Thinking aboout building a chicken coop

[OUHOMER]

I am planning a big garden this year . lot s tomatoes..
Also decided to get some chickens.

Had chickens before, but i was thinking about a dozen chickens,

Does anyone here have any? just wondering how big a coop one might need?

gonna put grandma on the street corner and pimp the tomotes and eggs

[C&CDean]

You planning all hens, or are you planning on having a rooster too?

[Mongo]

Roosters only. Homer is a notorious cockfighter

[C&CDean]

In that case he needs 35-gallon barrells laying on their sides and a tether for each rooster. No coop needed.

[Mongo]

:D

[Mongo]

Since you have been around the cockfighting tour, do they eat the roosters afterwards? Is it a never ending grill out session at one of the events?

[OutlandTrophy]

heck no! you don't want to eat them due to the various chemicals put into the birds.

[royalfan5]

When I was younger, I had a small flock. Maybe dozen hens and Rooster named Xavier. My Grandpa built a small coop with a wire enclosure that was probably 5x7 inside with a similar size for the wire enclosure. I hated those ****ing chickens so much because everyday when I went to get eggs they would fly right at my head. My Grandparents had a much more substantial poultry operation at one point, and their coop was probably 12X2o with a bigger wire enclosure. By they had layers and broilers. The other side of family mostly did free range stuff without a dedicated coop. The downside of that is sometimes you run chickens through the combine.

[Leroy Lizard]

Don't do it yourself. Chicken coops need to be built by pros to exact standards.

http://www.maggiore.net/greenacres/museum/images/mus136.jpg

[Sooner5030]

hobby, self-sufficiency, health or economic?

I doubt economic as eggs are very cheap. If you want to feed your hens that's a good way to control what you eat.

[Okla-homey]

I should think you could make a decent chicken coop out of one of those sheds they sell that you see in the parking lot at Lowe's or Home Depot. You would need to build a row or two of roosting boxes inside and put a light in there but what else?

Then a few yards of fencing around the coop to establish your chicken yard, and you're done. Right?

[OU_Sooners75]

The optimum space for chickens is 3 to 4 square feet per bird. Chickens like to move around so the more space you provide the happier the hens. If you keep too many in a small enclosure they will pick at each other and fight. You will have birds missing feathers and often wounds that may lead to the birds death which is natures way of making room.


When I was growing up we had about a dozen hens and my dad built the coop himself. The coop was fairly large for how many hens we had, but it gave them plenty of room and they seemed happy. the floor plan of the coop was something like 6ft by 10ft. Height was about 7 feet tall. make sure you have areas (like shelves with cubby holes) and plenty of hay so they can make their nest and lay their eggs.

On the outside make sure they are fenced in with a protective covering over the fenced in area so no predators can get to them, especially if you live in a rural area.

[Flagstaffsooner]

Oh, great more chickens. We have more chicken poop around here than Tyson ever dreamed of.

[AlbqSooner]

I knew a guy years ago who raised fighting cocks. He had the obligatory barrels and he built a fence around the area. Predators began to use his place as a grocery store so he put a dog in there. Dog ate the roosters. He resupplied roosters and reinforced the fence. Then he put a good size bull in there. No more predator problems.

[Flagstaffsooner]

Ah say, ah say, you boys sure do talk about cocks alot.

http://images.wikia.com/looneytunes/images/a/a0/Foghorn_Leghorn.png

[soonercruiser]

Ah say, ah say, you boys sure do talk about cocks alot.

http://images.wikia.com/looneytunes/images/a/a0/Foghorn_Leghorn.png

"Now Boy - Show me what you've learned!"

[Mongo]

heck no! you don't want to eat them due to the various chemicals put into the birds.

Deca dianobol and meth?

I know nothing about cockfighting, thanks hey zeus. So performance enhancing on the cockfight circuit is encouraged?

[C&CDean]

I don't know anything about it either. I've just neighbors with lots of cocks tied to stakes next to blue 35-gallon barrells. Hell, they might just be raising up supper.

[Leroy Lizard]

All this talk about cocks. A little more SoonerFans, less ShaggyBevo, please.

[OutlandTrophy]

Deca dianobol and meth?

I know nothing about cockfighting, thanks hey zeus. So performance enhancing on the cockfight circuit is encouraged?

strychnine or arsenic I think

[87sooner]

you don't need a very large coop for a dozen chickens....
we have about 18 that live in a coop about 4' x 6'....
of course all they do is sleep/lay eggs in it...
then we have a pen around the coop....
most days they have free range of about 3-4 acres...

[soonercruiser]

Before you build, think about renting
Hotel for Chicken Opens Up in Cornwall
http://www.odditycentral.com/funny/hotel-for-chicken-opens-up-in-cornwall.html

[Tulsa_Fireman]

you don't need a very large coop for a dozen chickens....
we have about 18 that live in a coop about 4' x 6'....
of course all they do is sleep/lay eggs in it...
then we have a pen around the coop....
most days they have free range of about 3-4 acres...

This. Kinda.

The tighter the space the more the birds will have a tendency to inflict damage to one another. There's really such a thing as a "pecking order" and if you keep them too "cooped up", the lower, weaker birds will take a steady diet of *** beatings from the larger, more dominant hens. Just like women in an office setting. And like women in an office, once blood is raised, the entirety will continue to peck and injure the bird until it A) dies or B) you intervene. And this isn't considering the issues of confinement for disease spread, larger mite infestations, and the impact the stresses can have in laying production.

