- May 17, 2011
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We have just about completed our coop -- at least far enough along to put our 3 week old chicks in it. I'll post pics if I can (I'm new). Please let me know if you have any suggestions. Here are a few things we *think* we may need to address as the chicks grow: 1) we may need to add a slanted roof over the nest boxes to keep them from roosting on the edges and getting the boxes dirty; 2) all of our roosts are not higher than our nest boxes - I just read that they should be to keep the hens from roosting on the nest boxes; 3) someone said they think our roosts are too far apart and the hens may fall while trying to hop from one to another - any thoughts?
We live in an area with very hot Summers and mild Winters, so we made the floor almost all hardware cloth. We did put some thick painted plywood right in the doorway and down the middle for us to walk on. But for now (since the chicks are so small), we put boards down over the hardware cloth and covered the floor with shavings. But once they have all their feathers (or it gets hotter - we've had some unusually cool weather lately), we'll take the boards up. We also added ventilation at the top of the walls on two sides, also using hardware cloth. On the South side, we added a window (salvaged from a home remodel), and plan on putting hardware cloth over it. Our main concern here is predators. As you can see from the pics, we haven't finished the run yet. We do have the posts set, the trench dug, and the hardware cloth attached for the bottom section. After a fox killed all of our neighbor's 11 chickens last week, we're rethinking our design. He had his wire buried 12 ", and the fox tunneled under the fence and up into the pen and took all his pullets during the middle of the day. Since then, we've seen several fox in our yard, driveway, and pasture at all time of the day and evening. Now we're going to add an apron to the bottom. And we will be enclosing the top, too, as we have a lot of other predators as well.
We also have to finish the pop-door.
Here is day 1:
framed up:
attaching siding from a home remodel:
The egg doors:
Window, also salvaged from a home remodel:
almost done:
One of the chicks in her new home:
We live in an area with very hot Summers and mild Winters, so we made the floor almost all hardware cloth. We did put some thick painted plywood right in the doorway and down the middle for us to walk on. But for now (since the chicks are so small), we put boards down over the hardware cloth and covered the floor with shavings. But once they have all their feathers (or it gets hotter - we've had some unusually cool weather lately), we'll take the boards up. We also added ventilation at the top of the walls on two sides, also using hardware cloth. On the South side, we added a window (salvaged from a home remodel), and plan on putting hardware cloth over it. Our main concern here is predators. As you can see from the pics, we haven't finished the run yet. We do have the posts set, the trench dug, and the hardware cloth attached for the bottom section. After a fox killed all of our neighbor's 11 chickens last week, we're rethinking our design. He had his wire buried 12 ", and the fox tunneled under the fence and up into the pen and took all his pullets during the middle of the day. Since then, we've seen several fox in our yard, driveway, and pasture at all time of the day and evening. Now we're going to add an apron to the bottom. And we will be enclosing the top, too, as we have a lot of other predators as well.
We also have to finish the pop-door.
Here is day 1:
framed up:
attaching siding from a home remodel:
The egg doors:
Window, also salvaged from a home remodel:
almost done:
One of the chicks in her new home:
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