New 8 x 12 Bantam Coop *New Additions-Post 244~ 6/2*

[morelcabin]

Great coop! For the run can you just buy the lightweight plastic mesh that you use to keep birds out of a garden? I have always used it to keep my birds in. It is actually really good for the job. Would use mine for a couple of years before I had to replace it and you get ALOT of it for about $7

 

[speckledhen]

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Best of luck with your hatch! Now that they've moved in, I need to figure out how long 40-something chicks can live in an 8x8 coop before I have to start selling off the extras. In fact, would someone like to comment on that?

morel, I thought about the deer netting, but we do get snow here in winter and I was afraid it would just cave in. We did check out the PVC at Home Depot, then saw the foamcore pipe, very flexible, less than $6 for a 20 ft section. We may do three arches and a center straight pipe connecting those, then stretch netting or fencing over that. We have plenty of turkey wire, which is extremely lightweight and would work okay--for those that don't know, it has 2" hexagonal openings rather than 1" like chicken wire/poultry netting so it shouldn't build up a snow load as fast.

 

[speckledhen]

Covered pen complete, finally! Thanks to those who offered suggestions--you can see that I took them.

 

[Mrs. Fluffy Puffy]

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I'm so jealous!! Looks great!!

 

[Cetawin]

Awesome! Cyn that will work great!

 

[RustyHen]

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That looks great! and your chicks look happy and safe.
We are going to take some of your ideas for our extended run.
Thanks

 

[Ellie]

That looks snazzy

. What a cool way to keep the top wire up. Good ole PVC.

 

[jtbrown]

Love the coop, I'm borrowing some ideas, hope you won't mind! Great job.

 

[speckledhen]

Thanks, we are quite pleased with it. The pipe arched across is PVC foamcore, which is quite strong and is just flexible enough. We realized today that in the hottest part of the summer, we can throw a tarp over the part of it, too. Should be no trouble other than to brush a heavy leaf or snow load off of it from time to time and that is why we chose the 2x4" welded wire rather than chickenwire or deer netting to cover it. Was thinking about using some Krylon spray paint made for plastic on the white pipe in a similar color to the coop trim.

 

[Hillbilly Hen]

Looks great!

I have been trying to think of how to cover my old run since I had to open the old coop back up due to an excess of chicks

Also DH says to keep this cockeral, that cockeral and the other cockeral to use for breeding. Oh and don't forget about the one over there. Does he not realize that I will need X number of pens to breed X number of breeds.