Looking at building a chicken coop, any ideas or pointers? Reminds me of an oversized dog house. Looking at space for eight to twelve chickens. What ya think?

Get a cheap shed that you can walk into. Put up some roosts that let the poop fall through to the floor so you can go in with a shovel and scoop it out. You will have 12 chickens today but next year you will want 12 more then 12 more etc. etc. etc.

kwg

We had a garden shed in the back yard with a mezzanine in each end, we just boxed one of them in this weekend to use as the chicken coop. Still have to put in a window for light and ventilation. Photo sensor automatic chicken door comes this week. It's called the lady's first chicken coop door. Opens when the sun comes up and closes when the sun goes down. Has an override switch for bad weather and solar panel to keep it charged. Figured $219 was well worth it. Put roll vinyl from Menards on the floor to keep floor from rotting. Still have room to park the riding mower and store some stuff. Final dimensions are 4x10x6'6" high. Should be plenty of room for up to 20 hens. Still need to make some nesting boxes but they'll be easy. Going to mount them on the interior wall with ports to open and get eggs without having to go inside. Pretty slick set up for not much expense

Thanks KWG

Sounds nice Colorado!

Size of a shed, where you can walk in to clear it out regularly. Make sure you can access the nest boxes through hatches from the outside to collect eggs. They will need a roost for sleeping at night. Best bedding for the floor is wood shavings they sell at Tractor Supply. In the nest boxes, you will want hay or straw for nesting material.

I made a coop for my ex-GF's hens many years ago using a 8x8 wooden shed (T1-11 siding )with gambrel roof and double front doors. I measured in 4' from the wall with the door and built a mesh wall with rabbit fencing and a framed door with mesh, basically creating 2, 4x8 rooms that were separated by the mesh/fence wall. The chickens were kept in the fenced section with laying boxes, and 2-3 long saplings (to give their feet varying diameters to grasp) which were placed at different heights and offset from each other, (to keep the upper chickens from pooping on the ones below).

The from 4x8 area just inside the door was used to house feed cans and extra bales of straw for scattering on the floor, (to make poop cleanup easier). It was a good set up and I plan to build another for myself one of these days.

Whatever you build, you might want to consider a movable fence design. The taste of those free range eggs will be far better and healthier as they scratch and peck wild greens, bugs and get more sun. If you are fortunate enough to have a dog that will keep away daytime predators, then you can of course free range them.

Nest boxes need to be lower than the roost.

Probably be wise to cover top of fenced run with fence fabric too to protect chickens from flying and climbing predators. Snakes are known egg and baby chick eaters, as well.

Make sure it's off the ground. That way rats can't set up shop underneath. They love chicken feed,

I stacked up two rail road ties. So it's about 1.5' off the ground. Never had any problems.

Thanks it should be when we get every little thing finished. Chicks are only a month old so we got time. Might insulate it before winter hits and wire it all proper. I want to fence in our 1/2 acre yard rather than a small chicken run but we'll see. Walleyes will start biting here soon

Around here the hawks are bad. My friends that.keep them do ok most of the time with them in the woods near the house. The eggs they want to hatch go into the incubator. Then they have a special section to feed them to size where they won't be so vulnerable.
When I raised them for research and commercially, they were in big houses. The exotics were barned in smaller building, but the egg hobbiests do pretty good if they have dogs that stay nearby.

For meat birds or layers?

8'x10' shed. 2x4 walls and rafters, 2x6 treated floor joists and treated floor boards. Galv. ribbed roofing. Car siding exterior. Entrance door on side. Guillotine style small door in rear for chickens. Two large swing up windows to face south. Outside window opening is covered with 1/4" hardware cloth. Five interior nesting boxes. Hickory sapling roosts. On two 6x6 treated skid with eye bolts to attach chains if need to move.

Next one I have will be full standing room height.

nice

Easily the most expensive eggs and meat you can get.

Eggs, yes. But, fresher (duh) and tastier.

I need to figure my cost per pound on the meat birds. Chicken isn’t “cheap” here.

Again, But, far better tasting meat than the store. Even is costlier, I’ll continue raising them.

Do like Bender and get some proper birds.


Commercial type fryers raised on only commercial type feed taste no different than the birds at the store.

Thanks guys for the help. Im looking more of egg layer but open to meat birds. I have a general idea of what I want to build, but keep the suggestions going!

Chicken Tractor .

