DIY Coop question

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AmeliaBedelia said:
Makes sense. I support spending a bit of money to save you the "learning curve." Often saves money in the long run, and definitely saves time.

I would spend a little time on here looking at other people's coops and what they did, what their climate is like, etc. Can help you troubleshoot and improve your design. In general, cold temps/insulation is going to be less of an issue than you think (unless you are in Alaska or Siberia or something). It's predators, precipitation, and ventilation you need to really take into account in most climates. Oh, and keeping the inside of the coop cool in the summer - a shady spot is a good idea.

Sorry if that's outside the scope you wanted advice about, but I wasn't sure how much research you'd done. When I first got chickens, the amount of ventilation they needed was very surprising to me...1 sq ft per chicken! And changing a build-in-progress is no fun.
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Thank you so much! I fully appreciate it. My biggest concern is predators. Our property butts up to 500+acres of woods. We have it all out here!
 
Go with big(12-18") roof overhangs with open soffits.
Top hinged windows so they can stay open even during rain.
Both protected fro predators with 1/2" Hardware Cloth.

Heat may be an issue in Kentucky, so you want lots of ventilation.

Oh, and....... Welcome to BYC! @vintage
Here's how to add your general geographical location to your profile.
It's easy to do, and then it's always there!
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So if you have alllll the predators, you'll probably want to prevent digging/tunneling by having a solid floor or hardware cloth apron (foxes, coyotes, dogs, etc), have tricky-to-open latches (racoons), and make sure there are no gaps bigger than 1/2" - even up high (rats, snakes, etc).

If you have big predators like bears, I've also heard you'll probably want to invest in an electric fence. We only get "urban" predators here, so no personal experience with that.
 
AmeliaBedelia said:
So if you have alllll the predators, you'll probably want to prevent digging/tunneling by having a solid floor or hardware cloth apron (foxes, coyotes, dogs, etc), have tricky-to-open latches (racoons), and make sure there are no gaps bigger than 1/2" - even up high (rats, snakes, etc).

If you have big predators like bears, I've also heard you'll probably want to invest in an electric fence. We only get "urban" predators here, so no personal experience with that.
Click to expand...
Luckily the one problem we don't have are bears. Raccoons, possums, weasels, foxes, hawks, coyotes, snakes ect. are a regular occurrence here. I plan on making a mini Ft. Knox in my backyard! The coop itself should be fairly impenetrable, the run on the other hand will be more tricky to secure. I'm getting ideas on how to do it, pretty sure we'll skirt the hardware cloth and lay rock down around the perimeter.
 
aart said:
If there is pavers or rock covering the apron, they may start to dig at the outer edge of the rock and end up underneath the apron.
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Ahhhh.... Ok! That makes sense. As always, @aart, nails it down.
aart said:
6-8" deep?
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No, 6-8" sized rocks. I didn't make that clear. I'll save them for another project.
 

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