ColoradoChicken89
In the Brooder
- Apr 20, 2025
- 7
- 23
- 28
Sorry, this is long winded. If it's TLDR, the parts that I specifically need help with are in the Bold/Italics throughout. The details of what I'm planning are either above or below that. Any advice on things that you use, or don't would be helpful. Advice on things that maybe you learned the hard way to try to avoid would also be appriciated.
I am planning a coop on a 43 acre property in the high mountains of Colorado. I live in an apartment about 3 miles from the property, and plan on checking on it 2 times a day. My parents live at the property, but trying to keep it as easy for them as possible, since they are aging. The property has tons of wildlife, which means tons of predators that I need to plan for. I will have 7-8 chickens (6-7 hens and 1 rooster) in mid-october, so planning on building 2 small coop setup with a medium sized run, and medium chicken tractor before they get here.
As of now I ordered a 9.8'x6.6'x6.6' fully enclosed metal chicken run, that I plan on enclosing with layers of hardware wire (19 guage 1/2" on the outside and 23 guage 1/4" on the inside). I will be adding the 19 guage 1/2" along the bottom, and covering with sand, since it will be right next to a underground river (and dry riverbed ontop), I have an unlimited river sand glitch.
We have high clay content, so I plan on washing/sifting a bunch of sand and storing extra, and any advice on that would be helpful.
I also ordered one of the commercial chicken coops that is about 38"x38"x38" roosting space and 6 nesting boxes, and realized after it came that it's not big enough for all the chickens I ordered (it didn't really have much about exact interior dimenson); which has lead to me the conclusion that I'll need the 2nd coop. I've decided instead of buying another one I will just build a simple 75"x20"x38" roosting area out of materials I can find at my local reuse it store. This will give me about double the space, giving me enough for a little chicken math later. lol. For the DIY coop, I plan on using some 23 guage 1/4" hardware cloth sandwiched between some thinner wood scraps to make the walls/floor with some metal roofing; hoping this will help it be a little more critter proof.
I've also never built something that had to be weather and critter proof, so any advice on things like roof materials or types of screws that are cheap and easy would be helpful.
The commercial coop has a pull out bottom, and I plan on doing something similar to the built one. I also plan on setting up the whole front pannel and top on hinges, similar to the commerical coop, just to make it easier to get into all the angles. Then covering both coops inside and out with some good outdoor paint. With this setup I figured I would just fill them with sand, and I can pull out the bottoms to dump them and refill with new sand when it's time to clean. Then I can focus most of the cleaning to just racking up poop in the run and wiping down the roosting bars. Also make it easier to hose the whole thing off and air dry when needed in the summer.
What do you do to keep cleaning coops easier?
Both of these I plan on having automatic doors that open and close at dawn and dusk, and heaters with thermostats to help keep the coops above 0 (so the heaters would rarely be used, just enough to prevent extremely low temps we can get in winter). I also plan on having some water heaters in the middle of winter, just to keep it from freezing. I am debating if I want to add some straw or hay into their coops in winter, and maybe staple some paper grocery bags to the walls as extra insulation. Wasn't sure if all of this would make it an extra fire hazard, so was going to try the first winter without to expeirment and see what temps the termostat ends up recording. I also plan on covering the outside of the run in some construction plastic to help keep the wind and snow out a little better in the winter/spring. Since I'm using sand, I want to try to keep it as dry as possible, and avoid it freezing over to turn hard.
Advice on how to winterize a coop for below freezing weather with or without heaters, and what types of temps do you start getting concerned if the chickens will be harmed?
The area I am planning is near the well-house for the property, so it will have access to unlimited water, but a limited amount of electricty (it's on a small breaker, and losing power means the water pump to the well shutting off). So I'm wanting to eventually look into some type of solar or battery powered options for the winterization stuff. I shouldn't need too much electricity in the summer, we have decently cool dry summers and the area gets a nice breeze, so I'm assuming I won't need a fan. The most I think I would be using in the summer/warm months would be the automatic doors.
Which do you use if you use any of these options? Are there any that you have bought that you hated? Don't want to waste money on the cheap stuff that doesn't work, but also don't want to get into some of those expensive things that just look cool. I know very little about electricity, so the numbers confuse me, so any advice on what that means would be great.
The chicken tractor I plan on making myself. Something like a simple 10'x10'x3' wooden box with some 23 guage 1/4" hardware cloth lining it to try to keep the smaller critters out. I want something cheap and easy that I can repair as needed for less effort and money. I am planning on walling out a 10'x3'x3' area with a small door on one side that the chickens can hide in for sudden weather changes and keep their food dry, otherwise most of it just have the hardware cloth ontop to protect from birds of prey. The dogs keep most of the larger predators away during the day, though I might consider lining the outside of it with some 19 guage if I end up finding I need it. I also plan on staking it down when I move it, just to keep something to make it harder to lift. I plan on making the whole top part lift up and stay up when I need to get into it, and something I can latch shut. The plan is to put them in it on nice days (for the season, so still going out in the winter if the sun is out) for a few hours each day. At this point I have no idea how often to move it, so was going to just see when the grass starts to look like it's struggling that I'll move it to a new spot. The grassy area near the coop that I plan to try to keep them in is probably 200'x100' though I have some other spots I can take them to farther from the coop as needed.
