# Chicken coops for newbs? Any advice? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 4, 2013, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970 "2013-03-04T03:36:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2013, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970/41 "2013-03-19T09:37:44Z")
Bambinas are in heaven watching, playing, petting the chicks. Not too bad on taking care of them and cleaning up. Even my autistic child is holding them appropriately. much easier than having a dog. I need to get started on the coop pretty soon… ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970/42 "2013-03-21T17:35:13Z")
Here are some neat chicken coop ideas, including one that looks like steps. That isn’t a bad idea! [http://www.mentalfloss.com/article/49381/11-snazzy-chicken-coops-backyard-poultry-farmers](http://www.mentalfloss.com/article/49381/11-snazzy-chicken-coops-backyard-poultry-farmers) ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970/43 "2013-03-21T20:04:13Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > 3 golden sex links, 1 black sex link and 2 ameraucuna chicks are in the mud room even as I type this. I was going to suggest you check your zoning before you start, but I see it’s too late. Some towns frown on that sort of thing. (Though strangely enough, I live in one of the most densely populated towns in the States, and it just passed an ordinance allowing people to keep chickens. _C’est tres chic_, it seems.) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970/45 "2017-07-10T18:40:03Z")
Reported ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970/46 "2017-07-10T19:12:56Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I’ve kept chickens for more than 20 years. Chickens are the easiest livestock there is, as long as you give them just a few things. I’ve heard many tragic stories about why people started with and then gave up chickens. There are only three reasons I hear: > > 1. They were too noisy for the neighbors. Do not get a rooster if you have neighbors who aren’t actual farmers. Eggs happen just fine without them. Even hens can be loud at times. > > 2. Intractable rat problems. Rats love chicken houses because of all the free food. From the get-go, build for rat-proofness. Store feed in metal cans. Pick up all food at night. If at all possible, rat-proof your whole hen house, especially where they sleep. Rats chew through wood easily. Once there is a hole, a weasel can get in. Which brings me to by far the biggest reason people give up on chickens: predators. > > 3. Don’t want your kids to come out in the morning and find a raccoon has pulled your hens’ heads through the chickenwire and eaten them off? Or that your neighbor’s labrador dug under your chicken fence and partially ate all your hens, except without killing them first? Then you must think ahead and build to foil creatures who have \*\*nothing they want more on earth \*\*than to torture and kill your chickens and break your heart. > > Chickens are easy to catch and kill even during the day, but at night they are as helpless as a meatloaf. Your night coop must be their bunker. > > My henhouse is on a 3’x 5’ concrete slab. It is built mostly of old doors, with a plywood and tar-paper roof. The south face is aviary netting (smaller than raccoon hands). Nothing has ever gotten at my hens at night. Plus, so easy to clean because I can stand up inside it. It has a human-sized door on one side, and the other side has a hen-sized door into a 20’ x 15’ chicken run, which has 7’ high wire sides and a field fence and chickenwire roof (to keep hawks out); there is wire buried in an L facing out, around the perimeter to keep digging predators out. This set up is big enough for about six hens. Hens need room to get away from each other, otherwise they will start eating each others’ feathers off. > > They are charmingly self-sufficient, industrious creatures. I hope never to be without chickens. And, there is no way to get eggs like mine except to raise your own hens. No commercial eggs, even Omega-3 Free Range Organic, taste anything like my eggs. > > Breeds: for kids, avoid Leghorns and other Mediterranean Class breeds, they are flighty and hard to tame. Good easy to find middle-of-road breeds: Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, sexlink hybrids of any kind, Australorps. These are usually good egglayers with calm temperaments. “Fancy” chickens with funny hairdos usually are poor layers since they were not bred for that. Ditto bantams and giant breeds. > > The best book I have on chickens is called Chickens in Your Backyard by Rick and Gail Luttman. I worked on a farm in Berkeley , Ca and we had chickens missing every morning . The rats were killing the chicken and bring them back to their nest . :eek: So maybe a barn cat or a terrier will take care of the rats at night . ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970/47 "2017-07-10T19:14:18Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Raccoons or coyotes can tear right through it and then your eggs and chickens are toast. Mmmm, toast and eggs and chicken brains. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970/48 "2017-07-10T19:55:19Z")
