Advice needed- Dog house/run conversion to coop/run?

[Monkeybean415]

I just moved into this house and there's a dog run on the side of the yard.

The dog house is approximately 50"x85" and 50" at its tallest it's on a slant so a little shorter in the back. The run itself is approx 12'x50'

Would it be possible to convert this into a chicken coop/run? I know I'd need to get the house off the ground. How many chickens would it house comfortably? What type of reinforcement fencing do you suggest? There isn't really any grass growing since there's probably 4 years worth of rotting leaves in there. What should I do about that?

We're planning to get chicks in the next couple weeks so have some time to figure it all out. Thank you all!

 

[cknkids]

Many on this site use the 4sq ft in the hen house and 10sq ft in the run. So 50"x85" is about 29.5 sq ft or 7.4 chickens. While the 12'x50' is 600 sq ft or about 60 chickens. You'll need to predator proof everything to make it safe for chickens. Have fun. Remember each persons set up is different so start small and work from there.

 

[Monkeybean415]

Thank you! I remember reading 2 or 4 sq ft per chicken and was calculating but wanted to hear opinions too. That's perfect though we won't have more than 8 and probably 6-7 since we're likely to get a roo. Any suggestions on how to predator proof the thing? It's huge and I know the chickens won't need that much space but it's already there.

 

[Malibu99]

Start by wrapping the run with hardware cloth. Then bury the cloth down a little bit and make what's called an apron. Basically it goes horizontally underground tokeep out digging predators such as dogs. Then put netting or hardware cloth over the top. For the coop, does it have ventilation? You will need a pop door as well as a clean out door. A simple rake out in the run should do the trick, chickens love rotting leaves anyways. have fun with your new flock!

 

[6of6chicks]

Wow, lucky you! I wish I had inherited a setup like that when I bought my house!

Congrats, lurk around the coop pages for ideas, and enjoy your chickens when you get them!

(And, I second the hardware cloth. Seriously - hardware cloth, hardware cloth, and more hardware cloth. Better safe than sorry!)

 

[aart]

That's a pretty good set up to start with, but it might take more than a 'couple weeks' to get it really ready for chickens unless you're very handy and have lots of time.

Your climate might make a huge difference in what you need to do. You can put your location in your profile and that can really help folks make valid suggestions.

First thing I see is there's very little ventilation in the coop, (we'll call it a coop, tho I think your dog might want it for his house), needs some windows and every opening should be covered with 1/2" hardware cloth attached with screw and washers for night predator protection. Lifting the coop a foot or two will discourage any rodents from taking up residence there and give the chooks a nice place to hang out when it's raining as well as be a nice place for dust bathing if it stays dry under there.......but remember, you might have to get under there yourself to retrieve eggs or an injured chicken.

You'll need to go around the bottom edge of the run and check it out, modifying to make it secure against diggers. The run has an open top so it could be susceptible to aerial predators and anything could climb down that tree.

There's 2 links in my signature that are good reads on ventilation and space requirements...check them out.

 

[Monkeybean415]

Thank you aart for your reply! Great information!

We'll have a couple months to get things set up. We'll keep the chicks inside until they're fully feathered. I just updated it my location is Juneau, AK. I do plan on putting a net or something over the top. I'm not committed to making this dog house work. If it'll be too hard to alter it we'll just build something. My husband will have a lot of time to work on it and is pretty handy with stuff like that. We actually have a playhouse on the property too that would probably be perfect for a coop with little alterations (already has window and large door) but my daughter has claimed it and would be devastated. Thinking about it now I'm not sure how I'm going to get into that thing to collect eggs. It would need another door or opening otherwise I'd be on hands and knees crawling around not something I want to do

 

[aart]

With your climate you want to plan carefully, you don't want to be dinking around in the middle of winter trying to modify things.

There are a couple AK coops on here, at least one has rather extensive details IIRC.

advanced search>titles only> Alaska coop