Posts by ailurophile23

What an awesome space to build a coop in.  Sounds like you will need to invest in some hardware cloth for both inside and out - it will be your friend against predators. As for insulation, you probably do not need it - if they...

Seems like the spray insulation might work. How about using the R-board insulation panels? If you could attach them to or inbetween the rafters, that should help too. Or even adding the stuff that looks like foil covered bubble wrap.

A field mouse chewing through a beer can?!     Who would have thought mice liked beer?!  LOL   It is definitely a good idea to have the feed in a heavy-duty metal (or other material) can but I was...

Great coop! And nice spring - good idea to pipe it over for the birds.

  Personally, I would not run the dryer vent into the coop. You did not mention where you live, but chickens do fine in most locations without any heat - they do, afterall, have down coats.  It is more important to provide a...

  Glad you have joined us.  If you search for "pallet coop" on this site, you will come up with numerous links to threads and pictures. That would probably be the best way to get some ideas and design concepts for your own...

I completely agree with cowcreekgeek. One of the benefits of using a barn is the inherent air flow due to gaps. If you do chose to cover some of the gaps between boards, make sure to leave some gaps uncovered near the top of the walls...

I'm a fan of horse stalls as chicken coops mainly because that is what I have access to. Having said that, rodents can be a real problem - they burrow in/climb in to get the food. So you either need to put the food into a metal...

Don't ever try to "chase" the hens back into the run - time-consuming, frustrating for you and the hens, and generally unsuccessful.  Start them off in their coop/run and go out daily with a treat - I find meal worms work well....

The nest boxes are not more than a foot off the ground and even my heavy brahma hens can jump up to the bar/pole/roost in front of the nest boxes (at least the bottom ones). The smaller RIR hens have no issues going into the...