Newbie Questions, Round 2

[Chef Pizghetti]

I found the coop builder on craigslist in Northern NJ and rented a Uhaul to get it home. It was made by a small father-son business and they do really great quality work - solid and nice looking.

Acemario - Thanks for the comments, we are actually in the suburbs just 20 miles outside of Philadlephia and have 3 acres behind the house. It's an older development with mature trees, and I have already seen red fox and have no doubt that the racoons are plotting!

Bruceha2000 & Rhoise - I picked up a roll of 1/2" hardware cloth last night and plan to attach it today. I've been keeping them in the coop overnight, but I'm sure the added protection is worth it. Thanks for the heads up...

Thanks again for all the great feedback!

 

[bruceha2000]

I picked up a roll of 1/2" hardware cloth last night and plan to attach it today. I've been keeping them in the coop overnight, but I'm sure the added protection is worth it. Thanks for the heads up...

Sounds good. I can only imagine how fun it would be to go out to the coop one morning and find a raccoon or fox IN the run scratching at the coop door!

 

[boochaces]

beautiful coop. beautiful birds. beautiful property.

good luck with them!!!

i am in the process of building my coop out of all recycled materials. i am glad i popped in on this thread because now i know what to add along the bottom of ours.

 

[acemario]

How is the progress?

 

[Chef Pizghetti]

Hi Guys,

Sorry for the late reply... I took everyones' advice and zip tied 1/2" hardware cloth around the entire coop and run, leaving only a 12" gap at the top. This should prevent anything from reaching in to grab them, even if they're sitting on the roosting bars. I feel much better leaving them outside into the evening if I get home late from work.

I added sand to the the floor of the run beneath the coop and they have really taken to it and seem to enjoy dusting in it. I plan to get some DE this week to spread around as well. The front half of the run is still loose soil, so I'll need to decide whether to cover the whole thing, or add something else. Overall, everything seems to be working pretty well. I try to pick up unused veggie scraps every evening to keep the flies down and I've been able to rake most of the droppings into the sand, so smell really hasn't been an issue, which I'm always conscious of in a suburban setting.

You can see some of the changes in the pics... quality is not the best, but I took these on my cell phone

Thanks again!