California-Southern

[Sylvester017]

Hello All,

I live in Mira Mesa and just got three 5 week old chicks on Saturday. One Rhode Island Red, one Black Star and one Gold Star. First time chicken owner here I bought a Hen Haven Chicken Coop for them http://www.midwesthomes4pets.com/products/hen-haven-chicken-coop

So far I keep them in a plastic tub in the kitchen.

The coop is open on the bottom. Is it necessary to enclose the bottom part to keep predators out and if so what is the recommended method? I read that it isn't good for the chickens to stand on chicken wire so I guess you would have to burrow it somehow?

Anyways, hello from Mira Mesa. Glad I found this place =)

Daniela

Welcome and congrats on your flock. The Hen Haven looks like a practical upkeep coop and I love it for that. However, you will quickly find out that your grown birds are going to be crowded in it and bored and pick on each other unless you provide more ample run area for them or allow them free-range in the day. Coops are only used by hens to lay their egg or roost for the night. The rest of the day is spent foraging, pecking, and scratching for seeds, worms, insects, etc. Also, the water and feed inside the run will take even more space from their foraging floor. I do like the Hen Haven but your adult hens are going to need a lot more ample run space. I once had a tiny little 4x6 coop that I set on paver stones to keep out digging predators. Eventually I erected a pop-up canopy over it to keep us dry when collecting eggs in the rain. Our coop was too tiny to keep two Silkies in it all day and eventually allowed them to free-range the backyard with lots of doghouses and makeshift lean-to's for them to hide from the hawks. Our Cooper's Hawk never attacked the hiding Silkies even when it could see them and was only 5 feet away from them! We had lots of frequently spaced hiding places for the hens and haven't lost one in 5 years so far.

We placed the coop on paver stones but left the center of the coop as a dirt floor - wasn't a good idea since chickens dig so deep for dust baths!


Our progress as we layed patio paver stones - unfortunately I don't have a photo of the pop-up canopy over the coop.

 

[dadacat]

Thanks for all the great suggestions.
Oh dear, what have I gotten myself into???

I kind of had a feeling that the coop is too small for them to be kept in at all times. I can only let them free range when I am at home (evenings and weekends) because of my two little dogs.

Also, what about cats? I know there are some cats in my neighborhood.

I was planning on putting the coop next to my house and sort of fence off the whole area next to the house for them as a chicken run. There is already a covered area where the coop may fit under, I will measure it tonight and post a picture later. This little covered area has already some sort of stone tiles at the bottom. Maybe I can just rearrange them to the outside parameters and this will serve as a protection for digging under.

I am just a little bit worried since I can't say that I have any great skills or experience in installing anything like this myself =) I really appreciate you guys coming up with suggestions and helping out a newbie.

 

[perchie.girl]

Thanks for all the great suggestions.
Oh dear, what have I gotten myself into???

I kind of had a feeling that the coop is too small for them to be kept in at all times. I can only let them free range when I am at home (evenings and weekends) because of my two little dogs.

Also, what about cats? I know there are some cats in my neighborhood.

I was planning on putting the coop next to my house and sort of fence off the whole area next to the house for them as a chicken run. There is already a covered area where the coop may fit under, I will measure it tonight and post a picture later. This little covered area has already some sort of stone tiles at the bottom. Maybe I can just rearrange them to the outside parameters and this will serve as a protection for digging under.

I am just a little bit worried since I can't say that I have any great skills or experience in installing anything like this myself =) I really appreciate you guys coming up with suggestions and helping out a newbie.

We learn as we go. Beleive me I have made my mistakes. A fenced area is great. Cats can be an issue or not. Especially to little-uns. But to a full grown chicken probably not. Hens have defenses.

One option to expanding the run would be to use a dog kennel panels. they are portable and easily predator proofed. ideal for when they are Home alone. especially if it has a roof. or covering.

Wander over to the coops building area you will get ideas about predator proofing.

