requirements for the chickens, if you want them comfortable and producing.

1. 4 sf per chicken in the coop.

2. 10 sf per chicken in the run.

3. 1 sf of ventilation per chicken.

If you're looking to raise meat chickens folks tend to make do with a lot less in terms of space. If you're looking for eggs stick to the above requirements, as a MINIMUM.

If you think you may want to add more build or get a bigger coop than you think set up.

Many of the pre-fabbed coop/run set ups are vastly overated in term of how many birds they can comfortably hold. And most lack adequate ventilation. Windows do not equal ventilation.

Backyardchickens.com is a great site to gain information if you're serious.
 

sota

Member
Its not terrible. You don't have to build something as involved as what I'm doing.

Biggest thing to keep in mind is the basic requirements for the chickens, if you want them comfortable and producing.

1. 4 sf per chicken in the coop.

2. 10 sf per chicken in the run.

3. 1 sf of ventilation per chicken.

If you're looking to raise meat chickens folks tend to make do with a lot less in terms of space. If you're looking for eggs stick to the above requirements, as a MINIMUM.

If you think you may want to add more build or get a bigger coop than you think set up.

Many of the pre-fabbed coop/run set ups are vastly overated in term of how many birds they can comfortably hold. And most lack adequate ventilation. Windows do not equal ventilation.

Backyardchickens.com is a great site to gain information if you're serious.
I meant more in terms of the maintenance requirements. Water, Feed, Poop scooping. Then there's vet bills right?
 

Good Ol' Boy

Active member
Nice build but if you have roosters I hope you're not my neigbor. ;)


No roosters, yuck. All they do is be annoying and aggressive towards the caretakers (us). They don't really "protect" the flock so much as fall on the sword if there's a predator.

We've got a dog who's scent is all over our property and have a fenced off area for the coop/run. Plus the coop is right up near the house.

We have all kinds of predators out here in the sticks but after several months having these birds we haven't had any issues.
 

Good Ol' Boy

Active member
I meant more in terms of the maintenance requirements. Water, Feed, Poop scooping. Then there's vet bills right?


Well water is free since we have a well. Feed costs like $25 or so in our area and lasts 2-3 weeks. Bedding can vary depending on what you use. We were using pine flakes you can buy packaged at a supply store like TSC, but we're looking at switching to hay in the new coop.

Yes there's the cleaning aspect but its like once a week. The food and water is dependent on the set up. It could be a once a week deal or every day.
 

sota

Member
Guessing there's a lot of "don't know what I don't know", that I'll have to grok when/if the time comes.
 
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