Coop nearly finished, looking for any suggestions for improvements :)

[Coralietg]

It's not quite finished, still needs final painting and the house needs finishing.

We're going to cover underneath with chicken wire, and make a door backed with chicken wire too.

Resident chicken wrangler.

Is this sufficient for the door? We do have raccoons around here so was trying to make something raccoon proof.

We covered everything we 1/2" hardware cloth, and the roof is bolted down sheet metal.

Any suggestions would really be appreciated.

Just interesting, this is the hawk nest we have in the garden.

ETA: We are planning on adding nesting boxes to the outside walls at a later date

 

[city kid farm]

Fabulous coop! I love the design. I like the slats in the floor - what a great way to get rid of poop! I haven't moved my chickens into their new living space yet so have no advice, just moral support.

 

[CityChook]

Are the chickens able to jump down from the roost onto the slatted floor without injury? I'm not criticizing, I'm just curious. My chickens are big bootie girls (buff orps) and they land on the floor with a THUD when they come down off the roost...

It doesn't appear that you have buried any wire around your run. I personally haven't had trouble with diggers, but I know that others on the BYC have. Without buried wire, and without a lockable pop door, I might consider putting a keyed lock on the run door. Personally, I don't think a raccoon is going to mess with your caribiner, but I know for sure that they couldn't open a keyed lock.

That shot of your daughter is very sweet.

 

[CityChook]

deleted - duplicate post. sorry about that.

 

[Knock Kneed Hen]

Looks great! I'm at the painting stage of my coop,

, I'm getting tired of painting!!! Your chickies will bring your little girl and the rest of the family so much joy. I wish I would have gotten chickens sooner.

You have a beautiful property too. I'm with CityChook on the lock though. Not that a raccoon can get in with your current system, but there are always nosey neighbors and houseguests that don't respect

boundaries (I've had both with tragic consequences) so now I keep my pens locked.

 

[Coralietg]

Didn't bury wire, told the husband what was needed, argument followed. Best I could get him to do was concrete in the foundation wood, which goes down 6 inches. It will unfortunately have to be a "told you so" moment if anything digs in. He's of the man knows best generation and thinks our soil is too compacted for anything to dig under.

You should of seen the half fallen down paddock with a huge carpenter bee infestation that he wanted to use originally.

They aren't in the coop area as it is right now. I put them in the brooder box which I put in there for the night. From what I know, the roost that is in there right now, is going to be the top one of the few he's putting in there. And the carabiner is a screw one, so I really don't think a raccoon could get into it.

 

[Prospector]

I've almost finished framing our coop. I really like your king-link lock solution, and may steal it. If your footing is poured concrete adn goes down as deep as youplanned the wire mesh to, your hubby may be right after all. OTOH, if he just set the posts in concrete, all bets are off.

I once had a digger find its way into the crawlspace of my house by tunnelling under a 2' deep footing.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

What a really great looking coop! Your husband did a wonderful job. What color are you going to paint it?

Wire doesn't have to be dug in, to prevent predators from digging in. You can just lay a strip on the ground around the outside to keep out diggers. 1-2 feet wide is most common. Just attach it to the base of the run. Use something to weight it down in a few spots if you need to or use some landscape fabric pins, until the grass grows up through it. Then you can just mow right over the top of it. An apron or flange like this is very common to use these days and works really well. It's a lot easier to install, too!

I'm not sure chicken wire will do a good job of letting the chicken poop fall through, underneath the slats. Maybe others with more experience can give some guidance on that. I'm thinking you might need something with slightly bigger holes. I would hate to have you end up with clogged, sagging wire, full of a mass of chicken poop. I know the smaller wire is bad for doing this and larger wire is no problem. The looser poop is less of a problem than the more solid poop. I'm just not sure how chicken wire is, especially with the larger morning deposit.

I was going to go make myself a late breakfast, but now I think I'll wait.

 

[elmo]

Quote:
Hee! I sorted through and cleaned out our mealworm farm right before lunch the other day. It's a great way to go on a diet, too.

 

[St-Hubert]

Looks good!
I am new at the coop-building myself, but I'd also recommend the 'apron' of harware cloth around the bottom. I buried part of ours and did an apron on the rest....gave me peace of mind.
I like the screw-caribeener as the lock on the door. That should do quite well.