Can I change where they roost for the summer months?

[ShelleyN]

Three years ago we built our smalish coop inside the garage. In the mornings, my three girls exit an automatic pop door in the wall to their run out back and through that to our typical suburban back yard for free ranging all day, all year. In the summer, the garage gets super hot in the afternoons and when they come in to roost at night they just pant for hours despite hosing down the floor and fans. Can I move their coop from inside the garage to on top of the run outside for the summer months, or will they need a therapist?

I could keep their nest boxes in the same spot as it's probably cooler in the garage in the mornings when they lay. I'll need to make a roof for the coop, as the current ceiling for it is a shelf in the garage. Another thought is just adding an open roosting area on top of the run and letting them choose where they want to go, but that's going to require brain power and of course the "building" something part. We've never seen evidence of a predator trying to get at our girls, or even in the yard, but I KNOW they are there. Raccoons still live under the street in the storm drain and took residence in our neighbors attic for a week or two last month. Our very lazy dog and luck have helped a lot.

Thanks for your help!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Make a predator proof run with a roofed area outside and you can put a roost there. They won't need therapy.
They'll thank you for the fresh air.
Denver can get HOT can't it?

 

[centrarchid]

You can move them. They can be confined to new roost site a few days, then released. Make certain they cannot get back into existing coop / roost when first released. Make certain new location is coon proofed. With a little practice you can make so birds have a elevated roost that is coon proof without using an actual coop or run. You just take into account the raccoons limitations with respect to jumping and what types of surfaces can actually be climbed.

 

[ShelleyN]

Centrarchid - I was wondering about whether it was possible to out-maneuver a raccoon by hanging a branch down from the overhang, but I don't think I could sleep through the night with the wondering. Someone is selling a chain link dog run on Craig's list for $40 that I may be able to retrofit. I've heard of raccoon's pulling a chicken through a link so would have to hang a branch down from the top of that so it didn't go too close to the side. Geeze, the things you have to think about!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

A raccoon can climb a sheer wall and almost anything else. They can pull parts of a bird through if they can reach it. One of my pens is a chain link dog run that is very secure. I used 1/2 inch EMT (thin wall conduit) every 2 feet across the top, extending about 18 inches beyond the run, wired in place, covered with welded wire fencing and half of the run covered with galvanized roofing.

 

[centrarchid]

A raccoon can climb a sheer wall and almost anything else. They can pull parts of a bird through if they can reach it. One of my pens is a chain link dog run that is very secure. I used 1/2 inch EMT (thin wall conduit) every 2 feet across the top, extending about 18 inches beyond the run, wired in place, covered with welded wire fencing and half of the run covered with galvanized roofing.

I have had extensive interactions with free-range raccoons and they have decided limitations to the types of surfaces they can climb. They are not geckos, they are like squirrels in that they must be able to get claws into substrate to gain traction, otherwise they would be able to climb glass window. They can climb rough brick walls and trees with ease but neither has a shear surface. Make so birds cannot be reached. Raccoons will not jump any distance to grab and they do not seem able to think through an indirect route to get at eats like a monkey or we can.