How Many chickens Can This House ?Trying to delete

[canesisters]

HEY! I clicked on the link in @Ridgerunner 's post and found MY tractor!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/sadie-lane-brooder-tractor.65749/
I didn't read it (lol) so I'm trying to remember the dimensions - but I believe that it's 12' long and either 24" or 36" deep. At it's highest point it's almost 6' high.
I have brooded several batches of chicks in it and kept a few hens being quarantined in there too. Here's what I've found.
Floor space of 24"x12' is TRASHED by 6-8 chicks by the time they are fully feathered (16weeks?). Another month and they are on a packed, 2" deep 'floor' of poo. Perhaps I'm lazier than most - but moving that thing daily turned into weekly before the 2nd week. That became 'as needed' within a month and it hasn't moved in YEARS. It's heavy, awkward, and - oddly - I didn't realize how much yard it seemed to 'take up' once it had left several 12' footprints and still needed fresh ground...
The two australorp-x hens were in there for a month. It got NASTY!
Best laid plans and all that....

 

[Nyboy]

At this point I dont care about eggs or meat. I do care about the living conditions of any animal I am responsible for. There job will be to eat ticks and other bugs. I see them as a hobby and like all hobbies they cost money. I also need to house my ducks. I am thinking now of buying a wood shed and dividing it in half. One side roost for chickens with large pen. Other side same but for ducks.

 

[Nyboy]

Something like this with hardware cloth run on each side

 

[Ridgerunner]

HEY! I clicked on the link in @Ridgerunner 's post and found MY tractor!
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/sadie-lane-brooder-tractor.65749/
I didn't read it (lol) so I'm trying to remember the dimensions - but I believe that it's 12' long and either 24" or 36" deep. At it's highest point it's almost 6' high.
I have brooded several batches of chicks in it and kept a few hens being quarantined in there too. Here's what I've found.
Floor space of 24"x12' is TRASHED by 6-8 chicks by the time they are fully feathered (16weeks?). Another month and they are on a packed, 2" deep 'floor' of poo. Perhaps I'm lazier than most - but moving that thing daily turned into weekly before the 2nd week. That became 'as needed' within a month and it hasn't moved in YEARS. It's heavy, awkward, and - oddly - I didn't realize how much yard it seemed to 'take up' once it had left several 12' footprints and still needed fresh ground...
The two australorp-x hens were in there for a month. It got NASTY!
Best laid plans and all that....

I didn't see where you put in the dimensions, you said it was a shipping crate. Not only were you published you won picture of the week, quite a celebrity. Some of my constructions for the chickens followed the same basic principles, use what is on hand and if it ain't square it ain't square, so what. As long as it works.

 

[canesisters]

At this point I dont care about eggs or meat. I do care about the living conditions of any animal I am responsible for. There job will be to eat ticks and other bugs. I see them as a hobby and like all hobbies they cost money. I also need to house my ducks. I am thinking now of buying a wood shed and dividing it in half. One side roost for chickens with large pen. Other side same but for ducks.

I'm sure that no one was suggesting that you would do anything less. We all just get awfully chatty about our chickens.

That double-door shed would make a great coop! May I suggest - if you haven't already planned something like this - to have a little chicken wire 'closet' inside the door? Somewhere that you can step in and close the shed behind you BEFORE stepping into the actual coops. That way, no one can slip past you and out.

 

[Ridgerunner]

At this point I dont care about eggs or meat. I do care about the living conditions of any animal I am responsible for. There job will be to eat ticks and other bugs. I see them as a hobby and like all hobbies they cost money. I also need to house my ducks. I am thinking now of buying a wood shed and dividing it in half. One side roost for chickens with large pen. Other side same but for ducks.

I totally agree with that, whether they are livestock, pets, or somewhere in between. A responsible person takes care of their animals, which actually makes it easier on that person. You have less stress to deal with since you are not always trying to manage problems. I think how much room you have is a very important factor. If you crowd them they can easily develop behavioral problems. And they poop a lot, you may have noticed that with the ducks. The more spread out they are the less that poop builds up and has to be dealt with. In my opinion you need to handle poop as little as you can manage, yet if it builds up it can be unhealthy and stink. At the same time that poop is a tremendous benefit to your compost pile.

Some quick comments on that building. I like the roof design as you can walk in when it is raining without water running on you. Assuming your pens are on the ends, the rainwater does not run into those pens. I like that you can walk in. When I go in to collect eggs or feed and water I can observe things that I would not notice if i could not go in. I'll build on Debbie's idea, go with one door with that chicken wire closet stretching all the way across to the back to give you a dry storage area for feed and whatever else you might want to store in there. Use a metal garbage can to keep mice out of the feed. If you set it up so it is easy to take care of your animals you will probably take better care if them.

