I live in the deep in the north woods of Wisconsin and my nearest year round neighbor is 1 1/2 miles away. I have every predator you can think of from bears to mountain lions to wolves and every other smaller predator in between. This is my second time with chickens and first time in the woods. I ordered 12 pullets. 6 of the Bantams and 6 of the browns from the nearest feed mill. They will ship 5/17 so I do have some time. Should only take me a weekend to build it with my previous construction background.
I have a cement slab that I poured the same time I installed my outdoor wood boiler slab and sidewalk. It used to be part of my dog run for my Beagles but I have since moved their dog run to next to the house for use of a doggie door. The cement slab is 10' wide by 18' long. I plan on building my coop on the slab using standard post frame construction and actually bolting it to the slab with heavy duty cement anchors.The coop will be a minimum of 10'x 12'. It will have one steel entry door, 2 windows and a small chicken entry door. The attached run will be a 10x36 L shaped run. I'm using 6'x 12' kennel panels with chicken wire along the bottom 3' for the weasels and pine martins. I'm doing what I can for the bears as part of the run will be along the dog run. My Beagles should keep the larger predators away.
I need some ideas as far as leaving a cement floor bare or do I want a light depth of litter? Do I need to electrify the top of the fence for racoons? Do I need to add a drain for hosing it out for the summer months? Should I actually put 4' of plywood along the exposed side of the fence? Do I need to clear snow in their run? I usually average about a 30" or more of snow on the ground from January till early March. Largest snowfall I remember was 27" in one storm.
I plan on letting them try free range around late July and locking them in nightly to their run and coop when I go load my wood boiler.
Thanks
I have a cement slab that I poured the same time I installed my outdoor wood boiler slab and sidewalk. It used to be part of my dog run for my Beagles but I have since moved their dog run to next to the house for use of a doggie door. The cement slab is 10' wide by 18' long. I plan on building my coop on the slab using standard post frame construction and actually bolting it to the slab with heavy duty cement anchors.The coop will be a minimum of 10'x 12'. It will have one steel entry door, 2 windows and a small chicken entry door. The attached run will be a 10x36 L shaped run. I'm using 6'x 12' kennel panels with chicken wire along the bottom 3' for the weasels and pine martins. I'm doing what I can for the bears as part of the run will be along the dog run. My Beagles should keep the larger predators away.
I need some ideas as far as leaving a cement floor bare or do I want a light depth of litter? Do I need to electrify the top of the fence for racoons? Do I need to add a drain for hosing it out for the summer months? Should I actually put 4' of plywood along the exposed side of the fence? Do I need to clear snow in their run? I usually average about a 30" or more of snow on the ground from January till early March. Largest snowfall I remember was 27" in one storm.
I plan on letting them try free range around late July and locking them in nightly to their run and coop when I go load my wood boiler.
Thanks