cityhomesteading
Chirping
Hi all!
Located south of Seattle.
We’re in the final stages of putting together our coop. We have the 4 posts set, the floor and part of the roof joints set. See photos.
We have 8 hens. It’s 6x6 with an attached run (probably 8x12 maybe bigger later on).
The North and South walls will be on hinges and open for easy cleaning. The nesting boxes on the East wall with an opening to get eggs. The roof will be slanted with an opening about 4 inches along all sides for ventilation with hardware cloth. Roughly 8 feet of ventilation. The East side of the roof will be higher and add more ventilation but I don’t know exactly how much higher yet. Suggestions?
Our weather comes from the SouthWest a lot so my hope is it’ll hit the coop and go up the west wall and out the East wall. The windows are for more ventilation during the few times in the summer when it gets super hot, but not for winter ventilation. Their big/old windows so I don’t want drafts coming in during the winter but as climate has changed we have spells of 90+ degree weather for short spurts in the summer and I want a cross breeze if that happens.
There will be 2 roosts about 12 inches up from the nesting boxes and about 24 inches up from the bedding. One runs along the North wall and another along the West wall. Both about 6 feet long. My hope is to use the North facing wall to open and pull the used bedding into the run. The roosts are about 2 feet down from the top - is this too close to the top? Can I add another roost up higher? Only a foot from the top?
I want to do deep bedding in the coop and deep litter in the run. The run will be covered. We may add more run later but it’ll be uncovered.
I wasn’t planning on having food in the coop, but water using a nipple system. Should I consider adding food?
We have a TON of feral cats. I’m in an industrial, old WW2 housing area and the cats are ruthless. We have raccoons too but they happily eat the cat food everyone leaves out. Our plan is to use 1x2 wire fencing around the run but use 1/2in hardware cloth for the bottom 4ish feet with it buried & staked 12inches out along the whole bottom. The 1x2 wire fencing is a lot cheaper and we don’t have bears, coyotes or other bigger creatures to worry about. Will that be enough predator protection? All latches will have “raccoon proof” locks.
We have fruit trees, garden, and composts and plan on building more to live more sustainably. Please let me know if I’m missing something or if I should change the layout inside the coop. We have a few days off with no rain. FINALLY! So our plan is to finish building it the next few days.
Located south of Seattle.
We’re in the final stages of putting together our coop. We have the 4 posts set, the floor and part of the roof joints set. See photos.
We have 8 hens. It’s 6x6 with an attached run (probably 8x12 maybe bigger later on).
The North and South walls will be on hinges and open for easy cleaning. The nesting boxes on the East wall with an opening to get eggs. The roof will be slanted with an opening about 4 inches along all sides for ventilation with hardware cloth. Roughly 8 feet of ventilation. The East side of the roof will be higher and add more ventilation but I don’t know exactly how much higher yet. Suggestions?
Our weather comes from the SouthWest a lot so my hope is it’ll hit the coop and go up the west wall and out the East wall. The windows are for more ventilation during the few times in the summer when it gets super hot, but not for winter ventilation. Their big/old windows so I don’t want drafts coming in during the winter but as climate has changed we have spells of 90+ degree weather for short spurts in the summer and I want a cross breeze if that happens.
There will be 2 roosts about 12 inches up from the nesting boxes and about 24 inches up from the bedding. One runs along the North wall and another along the West wall. Both about 6 feet long. My hope is to use the North facing wall to open and pull the used bedding into the run. The roosts are about 2 feet down from the top - is this too close to the top? Can I add another roost up higher? Only a foot from the top?
I want to do deep bedding in the coop and deep litter in the run. The run will be covered. We may add more run later but it’ll be uncovered.
I wasn’t planning on having food in the coop, but water using a nipple system. Should I consider adding food?
We have a TON of feral cats. I’m in an industrial, old WW2 housing area and the cats are ruthless. We have raccoons too but they happily eat the cat food everyone leaves out. Our plan is to use 1x2 wire fencing around the run but use 1/2in hardware cloth for the bottom 4ish feet with it buried & staked 12inches out along the whole bottom. The 1x2 wire fencing is a lot cheaper and we don’t have bears, coyotes or other bigger creatures to worry about. Will that be enough predator protection? All latches will have “raccoon proof” locks.
We have fruit trees, garden, and composts and plan on building more to live more sustainably. Please let me know if I’m missing something or if I should change the layout inside the coop. We have a few days off with no rain. FINALLY! So our plan is to finish building it the next few days.