Experience says this is a good thing. The Gulag house is too short.

Don't know where you live, but predators are an issue in most places one can have a few chickens.

The digging kind require some extra precautions and if you have critters with strong teeth, chicken wire might not stop them. I used 3' of 1/2" hardware cloth along the bottom of my chicken yard. Of course, I live their little access door open all night. I may look into one of them solar goodies mentioned above, then I don't have to worry so much should one manage to get in.

Some pics of mine and others on this thread

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbt...0189/re-if-we-had-some-eggs#Post15860189

Good luck with it.

A person can also lock the chickens up at night.


Using your hands and bi-pedal locomotion.

Ordered 4 Freedom Rangers for a test run this spring. Coming April 17 or so.

No more of them friggen Cornish Cross bishes that can't even hold their own breast off the ground.

Slower the better.


I think Orpingtons would be good to eat.

Here's a couple of ideas. If you spend enough time on youtube and agricultural ed sites, you will find dozens of designs.

This is one. You'll like the chicken names. 😄

https://youtu.be/qMsFhV1jhCE

Here's a more advanced idea with time saving auto feeders. Might be good if you leave for weekends.

https://youtu.be/G5QjAcTDkBw


The last time I went to the store, the good Lord gave me three dozen fresh eggs for $1.
I can't raise them at that price. However, the benefits of home grown, ( not talking about the hemp around the first video), is the following.

1. I have become severely allergic to chicken meat. I think that it's the soy and Glyphosate/ Round Up in their commercial feed everywhere.

2. ORGANIC feed eggs are OK. The others cause a digestive sickness that lasts a day. Keep in mind if you plan to sell them. The free range bug and weed scratching feed is best the sunlight provides free vitamin D3 supplements. Yokes are orange and tasty gormet. Most feed sold from ag stores provides very limited nutritional value and tastes bland. Just my experiences and ask around farm communities. You'll likely hear the same, but most do what's cheapest and easiests. If you want that too, there's lots of organic gardening videos that show how to get the best of both worlds. One is the Back to Eden documentary.

Best to your health and success!

Happy Camper

Good for you Geno. My instinct tells me that they have a higher feed efficiency. They don’t seem to eat as much because they move more and eat less. They seem to need an extry week to be ready. Typically @ 9 weeks.

A couple years ago, I was telling everyone about my 10 pound COCK!

Them boids can get big!

[/b][b]DON'T DO IT!
My wife only wanted seven or so layers which I agreed to. So built a four by eight coop and spent a fortune on panels to build a yard for them.

Everything was fine and dandy and then she got turned on to the Seramas. Now she has about twenty of the worthless things running around.

Two incubators that are always running.

Buying and selling and trading and going to chicken shows.

I'm just warning you of what could happen if left unsupervised. She even has three chicks that will grow up to twenty five pounds. called Cochillas or something like that.

It'll NEVER end,

Do you get snow? If so they’ll spend a lot of time inside the coop in the winter and you should build it big enough for them to each have ~3 sq feet each. It helps reduce them pecking each other.

Build an entryway that allows you to go into the coop without stepping directly in with the chickens. It will give you a place to store supplies and food and allows you to close the door behind yourself before entering the chicken area.

Lol 😄

Look at the bright side......
...........
..........uh
............🤔......
................
...
........
She could've gotten interested in cats instead.

I'm still not sure where I'm going with this chicken thing. Down to 4 hens and a rooster, averaging 2 eggs a day, sometimes 3 now that we're getting more daylight. Don't like having to leave their care to my wife if I take off for a hunt or some such, as it was my idea to get them.

I see lots of cool looking ones on the feed store posters, and think, "yeah, that one would be cool, and two of those. I'll just put another addition on the Gulag"

I wonder what kind our ancestors ate. Probably just .............................chickens.

OMG! You’ve created a monster! 😁

Thanks for the hint about the Rangers. We'll see how that goes.

Had the shoppe electrified last summer and picked up a freezer, so if this works out, I may get more the next year. Wife loves chicken, and she's always buying it. Don't know about cost effectiveness, but even those damn white things tasted better than store bought.

My wife had the idea a few years ago before we moved and the idea was nixed.
I looked for a cheap 2 horse trailer that could be predator proofed, movable, and easily pressure washed out.
Growing up we had a 20x30 metal building used for a coop, would lock them up at night, but we raised quite a few.

Thanks guys. Awesome ideas!