This thread was revived by a spammer. It’s from 2013. But do carry on, citizens. ---
**Author:** ![phall0106](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phall0106/32/5934_2.png) [@phall0106](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phall0106)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2017, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970/49 "2017-07-10T23:54:47Z")
Chicken wire is NOT made to keep chickens safe. Use [hardware cloth/wire](http://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1-2-in-x-4-ft-x-25-ft-19-Gauge-Steel-Hardware-Cloth-308226EB/205960849) for any place where you want predators away from your hens and make sure it’s well attached. In addition, so terms… A **coop** is where the chickens will roost at night. It will also contain one nesting box per three chickens (at minimum). It will need to be 100% predator proof. This includes predators like raccoons, dogs (#1 killer of backyard chickens), rats (who won’t kill a chicken per se, but have been known to nibble of chicken toes and will eat eggs), and birds like hawks. My run has a cement floor, wood walls, LOTS of year round ventilation, and is like Fort Knox. I use pine shavings and/or straw on the floor and in nesting boxes. A **run** is attached to the coop where chickens can go during the day for sunlight, fresh air, to scratch, etc. I strongly recommend this be predator proof as well. My run is attached to my coop and the chickens come and go freely. Most recommendations are to keep the food and water in the run, as it keeps mice away from the coop. I keep the food and water in the coop, as it’s easier for me to access and don’t have a problem with mice. A **chicken tractor** is something that can contain the chickens during the day and be moved around from one spot to the next. It’s typically made from chicken wire and offers very little in terms of keeping predators away from your chickens. I don’t use a tractor, but if you do, I’d strongly recommend using it only under supervision. Keep in mind, predators can dig under just about anything (which is why I have a cement floor in my coop and patio pavers embedded around the edge of my run), raccoons can easily unlock most latches (especially eye hook types), and most predators can rip chicken wire open or away from anything it’s attached to. Although you may not have to worry so much about this is the PNW, chickens have a tougher time with heat than they do the cold. Mine aren’t crazy about snow, but they certainly don’t mind the cold temps. (They are, after all, covered in feathers.) The heat though…anything past about 85 degrees means the bigger girls (barred rocks) are breathing opened beaked. For cold temps, make sure they have a dry place, free from significant drafts at night and lots of food. For warmer temps, lots of shade, water and dirt for dirt baths. (Chickens will need dirt to keep away the mites and to keep “clean”, so consider that when they’re stuck in a chicken tractor and moved from one grassy spot to the next.) I’ve had hens for a bit over three years now and it’s been wonderful. :smack: Didn’t see the date on the OP. Oops. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970/50 "2017-07-11T00:48:51Z")
Tractor Supply has some great stuff for home/backyard farming including some commercial small chicken coops. [https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/search/coops/chicken-coops-pens?cm\_mmc%3DSEM-\_-Google-\_-Chicken-\_-CoopsExtAd&gclid=CPO9qMKAgNUCFRlMDQoddI8Kng](https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/search/coops/chicken-coops-pens?cm_mmc%3DSEM-_-Google-_-Chicken-_-CoopsExtAd&gclid=CPO9qMKAgNUCFRlMDQoddI8Kng) Just always be sure to use them as designed and not add extra doors. Anyone up-thread make the standard chicken sedan joke? ---
**Author:** ![Jumpbass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jumpbass/32/147_2.png) [@Jumpbass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jumpbass)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970/51 "2017-07-11T14:51:57Z")
Psst… post 19. This post is timely, because I do have a question. We have a dog. We want chickens and would like to let them out to roam the yard. Is there always a problem with dogs and chickens? I imagine a dog can be trained to leave them alone. Can anyone with experience chime in? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970/52 "2017-07-11T14:58:33Z")
> [@Jumpbass](#): > > Psst… post 19. > > This post is timely, because I do have a question. We have a dog. We want chickens and would like to let them out to roam the yard. Is there always a problem with dogs and chickens? I imagine a dog can be trained to leave them alone. Can anyone with experience chime in? Our dogs are cool with our chickens. They will kill a groundhog in the blink of an eye, but the chickens are ignored. We feed wildlife in our yard, and the dogs will chase squirrels, but ignore turkeys (possibly seeing them as huge chickens). Years ago we had a dog attack one of our hens. I put a leash on the dog and found the owner about a half mile away. They apologized and offered to pay for the hen. They were shocked a few days later when I returned with a $380 vet bill, but they paid. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970/53 "2017-07-11T17:21:03Z")
