Best Prefab Chicken Coup

[Frazzemrat1]

Most of the time, those prefabbed coops at the feed stores are so tiny. If you buy one from a farmer, it will be expensive, but correct.

I'm also looking for a bigger coop, although what I have works, I'm not in a rush. I've been thinking about buying either used or new, one of those plastic sheds, the walk ins, and converting it to a coop.

 

[JDN]

A few thoughts...my work took me through a large part of Rural western NC a few weeks ago, and I found myself craning my neck all the time looking at coop setups that people have. It seems the most common setup was a 10x20 or 10x10 or 20x20 chain link dog pen, covered on top, be it with tarp, canopy, or harware cloth. Coops tended to be small-ish compared to the amount of birds, but were elevated and in the middle of the run. I see that all over the Carolinas, in one way or another.

Sheds: Go on Craigslist or Facebook, or down to the flea market (my local flea market has a "shed guy" that sets up a booth) or to the feed store, or the guy on the roadside that advertises them with monthly prices. They can usually add windows for you, actually they have a laundry list of options. It seems that they often start with the walls and roof prefabbed and customize windows and doors. If I went that route in your shoes, I would ask the guy to cut two 2'4 windows on either side of the door and frame it in hardware cloth, face it south or southwest, and have the access door on the opposite narrow side. Even Home Depot by me has options to add things to a shed, windows being one of them.

Plans...Google NDSU Chicken Coop Plans, or LSU has a lot of them as well. Show them to a carpenter and ask for a quote.

Third, remember that they don't really care how the houses look. The chickens want an area that's out of the wind and has roosts. Feed and water them and you should be fine. I've seen coops that appear to be made of scrap with a pickup topper elevated on 4x4's...