I bought a shed kit & then fitted it out, after insulating it;









After these pictures were taken, I added a 4 tier roost & 3 nesting boxes, the following day.

Lost 1 hen to Deb's GSP pup, so now 5 eggs a day.









Frikken delicious eggs !

Yall have given me some good ideas. Thanks!

We converted an outhouse to our chicken coop. Use the toilet seat as the doggy dog for them to come come in and out. Little yard, chainlink on top and all sides to keep the toothy critters out. Between this place and my last we tried a couple different breeds, but have settled on leghorns. Seem to be the best producers. Only have 8 or 6 now. Can't remember, wife tends them mostly.

I absolutely abhor cleaning birds. When mine die they feed the toothy critters somewheres else. Otherwise I'd still have a bunch of barred rocks probably.

Nothing like good eggs, and i've found few things to eat a dippy egg doesn't make better.

Those eggs look good. Be even better with some bacon.😉

Eggcellent!

Slumlord had 1 mean bytch hen in his Coop couple years ago.
Going all cannibalistic on his other birds.
Rest of his birds walking around their azz,s all tore the fugg and no tail feathers at all.
1/3 nekked on the rear end basically.
Never seen anything like it.
Extreme pecking order schitt.

Cooper and Magnus.
Play great white doggy shark breaching for a seal games for a egg tossed up in the air for em.

LOL!!!

Red Stars will follow you around like a pack of puppies and are excellent layers. Cochins are the sweetest hens that are good mothers and layers. Just not so good in hot/wet/muddy climates due to their feathered hocks and feet. Bardies can be bitches to each other, Welsummers and Wyandotte's too. Orpingtons are a nice dual purpose bird. Americanas lay pretty green eggs for your ham but they tend to be a smaller bird with smaller eggs.

When possible, a 'good' roo' is invaluable for keeping the girls from hair pulling disputes and vigilance against daytime raptors and 'yotes if free ranging your birds. Need at least 8 hens/roo' or he'll be hard on them. Takes a year or so to really settle one in but serial rapists and azzholes become soup rather quickly. We handle our roo' every day and established our dominance over him early on so we've never had one be aggressive to us but have watched one open a big can of whoop-ass on a hawk that nailed one of 'his' girls.

Neighborhood mutts will wipe you out if you don't provide protection.. or shoot the dogs after fair warning.

You'll need about a foot of roost bar/bird. Place the roost bars higher than, and away from, the nesting baskets or they'll roost above/on/in them and make a mess. Stagger bars at least 18" horizontally apart for more than one roost bar. If left to range, they'll generally clock around their coop for no more than 100 paces. If you don't let them range, make sure you can rotate their pen fencing in quadrants around the coop or they'll turn what you provide into a lunar landscape in short order. Premier1 has some excellent poultry fencing options and energizers that will bite hard. 1 Joule will cover most needs with a serious jolt. Ours is run off a 12V car battery with a solar panel charger so it goes anywhere on the acreage. Pretty funny alarm when a 'yote's wet nose contacts same at 3am near your bedroom windows....

Made an 8x8x2' high feed tractor with 1" PVC pipe and Circo fittings covered with chicken wire and profiled PVC siding/roofing. Slip-T fittings for the doors to provide easy access to place feed trays and is easily moved around. Also gives them a secure place to shelter on rainy days. Just stake it down so it doesn't become a tumbleweed.

After a number of trials and errors, we've long used Modesto Mills Organic Corn & Soy Free Layer pellets so the birds don't cherry pick the ration. They get just enough for breakfast and some for dinner, letting them range for their chow all day in between. A lot of commercial feed uses rape seed (canola) oil and GMO corn/soy among other crap you'll need a chemistry PhD to savvy so we don't want it in our eggs or our customer's either.

If one keeps the initial infrastructure costs down, they will generally pay for themselves in a reasonable time and provide lots of free entertainment on the Chicken Channel....

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/categories/medium-coops.19/

This is the coop I built for chickens. Three feet off ground. 8'Wx12'Lx8'H

I put the nest boxes on the outside so eggs are collected without entering coop.

We let the chickens free range out of the fence during the day then lock the fence at night.

great info. Have any pics of your coops?

very nice

Just for you, Mr Skot;

Thanks guys, this will be a project for sure.

Lowes sells, in my area anyway, an engineered wood siding material designed for playhouses, chicken coups, storage buildings etc. and it is cheap and is easy to work with. It has a hard durable exterior coating that provides a primed surface to paint.