> [@Jumpbass](#): > > Psst… post 19. > > This post is timely, because I do have a question. We have a dog. We want chickens and would like to let them out to roam the yard. Is there always a problem with dogs and chickens? I imagine a dog can be trained to leave them alone. Can anyone with experience chime in? We had a husky, he was very curious about the chickens at first, so we kept them separated by a fence. He chilled out and we finally started letting them hang out in the yard together. But some weeks later we found a dead chicken and we are pretty sure it was him. He may have been just trying to play. YMMV but I wouldn’t take the chance. ---
**Author:** ![Jumpbass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jumpbass/32/147_2.png) [@Jumpbass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jumpbass)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970/54 "2017-07-11T20:08:30Z")
That sounds like the best plan. Keep them separated until they’re used to each other. Thanks, all! ---
**Author:** ![Disheavel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@Disheavel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Disheavel)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970/55 "2017-07-11T23:36:26Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Our dogs are cool with our chickens. They will kill a groundhog in the blink of an eye, but the chickens are ignored. We feed wildlife in our yard, and the dogs will chase squirrels, but ignore turkeys (possibly seeing them as huge chickens). > > Years ago we had a dog attack one of our hens. I put a leash on the dog and found the owner about a half mile away. They apologized and offered to pay for the hen. They were shocked a few days later when I returned with a $380 vet bill, but they paid. We have a 20 pound dog who is on the bottom of the pecking order below the 3 chickens. He has to get to any food treats first otherwise ends up running away after being pecked about the head. He does enjoy chasing them off of patio where they are not allowed, but he leaves them completely alone otherwise. We even have a picture of Ernie with 3 or 4 chicks standing on his back when they were just days old (and he’d never seen other chickens before). So the ability to differentiate “not food” can occur quickly. With regard to the vet chicken bill, my mother took our neighborhood dog-mauled chicken to the vet and he said, “What do you want me to do… stuff it?” But he stitched her up and she lived another 4 or 5 years. All for several hundred dollars… but never another egg did she lay. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970/56 "2017-07-12T16:22:21Z")
As far as if they tear up your lawn they can if you don’t give them enough ground. My chickens free range all day and night, they sleep up a tree and they help fertilize the yard and garden. Every time I collect their eggs they change their nest location so I have to find it again though. In the two years I’ve lost one chicken to outside predators although I lost quite a few when my German shepherd went after them. Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970/57 "2017-07-13T05:39:04Z")
If anyone cares …So, we bought a coop off of craigslist. Named all the chicks and they were pretty tame. Egghead was everyones favoritie, It almost got crushed and another chicken got crushed when a gate fell on them. My daughter accidently caught eggheads’head in a door and crushed one eye. Egghead was about the most loved chicken in the world. she was taken on bike rides, had obstacle courses built to play one, taught how to roll down a hill, and so forth. Somehow we came to believe that egghead actually controlled the earth, and that was quite a meme. We did several rounds of raising chickens from hatchlings. they lived in the coop and free ranged in the back part of the fenced yard. There there was the saint valentine’s day massacre when a coon did soe hunting and took us down fro 11 to 5 chicken. The worst was last winter when we went away at xmas and came back to a hole under the coop and no chickens. It was a bobcat. I filled in the hole, got 4 about laying egg pullets. For about a month that damn bobcat came back every night and try to dig under. every day I was out reinforcing the perimeter. I went away on a biz trip and came home to a missing chicken. Later one got taken in the late afternoon with the sun still up. I lock 'em in the coop now hours before sunset and have been okay for 3 months. but that dang bobcat still comes buy looking for a meal once every week or two. coop still works fine. It was pretty crowded where we had 11 chickens but it worked fine with their big run area out back ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970/58 "2017-07-13T14:48:49Z")
Yes, with chickens it always ends badly, and premature death isn’t rare. I thought of my last batch as pets too much, and haven’t gotten any more since the last one died last year. Best advice I can give is enjoy their antics and try not to get too attached. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-coops-for-newbs-any-advice/651970.md?page=2)