Coop location and run fencing questions

[mamarose]

We have our first chicks, 10 of them, they're 5 days old, and now we're pondering coop construction and location. This morning we just went and chatted with our neighbor, who has had chickens for 12+ years on his current property. We each have about 2 acres.

And now I have a few questions..... (of course!)

First, the fencing for the run: I have read over and over again that we must use hardware cloth to be thoroughly predator-proof. But the neighbor uses regular welded fencing for his run, with 1.5" x 3" holes, and has never had a problem with raccoons or other predators. (Well, other than when the raccoons broke a window and got a couple of chickens! He's boarded up the windows now.) His coop has three sides, the fourth is chickenwire with an opening to the run, which does not get closed off. So day and night, the chickens have access to the coop and run, and he's never lost any through the fencing. Ours is going to be inside an area that is already fenced with similar fencing, do you think we need hardware cloth or, given his experience in our neighborhood can we use something less?

Second, location. We have two potential locations:

- one is closer to the kids' play area, sandpit and garden. It is a more limited space and I am afraid it will feel somewhat crowded. But, it will get some morning sun in all seasons, and be sheltered from midday on by trees. The ground is mostly bare or pine needles, it is among trees so is fairly dry and does not get soggy. There is little or no grass or weeds here.

- the other is further from the kids' areas and garden, and could be a much larger run without feeling cramped. There is grass and moss, an alder stump and a variety of other native plants to provide more variety. However, it's tight up against more dense pine/fir trees to the south, and will get NO sun at all in winter, and maybe just a little bit in the summer. The neighbor's coop gets no sun and his chickens seem fine, but somehow I thought it would be an issue. I'd prefer this location if the lack of sun isn't a problem.

They're equally close to the house, just different directions. Both are inside the greater fenced area. Both could have electricity for a heat lamp in winter. The chickens will not get to free range in our yard because of the garden and sandpit, so the larger run possible in the second location would be really nice.

I guess it boils down to this: is space or sun more important for happy chickens?

Thanks for any opinions!!

 

[flowerchicks]

I would pick the space over the sun. They will still get light, and I don't think they need direct sun. My coop/run doesnt get any sun, my chickens get out 1/2 day to free range now, but for the first few months they stayed in coop/run 24/7.

 

[Davaroo]

Go for dry, well drained and spacious. Which ever allows those things, go for it!

 

[elmo]

With respect to your question about the wire...you know there are raccoons in your area, and it's clear that raccoons can tear through chicken wire and reach through the openings of welded wire if those openings are larger than 1/2" by 1/2". You read about these things happening here in the Predator and Pest section. So you have to ask yourself whether you are willing to trust to luck, and whether you're willing to deal with cleaning up the consequences if your chickens are unlucky. Ours are pets to us, so we're not willing to take that risk.

 

[mamarose]

Thanks, folks. We're going to go with the second area. The first one might be a tiny bit drier, but a 10' x 10' run there, including the coop, would feel like it was taking up a lot of space and make the stuff around it feel cramped. Instead, we decided we can do an 8' x 32' fully enclosed run, plus a 6' x 8' coop, in the other spot and it'll hardly be noticeable, and we can also fence (for chicken containment only, not covered) an additional area of maybe 40' x 50' for them to have more outdoor space when we're around, since we can't truly free range them.

Since that area already has the more open welded fencing on two sides, and given our neighbor's experience, I think we're going to add poultry netting to the lower 3', on the *inside* of the fencing. My thinking here is that while raccoons can break the poultry netting on its own, or reach through the other fencing, they shouldn't be able to reach through the other fencing *and* break the poultry netting that's up against it. Plus, we will be locking the chickens up in the coop at night anyway. I feel reasonably safe about this.

Thanks for the opinions!

 

[Tala]

If you are locking your chickens in the coop at night, then yes I would go with welded wire for daytime protection. It's considerably cheaper, and will suffice for daytimes.

Any size holes larger than 1/2inch in their night time coop will need to be secured with real hardware cloth though.

 

[patandchickens]

Personally I think people often get waaay too carried away with hardwarecloth-worship on BYC

It has its uses but IMHO it is not usually necessary, nor even sometimes *desirable*, to have the whole run be hardwarecloth. It does depend a lot on your particular situation of course. But to me, unless you will not be locking the chickens in at night (and you really should, if you are concerned about security!) or have illusions of totally ratproofing the run (much easier said than done), there is nothing wrong with a good heavy-gauge welded wire fence with something smaller-mesh on the lower portion.

So I think what you're proposing to do is really quite reasonable.

JMHO, good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[Ridgerunner]

I have 1" square hardware cloth on all ventilation openings on my coop. I have 2" x 4" welded wire surrounding my run. Some of my apron dig-proofing is hardware cloth because I has some convenient sized pieces left over, but most of the apron is welded wire. I do lock mine up at night. My roosts are not up against the ventilation openings.

I also think what you propose is quite reasonable.