Chicken coop owners

Focker said:

Tigers34 said:

As Eoin posted, electricity is really not needed unless it gets super cold. Even then I have read that people up north go without.  There is a lot of info on the web.   I have had chickens for years and I do not have electricity.  In the winter months, egg production does go down.  I have 7 hens and a rooster.  Intended to have 8 hens,but one was not. 

Thanks, appreciate the input.
Where are you located?

They're fine if the water supply freezes?

I live in Alabama.  I keep a metal chicken waterer in the coup that I empty and refill everyday.  When it freezes, I just use a 1/2 gallon plastic ice cream bucket with fresh water.  It probably gets cold enough to freeze up 10-12 times a year.  (this weekend for instance, it is real cold!) Check out backyardchickens.com

We built our version of a Chicken Coop here at the Chicken Ranch over ten years ago and it has served us well.  But ours had to be designed and operated according to some strict homeowner association rules.  Even the Egg sizes had to be considered.  

It's turned out to be a beautiful story though, and has even been mentioned on CNN.

Here's what ours looks like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWXdGDyfTA8

A well designed and equipped Chicken Coop can give you many years of pleasure and outright fun, not to mention some of the best food anywhere.

Good luck with it.

Spring "Coop Designer And Builder And Chef Bottle Washer" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

How cold does it get? I didn't see that in the body. I'm in MS and it can get 20 or teens but very rarely. We just used heat lamp bulbs on the colder nights. They're usually great if they are just out of the elements. They won't lay when it gets cold sometimes. There's plenty of heated water bowls and agitating water bowls out there. Good luck! We loved when we had laying hens. 

Toxarch said:

I was so hoping you were going to say you lived in La Grange, TX when you said you had people that visited The Chicken Ranch.

Ha...  We're not far from La Grange, at least in miles, but in 'services rendered', we're light years away.  We're just trying to keep the legendary Chicken Ranch story alive the only way we know how, and have a little fun with it in the process.  

Even the CNN version was edited from what I sent them, although they did leave enough for someone familiar with the Original Chicken Ranch story so they would understand. Here's the link:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/07/09/eggheads.irpt/index.html?iref=24hours

The CNN article is pretty outdated now.  We have added considerably to the Coop's decor, and now have six 'Full-Time Girls' to handle pretty much all the 'business' we can lay on 'em.  Lily Large, circa 1999, is semi-retired and opted to move out of the Coop to continue her life here as a 'Free Range Girl."  She apparently loves it because she never leaves the Ranch, and only on special occasions gets called upon to ply her magic on a Prime Customer.

Of course, if anyone saw the Broadway show or the movie with Dolly Parton and Burt Reynolds, among some other fine actors, appropriately titled, "The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas," they would know that our little Chicken Ranch does not raise chickens, nor does it provide similar services to those of the original Chicken Ranch.  Even so, to keep the legend alive, we do play with the words from time to time.  All in fun, of course.

Just another of the many stories that make Texas, Texas.  There could never be another like it.

Spring "Life Is Easier When You Have Fun Living It" Chicken
Spring Texas USA

Lots of true and accurate information has been provided above. As others have said, they are cold hardy.  Well, most of them.  The "fluffy" breeds are good down to 10-15 below, and others can take it colder than that. Other non-fluffy breeds not as well.  
Water in the winter is the most difficult aspect for me; but as others have said, there are many options for you to accommodate the need.

Figure on a minimum of 4ft square per coop space per bird.  That is minimum.  For run space, double that if you want to almost** eliminate the low bird from being picked on. There is always a pecking order. They are a flock animal so a minimum of 4 birds is commonly recommended. 

Predator protection is critical. Everything likes chicken. Chicken wire is good at keeping chickens in but bad at keeping predators out. It is plain insufficient. Think protection from raccoons, possums, hawks, mink, weasel,  and possibly the neighbors dogs and snakes. 1/2" hardware mesh is the standard recommendation.

Best resource to go to is backyardchickens.com. 
Want to start fights?  Bring up perch shape: 2x4 or round and if round- diameters, free range, electric fences or the  "coup d'état" - fermented vs unfermented feed.  Those topics make discussions of brand of lump or ways to light the egg look like kid talk. 

I have had birds for about 15 years, and would be happy to speak with you about them and my experiences. Just let me know!  

This is all of them having an afternoon snack of some leftover biscuits.  We do feed them scraps, but not too many as excess food lying around attracts rats, plus our scraps go to compost anyway so not wasted.  We don't have a coop as such, just houses in a fenced off part of the garden.  They have 100' x 30' to themselves.  I'm happy to let them roam, but they do scratch around in the beds and that annoys Anne.  We do lose them to the fox from time to time, but mostly they roost at night in a Blackthorn tree and the foxes don't like how spiky it is.  Rats are always an issue where you have food and places to hide away, so be prepared to get pest control in when you start seeing the evidence of rat activity.  I shoot them, but you will never get them all that way, hence the bait box by one of the houses. The cockerel helps keep the ladies in order as well, reduces pecking / bullying, which hens are prone to do. Also see what a mess they make of the area in the winter - it grows back in spring but the constant pecking takes its toll on the vegetation.

Seems a bit small for 5 hens. If they are out in the run area that may be okay, but I still think a bit small for 5 birds.  Make that run as big as you can and still move it. 
I would plan on a lightweight plastic roof over the run area. This way they can use the run even in the rain and or snow (I am on a phone do can not see where you live), or have shade on hot sunny days. That roof does not have to be permanent, just fastened not to blow off.

Can't tell how big that door is in that last picture. Cleaning the inside might prove difficult unless you get a little one to do it. Regardless, lose the 2x6? Horizontal board on edge at the threshold, this way you can sweep/rake out the coop right onto a small tarp for easy collection. Get a scrap piece of linoleum and form fit it letting it wrap up 2" for the floor of the coop. Do not glue it. This way 2x a year you can pull it out and power wash it. Finally, make sure that you put a door from the coop to the run, and close that nightly. Otherwise a predator  can dig under that 2x4 in a few mins and get a good meal.

Its weird how some pictures show fine while others are a white square box. But that little white box is probably too small for 5 hens. 
Anyone else suffering from white box syndrome?