You'll probably laugh that I still haven't built a coop, even though I still have kept between 20-40 birds for the past five years. Well..my gelding "Buster Brown" gets his stall back this winter. DH has talked me into alternative housing during the summer, and the birds have been inside the barn, in a 12'x 16' stall, every winter. Very SAFE, very inconvenient...for Buster bc he has had to be in the shelter off of the barn...16' x 19', but the weather does blow in.
So...I'm eating all of my roosters and most of my layers and keeping 6 for the winter. We have a good amount of 6' tall dog chain link fencing, which was free from a neighbor two years ago, (if we took it down and moved it.) Still, it's the "price of FREE", so nobody is complaining.
I built a house for 3 turkeys a few years ago, with a wooden pallet as a base. DH and I decided to house the 6 birds in it, with some modifications, like the 2 nest boxes (I bought) and the roosts (to be built), the front door (it's now open in the front), and all of the safety things you do, like chicken wire with supports for the roof--which does work really well against owls and hawks--and hardware cloth along and under the fencing to keep predators from digging underneath. The birds' new quarters will be in the middle of a square 12' x 12' chain link fenced enclosure with a gate section.
The house has been moved and centered, the chain link dog fencing is all attached and placed. We are working on it on the weekends and redoing the roof is next. Everyone will be moved by the End of September.
That's the back story.
I am building another coop, full sized, for about 12-15 birds next year. I am exploring ideas bc I figure that one month this year isn't enough time to build a full sized coop, but if we start in April, I am sure that we can build a full sized coop by next October, My extended family (DD's, SIL and husband) caught wind of this and want to come over a couple of times to help build and eat and visit, so my 2015 build should be a lot of fun!
I have a few supplies from my failed attempt 2 years ago. Don' want my coop to be permanent (bc the county will tax me on any permanent structures), so I want it to be on a platform of three 4 inch x 6 inch by 10 foot wood supports. I have a playhouse, 7' x 8' with big windows that would have been perfect, if the previous property owners hadn't moved it onto a cement pad. It is now falling apart and will have to be destroyed sometime soon. BUT, I want to build my full sized coop based on it's dimensions.
Somewhere here I read that somebody put hardware cloth below their floor. I like that idea. We live on the edge of a tiny town, surrounded by farm fields and nasty wildlife, like raccoons who WOULD try to dig from underneath.
Does anybody have any suggestions of how to do this?
So...I'm eating all of my roosters and most of my layers and keeping 6 for the winter. We have a good amount of 6' tall dog chain link fencing, which was free from a neighbor two years ago, (if we took it down and moved it.) Still, it's the "price of FREE", so nobody is complaining.
I built a house for 3 turkeys a few years ago, with a wooden pallet as a base. DH and I decided to house the 6 birds in it, with some modifications, like the 2 nest boxes (I bought) and the roosts (to be built), the front door (it's now open in the front), and all of the safety things you do, like chicken wire with supports for the roof--which does work really well against owls and hawks--and hardware cloth along and under the fencing to keep predators from digging underneath. The birds' new quarters will be in the middle of a square 12' x 12' chain link fenced enclosure with a gate section.
The house has been moved and centered, the chain link dog fencing is all attached and placed. We are working on it on the weekends and redoing the roof is next. Everyone will be moved by the End of September.
That's the back story.
I am building another coop, full sized, for about 12-15 birds next year. I am exploring ideas bc I figure that one month this year isn't enough time to build a full sized coop, but if we start in April, I am sure that we can build a full sized coop by next October, My extended family (DD's, SIL and husband) caught wind of this and want to come over a couple of times to help build and eat and visit, so my 2015 build should be a lot of fun!
I have a few supplies from my failed attempt 2 years ago. Don' want my coop to be permanent (bc the county will tax me on any permanent structures), so I want it to be on a platform of three 4 inch x 6 inch by 10 foot wood supports. I have a playhouse, 7' x 8' with big windows that would have been perfect, if the previous property owners hadn't moved it onto a cement pad. It is now falling apart and will have to be destroyed sometime soon. BUT, I want to build my full sized coop based on it's dimensions.
Somewhere here I read that somebody put hardware cloth below their floor. I like that idea. We live on the edge of a tiny town, surrounded by farm fields and nasty wildlife, like raccoons who WOULD try to dig from underneath.
Does anybody have any suggestions of how to do this?
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