I just used these on some deer blinds I built.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/LP-LP-Multi-Use-Panel-Application-As-4-ft-x-8-ft/1002550422

Here’s mine

Ok I'm following this one. I want to build a chicken tractor. I realize eggs will cost eleventeen dollars a dozen. But I just want to.

Safeway is my coop ....I can get a whole lot good eats...without the chic babysitting....

Yup. I just don't use 'bucket or other photo hosting service and the file upload limitations here render them postage stamp size. Drop me a pm with your e-mail addy and I'll send you a few that you can post here if others would like to see some options....

Mind mentioning on here which pasture fence and energizer you're using?

Yotes got a hen last year while they were out and about. I'd like to get the e fence thing but there are a whole lot of options out there.

thanks in advance.

Oh, mine get the Modesto organic pellets too. And a handful of their organic scratch in before they head in for the night.

For those interested, a Behren's 10 gal galvanized can and lid will fit a 50lb bag of pellets or scratch perfectly. Our feed is kept in the woodshed, which is not entirely critter proof. Rat traps are in use and catch a few every year, there's a skunk in the neighborhood and if the little cottontail that gets in there on occasion is an example the skunk could probably get in there too. But, with the lid down tight on them, I've never had a problem. If you've got raccoons in the area that might get to them, the bail handled will come up around and lock the lid too.

Have a pard that raises the X's without any any of the typical problems they exhibit. What he's found is that most commercial poultry feeds are roughly 16% protein. That's not enough to support their rapid growth rate with the inherent problems of not being able to stand/walk, heart failure, etc. He's gone to a 28% protein game bird ration and has not lost a bird to their common maladies. Out of curiosity, he's gone a couple months past the usual 8-10 week slaughter time frame and had roo's get to turkey-sized 17#. He keeps them in light weight PVC pipe-framed tractors that his boys move every day to give the birds lots of fresh grass/bugs. Also, he doesn't overload each tractor with too many birds so they have room to move and feed. Happy birds = healthy birds....

Interesting about that high protein feed.

The four I had just got so big their breasts dragged and they had a hard time standing up. At least they were able to get up the 18" board into the coop at night.

As mentioned in my initial post, Premier1 has been our source for PoultyNet mesh fencing and a 1 joule IntelliShock energizer has been the jolt for our 164' mesh fence around the coop. Check them out for 120V plug in models or those that can be assembled or a 12V system with a solar panel/frame/battery box and can be setup anywhere on your property. You'll also need a solar charge controller to prevent the panel from boiling the battery. Shoot me a pm and I'll send you a photo of our setup that protects the energizer and charge controller from the sun's UV that you can post here if others would like to see the setup. I also have a second one setup as a solar battery tender for the JD tractor that gets garaged over the winter. It's likely paid for itself in keeping the stout battery charged and happy for many years....

A quick gander at Premier1's website seems to show that they no longer carry the 10W solar panels and associated frames/battery boxes. Might give them a call to inquire about other sources and a system that will serve your needs. The built-up system I've described is far less expensive than their all-in-one solar systems provided one can do some basic wiring/connections per their instructions.

Charge Controller

1 Joule Energizer Options

some better pics of my operation got a raised bed below and stalls for chicks using our own eggs and a incubator

If you want dark orange yokes, feed corn to the hens.

I only keep 3 or 4 at a time.

Built a simple elevated coop out of scrap wood. It’s maybe 40” x40”. Has a nesting box on the back with a drop down door. Front has drop door door/ramp for bird/clean out access.

Vested at the top, front and back. Branch mounted to roost. Pine shavings on the floor. It’s inside an admittedly jankey Tpost and welded wire enclosure that’s maybe 15’x15’. Close them up at night.

Birds would sometimes jump on top of the coop and fly over the wire. Often roosting in the bush nearby for the night. Lost a couple that way. Put deer netting over it and it’s GTG.

If they take off into the swamp I send my bird dog after them. She brings them back. Usually no worse for the wear. Lol.

Cheaper to buy chicken and eggs in a store. But not there when store is closed.

I grew up with chickens and cleaning chicken houses. We made some good money selling eggs and we ate a lot of Sunday chicken dinners. If I were living in the country right now I'd have at least 50 or 60 good layers for my part time cash only job.

kwg

really appreciate the reply.

