Chicken Coops

So, you've decided to get chickens! The first thing you need to do is build or purchase a coop.

Buying a Coop:

If you are only going to keep a few chickens (2-5), buying a coop is an easy, low hassle option. There are plenty of places online to buy coops. We originally bought a small coop on mypetchicken.com. You could also check out your local urban farming or feed store. They will usually have a few pre-fab coops for you to choose from. Here in the cities, Egg/Plant Urban Farm Supply is a great place to find coops.



This was our original coop we purchased from mypetchicken.com

Our original, pre-fab coop was easy to build (think Ikea or Target furniture), it was cute and it was mailed to a place nearby for us to pick up. They are perfect for a small yard with a few chickens. The downside to these coops are the price. They can be pretty spendy and the quality of the materials are to be expected from a pre-fabricated product. Once we got our coop, we quickly realized that we were going to need more space. So, my husband checked out a few chicken coop designs online and drew out a plan for a larger coop. We still have our small coop and use it for our new chicks when they are ready to go outdoors. We also use it for isolation when one of our chickens are sick/injured or is being bullied.

Building a Coop:

I think building a coop is the best way to go. Not only can you choose your own design, but you can decide how big you want it, what materials go into it and it is usually a more economical choice. A lot of people build their coops from recycled materials or use an old shed/outbuilding already on their property. There are plenty of places online where you can find good coop designs. My husband used a designed featured on backyardchickens.com and tweaked it to fit our needs. You can also purchase coop designs at mypetchickens.com or from places like Egg/Plant.

I wish I could post our coop design, but my husband really never drew anything up. He simply saw a design, got together with his parents and sort of figured it out as they went. My in-laws have built half a dozen houses, including their own, so they were the perfect people to help my husband with this project. I stayed out of it and provided food and drinks to my hard workers.

When building a coop, there are 5 essential things that need to go into your design.

1. Coop/Shelter

Probably the most essential thing when building a coop is that you need to have a type of shelter for your chickens. The coop/shelter needs to be predator proof and should have vents near the roof. Chickens' respiratory systems are very sensitive. Ventilation is essential to keeping your chickens happy and healthy. Chickens like to scratch and kick up dust as well as let off ammonia fumes. Not to mention they poop a lot. Keeping your coop ventilated will allow dust, ammonia and poop fumes to exit the coop. It will also allow air circulation when it gets hot during the summer. We have vents that we can open and close on all four sides of the coop. When it's warm, all the vents are open. When it gets cold I will usually close all but one vent to allow heat to stay inside, at the same time allowing ventilation. Some people will insulate their coops, especially those that live in the tundra like me. We did not insulate our coop and we have never had a problem with it being too cold. It's really a personal choice. The coop should also have a large door that will allow easy access for cleaning (we have three, two on the side opposite of what is pictured above and one that opens to the run side). You will also need a small door with a ramp that leads to the run.

2. Run

The run is the outdoor area where the chickens can run around in (get it, run around). This should also be predator proof. We put chicken wire all along the outside, through to the roof. We also put chicken wire on the ground (that we covered in dirt) and connected it to the walls to prevent digging predators from getting into the run. You don't have to make your run predator proof. If you decide not to, you will need to make sure you close all doors to the coop/shelter at night. We like to take trips up north to the cabin on weekends and we wanted to be able to leave the door leading to the run open to allow the chickens to come and go as they please. By having our run predator proof, we don't have to worry about locking them up at night. This allows us the freedom to go away for the weekend and not worry about having our ladies cooped up all weekend (get it, cooped up, I'm on a roll)!

3. Roosts

You know the saying "chickens come to roost at night," well that is because chickens sleep on roosts. Back in the day when chickens were wild, it was safer to sleep up in trees. Wild birds, like turkeys, still do this. Your coop needs to have some roosts for your chickens to sleep on, otherwise, they will find any high point in your coop and roost there.

4. Laying boxes

 

 

 

 

 

If you are raising laying hens, you need to have a safe, enclosed place for them to lay their eggs. You also should raise them off the ground to prevent egg eating. We have six laying boxes that are suspended off the ground, with a little roost to allow them to easily get up to the boxes. When the laying boxes are on the ground, it is tempting for the chickens to see the eggs and eat them. We had a problem with this when we first got chickens, which forced us to raise the boxes. When we raised the boxes off the ground, the problem was solved. We also have two large doors that open to the laying boxes to allow easy access to retrieve the eggs.

5. Food and Water

This isn't necessarily something you need to build into your coop, but you do need a spot to put food water, grit and oyster shells. Any open spot in your coop/run will work. We put the water in the coop because we have a heated water dispenser and it is easier to plug in from inside our coop. We usually place the food outdoors in the run, except when it snows, then we bring it back in the coop. We also have smaller grit and oyster shell containers that attach to the chicken wire in the run.

And there you have it. The coop is probably your biggest investment when you first begin chicken keeping. We probably spent about $1,000 in materials to build our coop, which sounds like a lot, but if you look at the pre-fab coops, you would spend a lot more on a similar coop. There are certainly ways to cut costs. Like I mentioned before, a lot of people will use materials they already have or buildings that are already on their property. A good place to look for free/cheap materials is Craigslist or ask friends that recently built a house/building if they have any leftover materials they don't want. We simply bought all of our materials at the hardware store because we are lazy and didn't want the hassle of searching for free ones. Plus I think my husband had some gift cards he needed to use, so there you go.