Coop Upgrade: WWYD

[tiggertwin89]

My husband and I purchased a home in December that came with 10 beautiful girls who have been blessing us with more eggs than we can imagine! But the previous owner built a very, thrown together coop that is not working great, they’re roosting where the nesting boxes are, the actually house is made of plywood and is falling apart, they’re digging and flying out of the coop and into the neighbors yard (and they have large dogs!)

the good news is they’re healthy and seem happy, but we need to upgrade ASAP before someone gets hurt or the coop falls apart. What are some good fixes that could be done on a budget?? It is on a hillside so something to take into consideration. I’ve included some photos for reference

 

[Chickensandhorsesforlife]

Your girls are beautiful

 

[black_cat]

I see lots of photos of the run. Could you post a clear one of the coop its self from the outside? How large is it? You say you have 10 chickens, do you plan to get anymore? How large is the run?

 

[tiggertwin89]

I see lots of photos of the run. Could you post a clear one of the coop its self from the outside? How large is it? You say you have 10 chickens, do you plan to get anymore? How large is the run?

I thought I had a decent size photo of the coop, I’ll grab one later today. The run is large, but definitely needs to be more secure. We don’t have plans to add more chickens a anytime soon, we’re very happy with these girls! I’ll get back to you with the other information soon!

 

[black_cat]

To make the run more secure- I would just straighten up the T posts, make sure that there are no gaps in the wire, and add heavy bird netting over the whole thing. I would also add an apron of wire that extends about a foot out around the whole thing.
Is the coop that wooden structure near the tarp and the big plastic bench? You should make sure that it's at least 70 square feet. The nesting boxes look good, but the roosts should be much longer, and would probably be better parallel to the nesting boxes as opposed to how they are now. You should have at least 14 feet of linear roost space.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

EASY and free fix for one of your problems. RAISE the roosting bar. That will get them out of the nests.

Then move the plastic sofa/bench whatever and similar away from the fence - the extra height makes it that much easier for them to fly over, when they aren't going under.

Wood is stupid expensive right now, delay the wall upgrades. If you have neighbors looking to get rid of old steel roofing, maybe with a bunch of holes in it, or other materials you can repurpose, that's an option for you. If not, what's there will do for now - just keep an eye on your 4x4s for rot. As long as they are solid, you have all the structure you need for later. Heck, even the walls from and old washer, dryer, or refrigerator would work, if there's a local dump open to you.

Finally, until the top of the fence is stiff, its going to be a problem, even if you re-stretch it and reset your posts. They make socketed caps for those poles like you see on backyard fences everywhere to help keep things tensioned. The aren't cheap, so start budgeting. Alternatively, when you can, restreth the fence, reset your poles, get the top poles in place, then drill thru them with a good titanium tip bit, drive a 3/8" dia screw thru, so the poles can't shift. Or bolt it - whatever is readily available, cheap, and galvanized. Bolt is technically better, but would take a much longer bit to get things to line up right.

 

[tiggertwin89]

To make the run more secure- I would just straighten up the T posts, make sure that there are no gaps in the wire, and add heavy bird netting over the whole thing. I would also add an apron of wire that extends about a foot out around the whole thing.
Is the coop that wooden structure near the tarp and the big plastic bench? You should make sure that it's at least 70 square feet. The nesting boxes look good, but the roosts should be much longer, and would probably be better parallel to the nesting boxes as opposed to how they are now. You should have at least 14 feet of linear roost space.

Thank you. Yes the coop is that wooden structure. I will look at how to make the roost longer. Ideally I’d have it not near the nesting boxes and enough room for all the girls, but not sure the coop size will allow that.

 

[tiggertwin89]

EASY and free fix for one of your problems. RAISE the roosting bar. That will get them out of the nests.

Then move the plastic sofa/bench whatever and similar away from the fence - the extra height makes it that much easier for them to fly over, when they aren't going under.

Wood is stupid expensive right now, delay the wall upgrades. If you have neighbors looking to get rid of old steel roofing, maybe with a bunch of holes in it, or other materials you can repurpose, that's an option for you. If not, what's there will do for now - just keep an eye on your 4x4s for rot. As long as they are solid, you have all the structure you need for later. Heck, even the walls from and old washer, dryer, or refrigerator would work, if there's a local dump open to you.

Finally, until the top of the fence is stiff, its going to be a problem, even if you re-stretch it and reset your posts. They make socketed caps for those poles like you see on backyard fences everywhere to help keep things tensioned. The aren't cheap, so start budgeting. Alternatively, when you can, restreth the fence, reset your poles, get the top poles in place, then drill thru them with a good titanium tip bit, drive a 3/8" dia screw thru, so the poles can't shift. Or bolt it - whatever is readily available, cheap, and galvanized. Bolt is technically better, but would take a much longer bit to get things to line up right.

Thank you for the suggestions! The home is a fixer-upper so we’re aware about the cost of wood right now

 

[Chickensandhorsesforlife]

Thank you for the suggestions! The home is a fixer-upper so we’re aware about the cost of wood right now

it is crazy

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I feel your pain - we are building right now. My neighbors, the ones that don't have big cattle pastures, have acreage given over to farming pine trees for lumber, and I have a sawmill down the road. Yet local lumber prices have tripled!

Where its not structural, I've used a chainsaw mill and a small 10" table saw to harvest some wood from my property. Its VERY time consuming, and hard on the chain saw, but it works when I only need a couple boards.