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Friday, June 30, 2006

Chesno Coop

Last night I began building my chicken coop so it would be ready in the spring for new baby chicks.

I tend to "over-engineer" things I build, and follow the advice that you shouldn't build something to fit your current needs, but those you may not even forsee for the future. I didn't realize until I staked out on the ground just how big I planned it though.

It is 24'x16'. 16'x16' for the chickens and 8'x16' for ducks and/or geese. Following these numbers, my new coop should be able to hold:

16'x16': 128 large chickens, or 170 laying hens.

and

8'x16': 43 ducks or 21 geese.

Yup, it's kind of big for what I expect a small flock of 12 hens and a pair or two of geese. Guess I'll have lots of room for storage and my beekeeping equipment which is in the same fenced in area.

3 comments:

I am the Jo said...

This reminds me of that song "Grandma's Feather Bed"...

Captain Midnight said...

My grandparents raised pigeons and chickens for decades. And during that time they had a few overnight trips, but I can only think of two times that they were gone more than that. Having animals that need daily care will chain you to the house even more than a kid because with children you can pack 'em up and go.

Mmm... now I'm hungry for my grandma's squab dinner.

Chesno Slova said...

Not necessarily.

The beauty of living in a rural area is that there are plenty of 4H kids in the "neighborhood" with their own animals and plenty of knowledge to take care of them for you.

Besides, I refuse to allow the small 5% of the time I am away from my home to dictate what I will do in the 95% of the time I am there. Everything can be worked out!