I'd like to see more ventilation, with those ducks in there especially. I don't keep ducks but understand they can make a mess with water. In summer you need ventilation to get the heat out, but in winter you need to get the moisture out. Moisture and freezing temperatures can lead to frostbite. I like ventilation up high. Hot air rises so openings up high lets that hot air out. Since warm air holds more moisture getting rid of the warmer air in winter helps get rid of more moisture. Don't worry about keeping your birds warm in winter, their down coats will take care of that as long as you keep them dry. As long as it does not get blocked by snow a ridge vent would work great. A roof vent can move a lot of air. Another common way to provide a lot of high ventilation is to leave the top of the walls under the overhang open and cover that opening with hardware cloth or maybe soffit covers. A lot of time the framing for the roof is 2x4's on edge. If you put your siding up to the bottom of those you have a nice natural opening all the way across that wall. Have enough overhang to keep rain and snow out.

Since you are going with a fixed coop there are three very important things to consider: location, location, and location. You do not want the runs or even coop in a low spot where water collects. Water is your enemy. A wet coop or run is unhealthy and will probably stink. Put it where water drains away from it. That can be a high spot or haul in enough dirt to raise it above the surroundings before you build. If you can manage to free range yours those runs probably wont get much use and the poop should not build up that much. With your small numbers it may even keep grass in it. That would be nice. Plans don't always work out as you hope but where you locate the coop and runs can make your life a lot easier plus give the chickens and ducks a healthier environment.

 

[catjac1975]

View attachment 28527 Blue one 98 moblie View attachment 28527

If that nephew of yours is still doing well, perhaps you could hire him to build you a coup. I would forget about the mobile ones. The chickens will eat the weeds to dirt. I have giant aster weeds that grow up in mine every year. I guess they don't like their taste. They provide them with shade and visual protection from hawks. My husband builds our houses based on a 4 X 8 sheet of plywood. We like them tall so we can climb in to collect eggs and clean them out.We do not do all of that figuring of space that is recommended. In the north they need to be able to keep each other warm. But they have roosts which gives them lost of room. We also provide a small light bulb so they keep laying in the dead of winter. But a bulb can also provide heat in an enclosed house. We also have a big fenced in area for them. I agree with the cute coups being a waste of money. They are made with cheap wood.I do think there are kits you can buy that are of better quality. Or even a small home depot shed can be used.

 

[baymule]

I much prefer a dirt floor over one that must be constantly cleaned. Phooey on that! I do deep litter, when it gets messy, toss in more leaves, hay, or pine shavings. They enjoy scratching through it (leaves preferred) and it makes compost right there in the coop. I did it out 2-3 times a year and spread more leaves. LOW MAINTENANCE!

Have your nephew build you a walk in coop, with 4x4 posts set in the ground and a covered run attached. Then you have the option to open up the coop and let them out in the yard or just let them range around in the coop and run.

This was my coop in Livingston. It was 8x7 and I kept 6 hens. Later I added on a 12'x8' run and got more chickens. That gave them plenty of room and I also let them out in the yard.

Note all the ventilation. In winter, I stapled plastic over the largest spaces, but left the bottom open.

Not saying that you have to copy this, it's just to give you an idea of a walk in coop, dirt floor that the chickens liked. I like @canesisters idea of a wired off walk in area for you with space for a trash can with lid for feed.

I used a star riser and made them steps to their roost. LOL

See the wire laying on the ground? The whole coop was skirted with wire to prevent dig ins. Sometimes I had the run 2 feet deep in leaves.

 

[canesisters]

hahahaha
@Nyboy you should know better than to get us talking about our chickens...

 

[ducks4you]

Some things to consider:
1) the 3 sq. ft./bird is CRUCIAL!!!! If your birds are crowded they WILL FIGHT and you will lose a bird!!!
2) preferences regarding a dirt floor are fine. I PREFER my coop that has a floor box off of the ground. I keep 12 hens right now, and I have a 12' x 30' ft run. My pre fab coop took 2 of us to put together and it took one day. I took the advice from BYC (you should go there) and put a piece of vinyl flooring of the floor. I use Equine Fresh under the roosts, then I cover it and the rest of the floor with medium pine shavings. I spot clean every month and strip the bedding 4x/year. Their respiration is critical since birds respire much more liquid than people or other livestock. Keeping them DRY is also critical bc that is another way to lose birds.
3) What if your ground floods? You will have a wet mess. I don't have that problem.
4) free ranging seems great. It takes chicks ~ 6 months to start laying. It only takes one predator to kill the birds that you raised, and then you wait on more birds to get to egg laying age. I just tilled up my birds run. The love it!! After I till I take a few days to remove the "dirty run dirt" and replace it with fresh, "Clean Dirt." Chickens walk and poo and walk and poo, so it makes great fertilizer.
NOTE: If you live anywhere near a creek or river you could easily have a ferret or it's relatives attack your birds. They can get through dog fencing and they will kill an entire flock JUST FOR FUN. I have a friend who has lost 2 flocks this way.
My coop was $1,000.00
My dog fencing was free, but would run about $700.00, so about $2K
Only had to build it once.
I ALSO painted the inside of the coop before using, and will probably scrub and repaint it again next year after 4 years of use.
I think a LOT of people get birds and think about the barnyard in "The Wizard of Oz", or in the movie, "Yankee Doodle Dandy," where they see the birds free ranging. Many people do this who already have a barn. I would NEVER let my birds free range!!! They would climb/flutter up to my loft--I have steps--every night and poo ALL OVER my hay and straw!!!
NO THANKS!!!