For what its worth I cannot allow free ranging without me being there. Out in the desert there are a vast number of opportunistic predators. I had my fifteen Wellsummers in a twelve by six chainlink dog kennel with a chainlink roof. No picking no squabbling and I had three roos in there as well. Not ideal stuation but they grew up togehther and because of the calm nature they got along.

deep breath You will do fine.

deb

 

[Sylvester017]

Thanks for all the great suggestions.
Oh dear, what have I gotten myself into???

I kind of had a feeling that the coop is too small for them to be kept in at all times. I can only let them free range when I am at home (evenings and weekends) because of my two little dogs.

Also, what about cats? I know there are some cats in my neighborhood.

I was planning on putting the coop next to my house and sort of fence off the whole area next to the house for them as a chicken run. There is already a covered area where the coop may fit under, I will measure it tonight and post a picture later. This little covered area has already some sort of stone tiles at the bottom. Maybe I can just rearrange them to the outside parameters and this will serve as a protection for digging under.

I am just a little bit worried since I can't say that I have any great skills or experience in installing anything like this myself =) I really appreciate you guys coming up with suggestions and helping out a newbie.

Don't fret -

. Just tackle each problem one at a time as they happen. As a woman I learned to do a lot of little things myself to modify our first little coop. I prepared for 6 months before getting my first 2 Silkies and still I kept adding and modifying over the years. We got a black powder-coated dog kennel cage with cover 4x8 as added run space with our little coop until we decided to let the chickens free-range all day. Personally I think a cover/canopy over a little coop is a good thing. Seems like no matter what kind of coop you have it will get gaps and cracks and leak in rainy weather. You already are coming up with some good solutions.

I would worry more about dogs than cats. We have two Silkies and two LF breeds and they chase cats and wild birds out of the yard. The wild birds are pesky and keep returning but the scared cats never return when the chickens chase them out. Dogs on the other hand are just as destructive as raccoons, possums, foxes, or coyotes and I would worry more about them then pet cats. Two stray dogs broke our gate and attacked our little coop and mangled the chicken wire beyond repair but the paver stones kept them from digging into the coop. A good neighbor chased off the attacking German Shepherd and Poodle mutt before they got to our chickens!

 

[dadacat]

Good morning

Hmmm, I didn't even think about dogs. Since I have two small dogs of my own I was hoping that they keep predators at bay, at least during the day. They have successfully chased an opossum away.

Here are some pictures about the area next to the house that has already a little roof:






I measured the area last night and the Hen Haven (our chicken coop) will fit exactly under it. My plan was to fit the coop part under it so it doesn't get too hot and have the run part outside of the roofed area so they can enjoy the sun if they like. Preferably I find a doable and affordable way to fence in the whole area next to the house so the girls have a lot of space during the day while I am at work and be safe of the dogs and anything else.

Plus some of our chicks and the lovely poop eating dogs:

 

[perchie.girl]

Good morning

Hmmm, I didn't even think about dogs. Since I have two small dogs of my own I was hoping that they keep predators at bay, at least during the day. They have successfully chased an opossum away.

Here are some pictures about the area next to the house that has already a little roof:






I measured the area last night and the Hen Haven (our chicken coop) will fit exactly under it. My plan was to fit the coop part under it so it doesn't get too hot and have the run part outside of the roofed area so they can enjoy the sun if they like. Preferably I find a doable and affordable way to fence in the whole area next to the house so the girls have a lot of space during the day while I am at work and be safe of the dogs and anything else.

Plus some of our chicks and the lovely poop eating dogs:

Awesome potential area. You can do fence with t posts and welded wire. give them an enclosed area within the run thats large enough for exercise yet you can cover it with netting to protect from over head preds. For those days when You cant be there. The only issue I can see is egg collection. Getting to the egg access.

The plus side of putting them there too will be they will keep all weeds and grasses scoured off.

Oh and shade cloth is a good predator protector as well.

deb

 

[dadacat]

Maybe putting it under the corrugated roof actually won't work. Egg access is from the top (roof) see picture and there wont be much space to open it up if located under there. Also the access to the removable tray (see other picture) is located on the opposite side of the run area. In short, if located under the roof egg access and cleaning access will be almost impossible. So maybe I will set it just in front of the roofed area.