You don't have to build a castle, but give them some space. Within the building, separate the roosting area from the sitting or nesting area, preferably on opposite sides of the structure. Make sure nesting areas are partitioned to allow for a single space for each nesting hen with sufficient spaces for 1/3 to 1/2 the number of active laying hens you have. They'll lay in different cycles during the day, but actively laying, dominant hens will occupy the space until they've laid for the day and with insufficient nesting/laying areas, lower, weaker hens will be forced to ground lay. Once they get in a habit of ground laying, they'll always ground lay. And unless you want rotten eggs or every varmint in the world running through your house, you'll get this right from jump. Roosting space isn't as vital as most roosting birds will come together anyway. You'll want approximately two times the roosting space as you have birds, but this is somewhat flexible depending on the number of birds you have. Imagine each roosted bird occupies one square foot and plan accordingly. So with all that, you should be able to come to a rough idea of the square footage you'll need for the number of birds you're planning on caring for.

At 12 total birds, 24 ft. sq. roosting space, 4-6 nesting boxes at roughly one square foot a piece (if not a touch bigger, this is ENTIRELY dependent on the breed and class of bird. Were you raising big mediterranean classes or something of the like, you'd want to look at maybe a 16" box. Most asiatics and some american hybrids and crosslinks are genetically designed to be small so a 12" box makes more sense), and if you want to store your feed, straw, and rock in the building itself, enough space to do so.

So going off of 12 birds, that's 24 feet in roost, 6 feet in nesting/laying boxes, and the remainder of your space needs to consider housing active birds in inclement weather. The majority of space in your house needs to remain unused with nice, clean straw to allow birds space to raise hell, scratch around, and believe it or not, NOT get bored when the rain or the snow comes. Once they get crowded and/or bored, they'll go back to kickin' the crap out of each other which results again in stressed birds, lowered egg production, reduced quality meat, and potentially dead, malnutritioned, or diseased birds which threatens the entire flock. I go by a rule of whatever space you allow for your roost, that's 1/4 to 1/3 the space in the house not counting your laying boxes (noticing a trend?).

24' sq. roost, using the largest of the options, would result in a total 96 square foot house, or an easy to build 12x8, 10x10, even 8x10 or 8x8. This allows for the natural expansion of your flock but doesn't create such a massive house that your 12 birds won't be able to use all the space.

Next up, cost effective construction options for your new Casa del Pollo.

[Tulsa_Fireman]

Okay, you've got an idea of what size you need for your new chicken house. Keep in mind that size isn't set in stone. The larger the yard, the more you can sacrifice space in the house. But again, be actively conscious about space for inclement weather, alternate uses (storage of feed, supplies, and medicines), and the possibility of increasing your flock numbers. If you MAY store feed, MAY add another half dozen birds, MAY decide to need space for broilers or production chicks, set yourself up now. Expansions are a pain in the butt.

There are a bunch of different ways to build your house. Raised wood floor, pre-engineered structure, raised stud wall, post and rafter, but I'd personally recommend post-and-beam with a single pitch truss roof. It's easy to build, cheap to build, easy to sheathe, sturdy as rock, and affords you the ability to create usable space and workable walls. You can come in after the fact and build a simple floor if you're of a mind. And it's all independent of the structure, allowing you to start your flock that much quicker. For your nesting/laying boxes, keep 'em off the ground by at least a foot or so and don't make the mistake of using OSB. OSB offgasses over time and even dried in, will delaminate. But you're not building the Taj Mahal, so save some money. 1x10 or 1x12 roof deck works well, so does utility grade one-by stock. If you're not familiar with lumber grading, look for the "UTIL" stamp or a #3 grade. #2 is not second best. It's Standard and Better, and it's too damn much money. #4 will work if you can find it, but the only place I remember carrying #4 and cull as a sales product was Lumber 2 down in Oklahoma City. This one-by stock will rip down and make great runners for your roost, too.

Square or round posts, 2x6 or 2x8 runner, doesn't matter. 2x4 single pitch trusses are easy to build with gusset plates and a framer's square and by running out your tails on the back side and cutting your sheathing on the front a few inches short, you're some hardware mesh away from having the ventilation you need while still keeping your house protected from the eventual possum, skunk, or coon that I guarantee will come sniffing around. Add a junk door and even a window or two if you like (you'll appreciate the extra ventilation when you're shoveling out crap in August. Your ambulance provider will too when you don't pass out from the ammonia).

Add plenty of dry, clean straw, sufficient feeders and waterers (keep them out of your house! It attracts varmints.), and last but not least, a sh*tpot of chickens and you're good to go. Consider digging in a GFCI 110 leg of power to your building as well. You'll appreciate having the outlet in the dead middle of January for your heat lamps instead of stringing a bunch of extension cords all over creation. That's asking to cook your birds earlier than you want. And being a fireman, I can't advise that.

Good luck!

[Blue]

Bookmarked fore when I get my coop.

[delhalew]

Oh, great more chickens. We have more chicken poop around here than Tyson ever dreamed of.

Wish I had some chicken crap. Nothing makes better compost than chicken crap. Just rake out the straw and crap mixture from your coup in February and you have great compost by April.