I have never done a chicken tractor before, or seen one in person. So really unsure about dimensions here... So this is likely to be adapted. If you have any advice on what ends up being too big/small and how often you move it to new spots would be appricated. I've watched a few videos of some simple designs being built to come up with my idea, though this is far from fleshed out.
I am planning a coop on a 43 acre property in the high mountains of Colorado. I live in an apartment about 3 miles from the property, and plan on checking on it 2 times a day. My parents live at the property, but trying to keep it as easy for them as possible, since they are aging. The property has tons of wildlife, which means tons of predators that I need to plan for. I will have 7-8 chickens (6-7 hens and 1 rooster) in mid-october, so planning on building 2 small coop setup with a medium sized run, and medium chicken tractor before they get here.
As of now I ordered a 9.8'x6.6'x6.6' fully enclosed metal chicken run, that I plan on enclosing with layers of hardware wire (19 guage 1/2" on the outside and 23 guage 1/4" on the inside). I will be adding the 19 guage 1/2" along the bottom, and covering with sand, since it will be right next to a underground river (and dry riverbed ontop), I have an unlimited river sand glitch.
We have high clay content, so I plan on washing/sifting a bunch of sand and storing extra, and any advice on that would be helpful.
I also ordered one of the commercial chicken coops that is about 38"x38"x38" roosting space and 6 nesting boxes, and realized after it came that it's not big enough for all the chickens I ordered (it didn't really have much about exact interior dimenson); which has lead to me the conclusion that I'll need the 2nd coop. I've decided instead of buying another one I will just build a simple 75"x20"x38" roosting area out of materials I can find at my local reuse it store. This will give me about double the space, giving me enough for a little chicken math later. lol. For the DIY coop, I plan on using some 23 guage 1/4" hardware cloth sandwiched between some thinner wood scraps to make the walls/floor with some metal roofing; hoping this will help it be a little more critter proof.
I've also never built something that had to be weather and critter proof, so any advice on things like roof materials or types of screws that are cheap and easy would be helpful.
The commercial coop has a pull out bottom, and I plan on doing something similar to the built one. I also plan on setting up the whole front pannel and top on hinges, similar to the commerical coop, just to make it easier to get into all the angles. Then covering both coops inside and out with some good outdoor paint. With this setup I figured I would just fill them with sand, and I can pull out the bottoms to dump them and refill with new sand when it's time to clean. Then I can focus most of the cleaning to just racking up poop in the run and wiping down the roosting bars. Also make it easier to hose the whole thing off and air dry when needed in the summer.
What do you do to keep cleaning coops easier?
Both of these I plan on having automatic doors that open and close at dawn and dusk, and heaters with thermostats to help keep the coops above 0 (so the heaters would rarely be used, just enough to prevent extremely low temps we can get in winter). I also plan on having some water heaters in the middle of winter, just to keep it from freezing. I am debating if I want to add some straw or hay into their coops in winter, and maybe staple some paper grocery bags to the walls as extra insulation. Wasn't sure if all of this would make it an extra fire hazard, so was going to try the first winter without to expeirment and see what temps the termostat ends up recording. I also plan on covering the outside of the run in some construction plastic to help keep the wind and snow out a little better in the winter/spring. Since I'm using sand, I want to try to keep it as dry as possible, and avoid it freezing over to turn hard.
Advice on how to winterize a coop for below freezing weather with or without heaters, and what types of temps do you start getting concerned if the chickens will be harmed?
The area I am planning is near the well-house for the property, so it will have access to unlimited water, but a limited amount of electricty (it's on a small breaker, and losing power means the water pump to the well shutting off). So I'm wanting to eventually look into some type of solar or battery powered options for the winterization stuff. I shouldn't need too much electricity in the summer, we have decently cool dry summers and the area gets a nice breeze, so I'm assuming I won't need a fan. The most I think I would be using in the summer/warm months would be the automatic doors.
Which do you use if you use any of these options? Are there any that you have bought that you hated? Don't want to waste money on the cheap stuff that doesn't work, but also don't want to get into some of those expensive things that just look cool. I know very little about electricity, so the numbers confuse me, so any advice on what that means would be great.
The chicken tractor I plan on making myself. Something like a simple 10'x10'x3' wooden box with some 23 guage 1/4" hardware cloth lining it to try to keep the smaller critters out. I want something cheap and easy that I can repair as needed for less effort and money. I am planning on walling out a 10'x3'x3' area with a small door on one side that the chickens can hide in for sudden weather changes and keep their food dry, otherwise most of it just have the hardware cloth ontop to protect from birds of prey. The dogs keep most of the larger predators away during the day, though I might consider lining the outside of it with some 19 guage if I end up finding I need it. I also plan on staking it down when I move it, just to keep something to make it harder to lift. I plan on making the whole top part lift up and stay up when I need to get into it, and something I can latch shut. The plan is to put them in it on nice days (for the season, so still going out in the winter if the sun is out) for a few hours each day. At this point I have no idea how often to move it, so was going to just see when the grass starts to look like it's struggling that I'll move it to a new spot. The grassy area near the coop that I plan to try to keep them in is probably 200'x100' though I have some other spots I can take them to farther from the coop as needed.
I have never done a chicken tractor before, or seen one in person. So really unsure about dimensions here... So this is likely to be adapted. If you have any advice on what ends up being too big/small and how often you move it to new spots would be appricated. I've watched a few videos of some simple designs being built to come up with my idea, though this is far from fleshed out.
