OT: Chicken coop plans

Wanting to start raising chickens, both laying and meat birds. Can any of you give me some plans on building the coop. Maybe 50 meat birds at a time and enough layers to get a few dozen eggs a week. Show me what you got and what works, what I need to do to keep predators out. A lot of bald eagles around, some coons and possums, dogs, cats and who knows what else.Do I need to keep them in a pen or let them free range for the best taste. Any suggestions on where and what to order for chicks.

Do you have much land??? I really like the portable coops than many use in free range operations. They chickens are moved around while under/in the coop. So their manure and many health issues are minimized.

Here is a picture of one built out of dog kennel panels. I have seen them mounted on a wagon gear with the sides reaching clear to the ground and a 20x20 area covered. The whole thing is just moved every few days.

I keep meat birds and layers separate. Layers to be kept for 2-3 years should have their own facility.

Raising them together as chicks is okay, but you can't start a new batch of chicks in the same space, the adults will attack and kill the chicks.

2-3 square feet per bird is plenty. Provide roosts for layers or dual-purpose birds to perch on. Not needed for birds specifically bred for meat production.

It's a good idea to have the coop up off the ground enough that air can circulate under it. You don't want mold and mildew building up.

Lots of fresh air and light INSIDE the coop is good as well. Don't worry too much about insulation, my layers do very nicely in an uninsulated coop and it's currently -14°

As long as they can stay dry and out of the wind they're fine. Feeding them some extra cracked corn in cold weather will give them the extra energy to keep themselves warm.

I used to let mine run loose in the yard, but the damn foxes got so thick I was losing too many birds. It's better if you CAN let them wander around. They'll eat anything they can catch, cut down on bugs, and reduce your feed bill. If predation becomes a problem, an outdoor area big enough for them to sun themselves and take dust baths is important. Use whatever sort of fencing is needed to keep predators out. Keeping the birds in is usually not a problem.

For 50+ chickens you're going to need a BIG coop. At 4 square feet per chicken that's 200 sq. ft. And you'll need an even bigger pen.

Chickens prefer to be loose in the yard, but predators will be a problem and they will get into flower beds and leave droppings all over the place. Better to have them penned up except when you're home to keep an eye on them.

Our chicken coop is constructed like a miniature pole barn with a concrete floor and T1-11 siding. Make sure you provide plenty of ventilation. I put big screened windows in ours which can be closed off in the winter. Save yourself some aggravation by trenching in electricity and water to the coop. A yard hydrant outside the coop will save you carrying buckets of water in the winter.

You might fins something HERE.

Noah W

Where you live and how much ground do you have. You do know that meat ones need a different diet than the eggs layers.Bottom line got plenty of money to get the project up and running. Where will the food supply come from. Then the shed and fence so your location will determine what kind of shelter is needed.

4 years ago in January, I helped neighbor convert his chicken coop in to a hay storage. I got so sick I thought I was going to die.

It took the Dr's a month to determine that I had histoplasmosis.

Histoplasma capsulatum is found in soil, often associated with decaying bat guano or bird droppings. Disruption of soil from excavation or construction can release infectious elements that are inhaled and settle into the lung.

The closest I want to get to a chicken is at KFC.

Once I got histo, others have told me stories where they knew people dying from pet birds in a cage.

Another person had a few chickens for eggs, she got it too.

PLEASE GOOGLE HISTOPLASMOSIS is you raise chickens.

Check with your county agent. Here in Wisconsin they have plans available. Probably have literature on raising the chickens.

Old chopper wagons work. We use these for storage and chicken houses.



there are also pens in the barn for the ones we keep for laying and soup chicken.
All our chickens get the same feed and are mixed together, except the heavy meat birds. If we want to butcher go out at night with a flash light and grab a few.

If your worried about predators, shut them in at night. We wait a couple of months till they get big enough to fend for them selves some before letting them out for first time.

True free range(no fence once so ever) is best. the problem is that they find all kinds of places to hid nests and to roost for the night.
Give them plenty of water during winter for best egg production.

I converted half of the milk house into a layer house and keep a couple dozen in there. They have a 20 by 40 run outside that is fenced sides, top, and trenched three feet down. You won't need to worry about cats once they are bigger. I have to keep kicking the cats out of there as they like to curl up with the hens in the winter.

I usually do a few hundred Cornish cross meat birds a year. I've gotten to where I keep them in my old bumper pull stock trailer attached to a tractor. I pull it out during the day and pull it in at night. You will have to clean out bedding about every other day so get some straw and a big compost heap. Those birds are the nastiest most disgusting things I have ever raised but they taste the very best. Six and a half weeks and you will have 5-6 pound dressed fryers. The breasts are so huge you can cut them in half and have four.

My chicken house is an old travel trailer that has had every thing removed and works great and cost very little. My mom did one with an old 8 by 40 mobile home and it worked just great and again cost very little

George,
A cousin of my mom's nearly died from histoplasmosis after cleaning an old building of its pigeon droppings. You're right - nothing to mess with.

I think anyone who allows children near chickens should be reported to CPS.

Years ago, there was no way to determine you had histo until they did an autopsy.

Dr's thought I had lung cancer.

Worse yet, the reaction to the only med to cure it.

JD,
You have a mobile home for chickens.

I'm thinking of building one as well. I'm going to go with a very large chicken tractor. Mine is going to have and 8 ft. by 8 ft. by 8 ft. high wooden building up about 2 ft. off the ground over a set of wooden skids. The skids are gong to be 16 ft. long with the building on one end and a fenced in area on the other. Going to move it around with the farm tractor. Shouldn't have to worry too much about predators. Can always get a solar electric fence charger and some wire to discourage predators.