Cats in a hoop house?

[Yze]

I've been looking at people's cattle panel hoop houses for chickens and believe that even I could build such. Thing is, I don't need it for chickens, I need it for a cat colony. I hope folks who've built them see this thread and can offer advice.

My questions:

How "wobbly" are the cattle panels? Can they stand cats climbing them?
What do you suggest as a covering? Tarps would be shredded by claws...bendable plywood? Sheet metal?

 

[nuthatched]

Cattle panels are made to withstand cattle, they are remarkably sturdy.

 

[lomine]

I haven't built a hoop coop, but I did use cattle panels to build a garden arch for grapes. I only used T-posts to secure it to the ground so there are no cross supports. It would be plenty strong enough to hold the weight, but it does sway easily. I think you'd have to build some kind of support wall if you don't want it to move a lot as they climb.

As far as a cover I don't have any suggestions. Plywood and sheet metal would both be heavy and expensive. I'm not sure the cattle panels would make a good structure to hold them.

Maybe you could put shelves in there to encourage them to jump up rather than try to climb. A couple years ago I took in two semi-feral mom cats and their 8 kittens. An awesome neighbor lent me a wire cage, like a mini dog kennel type thing. I added shelves but didn't want to add anything permanent since it wasn't my cage. I used some spare wood panel pieces I had. They were wide but thin, so they are light weight. I drilled holes along the long sides. I used zip ties to attach the boards to the wire panel. I used wire to hold the other side level and used washers to hold the wire on the other end. The selves were sturdy enough to hold the moms and all the kittens loved using them. I've attached a couple of pictures so you can see what a mean with the wire and washers.

 

[Yze]

I haven't built a hoop coop, but I did use cattle panels to build a garden arch for grapes. I only used T-posts to secure it to the ground so there are no cross supports. It would be plenty strong enough to hold the weight, but it does sway easily. I think you'd have to build some kind of support wall if you don't want it to move a lot as they climb.

As far as a cover I don't have any suggestions. Plywood and sheet metal would both be heavy and expensive. I'm not sure the cattle panels would make a good structure to hold them.

Maybe you could put shelves in there to encourage them to jump up rather than try to climb. A couple years ago I took in two semi-feral mom cats and their 8 kittens. An awesome neighbor lent me a wire cage, like a mini dog kennel type thing. I added shelves but didn't want to add anything permanent since it wasn't my cage. I used some spare wood panel pieces I had. They were wide but thin, so they are light weight. I drilled holes along the long sides. I used zip ties to attach the boards to the wire panel. I used wire to hold the other side level and used washers to hold the wire on the other end. The selves were sturdy enough to hold the moms and all the kittens loved using them. I've attached a couple of pictures so you can see what a mean with the wire and washers.

I'd definitely put shelves in, thanks for the idea of how to do that! I'm going to need cross braces set on posts - I see that now - but that's ok, it will give them scratching posts while they are in there. I'm off to do research on some kind of sheeting that is puncture resistant!

 

[21hens-incharge]

What an Interesting idea!

Kitties would need shelter from the weather and a cozy sleeping place too. I think building it like a cattle panel coop with a coop/structure on one end would give it both a kitty house and support.

Mine withstood 3' of snow so I would say they are super strong.

This article has links to several great examples.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/top-10-hoop-coop-ideas.76490/

 

[Yze]

What an Interesting idea!

Kitties would need shelter from the weather and a cozy sleeping place too. I think building it like a cattle panel coop with a coop/structure on one end would give it both a kitty house and support.

Mine withstood 3' of snow so I would say they are super strong.

This article has links to several great examples.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/top-10-hoop-coop-ideas.76490/

Thank you so much with the link to the hoop coops. I see that some have corrugated metal sheets. That would be awesome and perfect, especially if I can find someone tearing down an old building with it. Good to know about the 3" snow load. That's a pretty average amount where I live (when it snows; we've been in a "snow drought" for years now).

Thing is, my hoop "cat shed" has to be on the large-ish side. The colony consists of about 25 to 30 cats. I want them all to be able to fit in bad weather.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Is this for a feral colony?