Help us choose a coop and run!

[Ridgerunner]

Honestly I feel paralyzed by information overload, so it would be so helpful just know what you prefer.

My preference for someone starting out in Tennessee would be the fixed coop, not the tractor. A tractor needs to be moved regularly, every few days, a lot of work and requires constant attention. That can be an additional problem in winter if you get snow. Operating and maintaining a fixed facility is much easier.

I personally do not believe not following those rigid guidelines for size of a coop and run people are quoting will lead to the downfall of western civilization. Most of the time those guidelines of 4 sq ft per bird in the coop and 10 in the run are overkill, more than you need, though each situation is unique.

I know it is even more information, but if you follow the link in my signature below you can see some to the things I think are way more important than a rigid adherence to certain numbers.

 

[StinkyAcres]

The permanent coop has a ventilation window on the back and I added an additional ventilation window. It has 2 5’ roosting bars. I’m checking on the actual coop size.

How big are these ventilation windows? Windows are normally only good for warm weather ventilation. Most of the ventilation needs to be open year round, away from the roosts to prevent cold drafts in the winter, covered to protect them from rain and snow, and there should be several square feet of these vents, not just little holes.

 

[Farmgirl1878]

My best advice is to build from scratch, make it twice the size you think you need, make sure you can easily clean and maintain the coop and enclosed run, roof it all, design it so that you can easily wrap the run with plastic for the winter, and choose your breeds based on your family needs. In other words, if you have small children, get friendly, calm birds like Orpington or Cochins. If you need a lot of eggs (to eat, sell, or use), get birds that lay more eggs. Because you have dogs in the immediate area, make sure you use hardware cloth to enclose the run. Depending on how much rain and ice or snow you get, consider a bedding like sand. We are in way southern Ohio and get a lot of everything, so we chose sand and love it.

The only changes I’d make to my set up is to enlarge the run, add a front porch to the coop, add a “people door” between the interior of the coop and the run, and enclose the run with hardware cloth from the get-go. Having to retrofit the run is going to be a pain in my fanny.

There are lots of people on here with years of experience who will always offer advice and answer questions, so use us! And be sure to check out what people have included in their profiles about their coops. (Mine’s on there.)

Last bit of advice: finish the coop before you buy the chicks… otherwise, the basement will stink. Good luck and please post a lot of pics as you go along!

 

[KS_Chicken_Wrangler]

We are starting our backyard flock this year with 7 chicks. We live on 1.6 acres of fairly flat land, probably half that in the backyard. We only have neighbors on our left, but they let their dogs out and they often come visit my backyard. I also have two dogs that will either love protecting or really want to “play”. So unprotected range is not an option.
We are between a 5x12 permanent coop with a run, but wondering if we’d eventually build out fencing so they can forage. OR, a 5x10 tractor. The pricing difference is minimal. I have attached pictures of the options we are considering.
Honestly I feel paralyzed by information overload, so it would be so helpful just know what you prefer.

I'm glad to see this thread and interested to seek my own information here as well!

We went with a combo route (I'll get some pics here as we get the build finalized); a permanent coop and run with multiple gates off the run to allow for netting to let them forage once the grass is growing again. We will also put a second Run Chicken door in the coop itself to allow for more forage access away from the coop on the other side. I also want to build a mobile coop and be able to get them away from the permanent coop when we have a nice green pasture during the spring, summer, and fall.

If I was going with a mobile coop (ironically this thought is what brought me to YOUR thread!), I think I would go with the Chickshaw from Justin Rhodes or the coop build on a 5x8 utility trailer by Anne of All Trades. I own the plans for both and love that they can both be hooked to a utv/golf cart to move them around. All that I'd need is another 250 feet of electric netting.

Does anyone here have experience using the Chickshaw or the trailer coop from Anne? The Frankencoop I was using was a Redneck Special I built from pallets and repurposed farm junk. It was based off of the Chickshaw, but I highly modified Justin's plans to fit what I wanted to spend...which was $0. LOL

Oh, and I will be using a Suscovich mobile coop for the broilers we will raise after I get the next batch of layers out of the brooder.