A few pics of our coop in progress.

[chick on a stick]

My hubby has been working on our chicken coop/run for the past 2 days. Here are a couple of pics.

We have it connected to our shed. Part of it is going to be enclosed with their nesting boxes. The other part is going to have chicken wire. It will have a metal roof over the whole thing.

 

[elmo]

Nice work so far!

Now, about the chicken wire...you do realize that chicken wire doesn't provide security from most predators, right? Welded wire is what people use to keep predators out.

 

[chick on a stick]

Ok, thanks! I will pass that info on to my husband and tell him he needs to use welded wire instead. I want my girls to be as safe as possible when it comes time to move them to their coop.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

Looks very nice so far!

 

[JoePa]

Elmo - what size welded wire do you recomment? - what size holes - thanks

 

[Wisher1000]

It looks awesome so far! You are going to love that coop!

Yes! Welded wire is the way to go. I used 2x4 but 1x2 would be better. I put bird netting around the bottom to keep the little chicks in until they got too big to walk through that 2" opening. The 2x4 wire that I used held up to an all out dog attack a few months back. Two large dogs (Lab and a Chow) tried their best to chew through that wire, it was bent and stretched but they came away with bloody mouths and NO CHICKENS! Ha! Worth every penny... The other thing to remember is to plan for enough extra wire to put a skirt around the outside so nothing can dig in, 12" to 24" wide and you can bury it, put it on top of the ground, or simply cover it with mulch or stone.

Your's looks to be the same size as mine (12x16) Take a look at my BYC page for pics, actually, I have added an 8' extension for an inside coop to the back end since the pic were taken and will get pics up soon (I hate dial-up!)

Have fun and do something REAL nice for that hubby of yours, he deserves it!

 

[chick on a stick]

A few more pics.

 

[ksmith]

VERY nice! I really want to get rid of my old coop and build a larger one. I really like your idea, except I would make the whole thing the coop. What are the dimensions? Keep us updated with pics!!

 

[chick on a stick]

8' wide x 16' long x 7' tall

 

[Balbinka]

Looking good!