Chicken Coop design questions

[EddieWalker]

I've never raised chickens, nor do I know anything about taking care of them. Karen and I want to do this and we are starting to research chicken coops. Being completely ignorant about this has me wondering what questions to even ask. Our plan is to build a coop off the back of my hot tub gazebo. The wall is 12 feet wide with electricity and water in the wall. I'm thinking that I'll make it 6 feet deep, but can go much bigger if there is a reason to do so. I'm also thinking of a concrete floor, but for the life of me, I can't find a single image of anybody doing this online. Is there an advantage to plywood floors?

In a lot of the pictures we are looking at, they are elevated off the ground with posts at the corners. Is there any advantage to doing it this way?

Karen is a nurse and keeping things clean is very important to her, so we are wondering what would be things we should know before building that will make clean up easier?

Should the fenced in pen area have a roof on it?

Should we feed them inside the pen or outside? Part of my plan is to have a covered porch that is at least six feet. Would this be a better place to feed and water them?

On the interior walls, is plywood a good choice or would a plastic type of paneling be better? I'm nervous about wood because of how porous it is and how hard it is to clean.

And most importantly, for those of you who have done this, what did you do right and what did you do wrong?

Thanks,
Eddie

 

[FourSonsFarm]

How many chickens are y'all looking at raising? That will help with the advice of what sizing to make it. Are they going to be layers? That will help with the number of nesting boxes needed.

 

[EddieWalker]

Our goal is to have enough chickens to give us enough eggs to eat every day, and to be able to raise a few for butchering fairly often. We don't know how many we need to do this, so any advice on a number would be much appreciated. We are so new to this we don't even know what type of chickens to get, or how many roosters we should have.

Eddie

 

[FourSonsFarm]

Well, the number of eggs you will get a day largely depends on the breeds you have. Good layers like Rhode Island Reds or Leghorns will usually gave you one a day. Other breeds maybe only one a week. For comparison, we have 29 layers and get about 24 eggs a day +/- 2. We have 6 nesting boxes for them to share and they seem to do fine. We also have the coop elevated which helps with predators like snakes and mice, also makes it so you don't have to bend over all the time.

 

[FourSonsFarm]

I'm on the road right now but I'll post some more info later. We started with chickens about a year and a half ago and love it. I've learn a lot that I'd love to share.

 

[BigE_]

One thing about chickens is that they stink and attract flies. I wouldn't want that just off my hot tub....

We have about 100 chickens, and they are free range. The main coop itself is about 10x10, and then there is a 16x16 covered and wired chicken yard with a separate door. The two are linked through a wired in passage way.

Chickens only lay well for about 2 years. My wife won't kill the chickens that aren't laying, so we have a lot of extra chickens. Plus about 50 are chicks or pullets. We get about 15 eggs per day.

Another option is chicken tractors. Gives the chickens fresh grass and the eggs taste better, but keeps them safe from predators.

 

[DT86]

One thing about chickens is that they stink and attract flies. I wouldn't want that just off my hot tub....

That is exactly what I was thinking.

 

[kdm0811]

My wife is also a nurse, and wants everything spic and span. We have kept about 14 laying hens for going on 8 years now. I am sure that others have more experience than I, but this is my two cents worth.

Consider making your floor dirt, or more specifically sand, with a sand floor, you can rake and pick up the poo with a bedding fork (much like a cat's litter box). Chickens also like to take daily sand baths to help reduce fleas and mites.

I strongly recommend that you design your nesting boxes so that you can collect the eggs without entering the coop. This will keep you shoe soles clean (regardless of the condition within the coop).

We free range our birds on the weekends when we are home to make sure the neighbors dog dosen't come around,... but that is another story.

 

[dmccarty]

Chickens poop, which stinks and can draw flies. We have a sorta movable Chicken Tank that we move around as needed. The Chicken Tank does not have a floor so they chicken poo fertilizes the ground. If you have a floored coop, you will have to keep it covered in wood chips or some such and clean it out frequently. Having an elevated coop allows you to get a wheel barrow under the coop to clean out the wood and poo. I thought of building a coop off the ground and with a floor but I wanted some I could tear down an recover most of the materials if we got rid of the chickens.

A good rule of thumb is that chickens need at least five square feet for each chicken. I think more space is better to keep them from pecking at each other. We started with six chickens in a coop with 64 square feet. One chicken was a ***** and pecked the heck out of the other hens. The most friendly hen we had was almost like a dog and very friendly and eventually died. I think the ***** hen pecked her so much that it caused, or at least made worse, the illness. We gave the problematic hen away because of the one kid who loves the chickens. I would have preferred to have added the chicken to some dumplings.

We now have four hens, two Rhode Islands and two Dominques. Rhode Islands are supposed to be a bit aggressive and Dominques are more laid back. We get around 5-7 eggs per hen per week which is more than enough eggs. We eat a lot of egg salad during the week and eggs for breakfast.

Our place is loaded with predators so we have to keep the chickens well protected hence the Chicken Tank. Right now the Tank is in our fenced garden so we can let the hens out to free range. My chores list contains a more dedicated chicken run that will be covered. We have not lost a hen to a predator but we have seen owls and hawks eye balling the hens. Kinda surprised we have not lost a hen yet.

If it was up to me we would get rid of the hens since they take up a bunch of the wifey's time. We could buy eggs cheaper than the feed costs and the time spent on the chickens. Supposedly our hens eggs are healthier but I can't prove it. The chickens are really pets not live stock...

Later,
Dan

 

[RoMad]

I would also recommend a chicken tractor. If you google chicken tractor you will find plenty of them to look at. Chickens love to scratch the ground and thier manure is very good fertilizer. I can always tell where my chicken tractor has been parked because the grass is greener there.
I made mine out of two 4" pieces of galvenized pipe for the runners and then built is up from that. Mine is 8' wide by 16' long and about 7' tall. We started out with 15 baby chicks but now are down to 6 and that is really plenty of eggs for three small families. Rhode Island Reds seem to do well here in Fl. They lay almost an egg a chicken a day. We try to move the chicken tractor once a week but sometimes it is a little longer than that. I have a couple of pictures of it that I will post later.