I think I will put it out there this weekend and then come up with a way of making it predator safe.

The chicks are a little over 5 weeks old. So far I have set them up with a 65W heating lamp which was on day and night. I just read on here that they need a day and night rhythm (which makes sense) I will turn off the lamp tonight and see how they do. Being inside my house they shouldn't really be cold at this point. They already have a respectable amount of feathers

 

[perchie.girl]

Thats why I was thinking shade cloth. which could be lifted up for access. At any rate you will figure it out.

deb

 

[sol2go]

Good morning

Hmmm, I didn't even think about dogs. Since I have two small dogs of my own I was hoping that they keep predators at bay, at least during the day. They have successfully chased an opossum away.

Here are some pictures about the area next to the house that has already a little roof:






I measured the area last night and the Hen Haven (our chicken coop) will fit exactly under it. My plan was to fit the coop part under it so it doesn't get too hot and have the run part outside of the roofed area so they can enjoy the sun if they like. Preferably I find a doable and affordable way to fence in the whole area next to the house so the girls have a lot of space during the day while I am at work and be safe of the dogs and anything else.

Plus some of our chicks and the lovely poop eating dogs:

That looks like a great area. As others have mentioned, you'll get it all worked out. Lucky your dogs seem compatible with the chicks. Feral cats moved in when our last dog passed away, and they have not bothered the mature chickens but the little ones are more vulnerable.

Looking at the covered area and anything you might add to the space, keep in mind your access. It is helpful if you can stand up without bending over all the time (or hitting your head...). There are chicken chores for sure, so the easier it is for you, the cleaner and healthier your flock will be.

In my experience, most hens will take being cooped up pretty well, and your flock has a few months before they will be full-sized. That having been said, watching chickens run around is good for them and entertaining for people too.

 

[Sylvester017]

Maybe putting it under the corrugated roof actually won't work. Egg access is from the top (roof) see picture and there wont be much space to open it up if located under there. Also the access to the removable tray (see other picture) is located on the opposite side of the run area. In short, if located under the roof egg access and cleaning access will be almost impossible. So maybe I will set it just in front of the roofed area.







I think I will put it out there this weekend and then come up with a way of making it predator safe.

Just want to say again I like your coop for easy clean-ups. The chickens will only use it for egg-laying and roosting so your main dilemma is to figure how to set up a pen/run area roomy enough to keep the girls busy all day. Firewood tree stumps, logs, chairs, doghouse, dust-bath dirt, treat toys that roll around dispensing seed, etc, to keep them busy during daylight hours. We used a pop-up canopy over our little 4x6 coop - shady in the summer and protected in winter from the rain. To keep from para-sailing in the wind we anchored the canopy legs into the soil about 6" and that way it didn't blow away in our heavy winds. Of course we had to replace the top every year because the covers get shredded but we just ball-fastened a new tarp to the frame instead of buying another expensive replacement cover. I like everyone's suggestion to use netting as a cover for the run -- not only will it keep aerial predators out, it will keep the chickens from flying out over the fence into the neighbors. Most chickens are good about respecting fences/barriers but when young they love to explore and fly over everything. We also bought a 4x8 powder-coated dog kennel that came with its own roof to extend the chicken run. Since I don't have any backyard dogs or cats to worry about I finally just allowed the hens to free-range the backyard all day and spread out several doghouses and lean-to's and plants for them to hide/snooze under. For the last 5 years the hens have been excellent at hiding from our resident Cooper's Hawks. The hawks land in the yard and the girls immediately dive into the nearest shelter or bushes -- the hawks won't go after hiding hens even though they've seen where the hens are hiding. I think the hawks like open lawn area to swoop on running prey/chickens and we've eliminated the open areas in the backyard. Lawn furniture makes another good hiding place for the hens. I saw 4 hens under a cedar rocker with the Hawk sitting on the fence watching them but never went after them and finally flew off. I partitioned the backyard in half with a couple continuous rolls of rabbit fencing -- half the yard for the chickens to free-range and half for our own patio use with raised vegetable garden beds. The chickens get to have their side of the yard to scratch up and we get to have our side which stays chicken poop-free.