I've already got a solar charger, that is listed at 1.6 joules max. I'm thinking that would be enough for 164' which would likely serve my needs nicely. I wasn't sure it any charger will work. Has to be solar in my case, as I'm not running 110/120 electric 100' out there just for the chickens.

This is what I have, and as long as their connectors will work, I should be fine..........right?

https://parmakusa.com/product/deluxe-field-solar-pak-6/

I know for sure, once deer and dogs get a taste of it they tend to shy away. Can't imagine a yote deciding differently. I just worry about them jumping over the chicken fence.

It’s about quality, not cost.

10-4 rubberdick, you're right about that !

Some things we do just because.

Nothing cheap about the pickerel we catch, even for folks that live near a good lake!

Here is mine right after I finished building it. I have really enjoyed fresh eggs. Hard to eat store bought now. Fresh eggs used in baking have no equal. I saw pictures of coops and designed this to fit my needs.

Cloud egg:

Nice Sako. I got to get to work on this!

Thats a very nice design for your hens Sakoluvr.

Btw, how did you cook this egg to get the whites fluffy?

Here is a cloud egg recipe. Delicious with fresh eggs!


https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/cloud-eggs-3744344

The coop is over built but I tend to do that. It has real board and batten siding and a tin roof over the run and coop. Ventilation is important but drafts are not good. A roof over the run keeps it from getting muddy. Hardware cloth is best. Chicken wire may keep the birds in but won't keep predators out.

Based upon the specs, you should have a good, portable energizer for a standard 164' fence. Just make sure to have a good ground rod installation for it and keep the grass mowed under the fencing in the summer to prevent shorting out the lower strands. Our 1J energizer cooks the grass under the fencing. Fencing and ground rod clamps/leads can be had from Premier1 or your LHS. Don't know if your specific energizer has an integral charge controller to protect the battery from boiling on bright sunny days. May want to check it with your DMM on one of those days and consider splicing in a 6V controller if it is elevated so you don't fry your setup. Don't know how your planning on mounting the energizer but would suggest you hang some flashing or similar below the solar panel to keep the sun's UV from deteriorating the unit's face. Don't ask me how I know.... *grin*

I'll get to your pm's request for pixels in the next few days....

Coops are often free from people who thought they wanted chickens. Chickens are often free, too, for the same reason. Chicken tractors are a great idea if you have the acreage to move them to fresh forage daily.

+1 we did 80 Cornish cross first year in addition to our layers. Never again. Nasty beasts.

Orpingtons are in fact good to eat, and are a good dual-purpose bird. And aesthetically pleasing as well. My wife sells quite a few.

We raise multiple breeds, all of which are dual purpose but one. The wife took egg coloring into consideration because it sells well, but they all lay well and we eat the girls after egg production drops (2-3 years). We have raised up some roosters just for meat, which costs more but you know where your meat is coming from.

Our White Rocks stand out as our best foragers... they venture the farthest and stay out the longest. The other breeds we raise all pretty much tie... Orpingtons, americaunas/easter-eggers, Jersey Giants, BCMs.

Keep in mind dual purpose heritage breeds take 5 months+ to mature, unlike meat birds which take as little as 8-10 weeks.

You're ready for easter!

Thanks

this charger is 20 some odd years old and really shows very little deterioration. Batteries last 5+ years, 6v gel type. And I've had it working in places with 300 or so sunny days a year! Even have had it stored at times for 2 + years, brought it back to life with a new battery, and away we go.

I keep the grass cut way back where it will be used anyway, it's our firebreak where the chickens will be foraging. Hopefully the lower wire will be safe. We don't like "cooking grass around here". Wildfire is our biggest natural disaster type event..

Thanks for all the help, and I look forward to the pics.

Went to visit the girls, in their red light district, this morning;

Red Light district?

You "inviting" the neighborhood roosters over for a fee now?

"Red light" is their in-fared heat lamp !

Wife had to have Coastal living homes! Hardy board and Avec and all!

Wheels at one end and a handle on the other.
Lift it and move on the lawn if you have the space.
They love the grass and the poop doesn’t build up.

Chicken wire on the bottom of course.
Feeder where they have to put their heads in so they don’t waste feed. 45 degree pvc works well.
Doors to get eggs from outside. Side doors to open or close for weather.
And water to fill from outside.
Tall enough to walk into.
Went with a vet for a while. Knew her stuff. Made it real easy to maintain.