Chicken coop in the woods?

[Kansaseq]

My coops are tucked back in the trees at the edge of my dog yard. It's much cooler on hot summer days, and the girls still get sun because I let them out to range around the yard. One of my runs has a hardware cloth top and the other doesn't (yet).

 

[georgiagail]

For what it's worth....

This is what we decided to use to cover the run....hardware cloth attached to PVC pipe with about a million electrical ties (not quite finished yet).

Although we live in the city, we have a good number of predators including snakes that come up from the creek, raccoons, and possums. A pair of owls have raised several generations of babies in the area and I once came home from work to see a hawk sitting in a tree across the street eating a squirrel it had caught.

Bill once saw a raccoon eating out of our garden while our so-called "watch dog" lay snoozing in the sun 10 feet away.

There used to be a red fox that hung around, although I haven't seen him this year.

Because the coop is in shade and it will not have electricity, we decided to use clear Tuftex panels as the roofing material to add in natural light without the concern of overly heating the coop.

Gail

 

[MsRiderUp]

georgiagail - just wondering how that run worked out for you. Did it keep predators out? I'm in Georgia also, and thinking of putting a second coop/run in our woods.

 

[tayman094]

For what it's worth....

This is what we decided to use to cover the run....hardware cloth attached to PVC pipe with about a million electrical ties (not quite finished yet).

Although we live in the city, we have a good number of predators including snakes that come up from the creek, raccoons, and possums. A pair of owls have raised several generations of babies in the area and I once came home from work to see a hawk sitting in a tree across the street eating a squirrel it had caught.

Bill once saw a raccoon eating out of our garden while our so-called "watch dog" lay snoozing in the sun 10 feet away.

There used to be a red fox that hung around, although I haven't seen him this year.

Because the coop is in shade and it will not have electricity, we decided to use clear Tuftex panels as the roofing material to add in natural light without the concern of overly heating the coop.

Gail

Our place is heavily wooded and we have a clay soil mix which stays wet during the rainy season. The wooded area is on a ridge which stays dryer. I think burying fence would be challenging.