Chook Me!

I need help building a chicken coop?

I need a coop big enough for 4 laying hens, and a rooster. If it matters the hens are 2 rhode island reds, a barred rock, and an Easter egger, and the rooster will be a rhode island red. Is there any websites that have step by step instructions? Or a website with cheap coops? Thanks!

Public Comments

1. Since you are getting such a small number of chickens, I would suggest you make a much smaller coop. You should build one more or less the size of a dog house with a run. You should have four or three nest boxes, a perch for them and there food and water dish. Just look on google images, and type in chicken coop. It'll give you a basic idea of what it should look like. You can also build the nest boxe's in a way in which they come out of the coop , so you can just harvest your eggs by opening the top of the nest boxe's, instead of having to actually go into the coop to collect them. I also suggest putting golf balls in their nest boxes, because that incourages them to lay more eggs, and stops them from eating the eggs they laid. Good Luck, Liza
2. To tell you the truth.... I don't like coops. My chickens free range you could say. They go as they please. They only are put up at night. It all depends on your neighbors if they like them. If you put them in a shed or garadge, place them in it with a fenced in area like a chicken wire with a top over it or a dog femce with a top over it. Then after a week of you placing them in the shed at night they will continue going on going in the shed at ducsk then lock them up. SOme people will though keep the hooded dog fence connected to the shed for extra protection, thats fine as long as they have plenty of room to move. In the shed should have 1 nesting box per 2 chcikens, well 2 hens. So you have four hens so youll need 2 boxes. A wooden rod or thick tree limp is to be across the shed so they can roost, they feel safe up high at night. Shavings like pine can be spread across the bottom and also in the nest boxes. Here are pics of mine http://www.keeping-chickens.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/chicken-house.jpg