Hello everyone,
I just started raising hens for eggs this year. This is my first flock. I thought I would share my coop and run. Maybe get some suggestions from the more experienced members here.
I only have 6 hens for now. If I decide to get more I'll purchase or build another coop as this one is to small for any more than 6, in my opinion.
I dug about a 6 inch trench around the coop and buried hardware cloth all around the parameter, hopefully this will keep the digging predators out.
I put up chicken wire around their run, it's about 5 foot high. I know this won't stop the predators but it may deter them. They go inside the coop every night on their own and I secure them in. Every morning I let them out.
I used to feed and water them inside the coop but the ground became covered in chick food and saturated in mud and feces. Today I scooped it all out (or as much as I could), and put pine shavings in there. From now on I'm going to feed/water them outside the coop. I hope this will keep it somewhat dry in there and cleaner for them.
I mounted a motion light on the shed that shines down on the coop. Hopefully this will help deter predators as well.
So a couple questions that I hope y'all can answer....
1. I read here that folks sift the bedding to separate the poop from the clean pine shavings. I'd like to do this because today I thought "boy, I sure am wasting a whole lot of pine shavings" when I cleaned everything. So what do you use for this?
2. Is it possible to put anything on the ground under the coop to keep it from turning in to mud? I figure for now I'll just use the pine shavings and change them out as necessary. But is there a better option? They've pecked all the grass out and when it rains it's just mud.
3. Is it necessary to provide roosting options outside of the coop? I'm thinking they might enough something inside the run to roost on during the day and get some shade.
Sorry for the long winded post. I've been lurking for a while here.
Thanks for your tips and suggestions!
-Jason
Middle Tennessee
I just started raising hens for eggs this year. This is my first flock. I thought I would share my coop and run. Maybe get some suggestions from the more experienced members here.
I only have 6 hens for now. If I decide to get more I'll purchase or build another coop as this one is to small for any more than 6, in my opinion.
I dug about a 6 inch trench around the coop and buried hardware cloth all around the parameter, hopefully this will keep the digging predators out.
I put up chicken wire around their run, it's about 5 foot high. I know this won't stop the predators but it may deter them. They go inside the coop every night on their own and I secure them in. Every morning I let them out.
I used to feed and water them inside the coop but the ground became covered in chick food and saturated in mud and feces. Today I scooped it all out (or as much as I could), and put pine shavings in there. From now on I'm going to feed/water them outside the coop. I hope this will keep it somewhat dry in there and cleaner for them.
I mounted a motion light on the shed that shines down on the coop. Hopefully this will help deter predators as well.
So a couple questions that I hope y'all can answer....
1. I read here that folks sift the bedding to separate the poop from the clean pine shavings. I'd like to do this because today I thought "boy, I sure am wasting a whole lot of pine shavings" when I cleaned everything. So what do you use for this?
2. Is it possible to put anything on the ground under the coop to keep it from turning in to mud? I figure for now I'll just use the pine shavings and change them out as necessary. But is there a better option? They've pecked all the grass out and when it rains it's just mud.
3. Is it necessary to provide roosting options outside of the coop? I'm thinking they might enough something inside the run to roost on during the day and get some shade.
Sorry for the long winded post. I've been lurking for a while here.
Thanks for your tips and suggestions!
-Jason
Middle Tennessee