SuperC
In the Brooder
- Feb 29, 2024
- 32
- 37
- 44
Hi y’all! Im going to be getting chicks next week and am thinking ahead to when they live full time in the coop; but I’m curious if I HAVE to open and close the pop door every day for my chickens. I know it’s a technique to keep them safe at night, but the run will be as predator proof as I can make it & I’m having a debate with some people I know about it. One insists I have too, but her coop is in her backyard and she gets bears in her neighborhood. Another one says it not needed if the coop is super secure (from both pulling and pushing predator, as well as minor diggers).
I’m building a fully enclosed run with the coop attached firmly to the side of it. It will be fully enclosed and I’m attempting to make it as secure as Fort Knox with 19 gauge welded & coated hardware cloth, secured to the posts and walls with washers and screws every few inches (& the hardware cloth placed on the outside of the frames so anything pushing on the outside will have an even harder time flexing the hardware cloth- not as pretty, but way more secure). I will have a skirt of the same cloth running outwards 12-16inches away from the coop and secured in place with 12 inch U stakes deep into the ground (it will also be one continuous piece, flowing from the wall, down to the ground and outwards, not a loose piece just tacked to the ground). I will also have cinderblocks on TOP of the hardware cloth along the outside for extra security (& where I will plant herbs in the open cube space) and that will back up to a 6 inch high board for extra base strength. I will have every crack and opening either covered with hardware cloth & fasteners, and even mini gaps (1/8” wide) in coop interior has been filled with spray foam to keep drafts and bugs to a minimum.
Is this good enough that I don’t have to mess with opening/closing the pop door every evening? I would love an automatic
Or solar door opener, but that’s outside the budget until probably Christmas (my husband wants to spend zero on the coop build and I’m being conservative but it’s already in the $350+ range and I still need to buy probably another $200 in roofing, framing and hardware (& paint). They will be on the back of my 4 acre property (another concession to getting them) and it’s an uphill 250 yard walk in all weather to get there (hello southern summers with full sun in 90% humidity!), so I’m looking to decrease the trips I need to take, but I want to keep them safe as well (hence the Fort Knox)
Our common predators here are varied-
The Airborne ines are everything from assorted hawks to a great horned owl to even bald eagles (rare but i saw one take a turtle from the pond next door not long ago). This is why the run will be 6 feet high and fully enclosed- no areal attacks wanted!. Then there is the other critters- we regularly see skunks & opossums, have seen Raccoon scat (never seen them, just the droppings) and we hear coyotes in the neighborhood various times of year. We also occasionally have 2 large stray dogs go tearing thru the fields after deer or the wild turkeys (and we don’t know who they belong too, but nobody around here), but I can’t rule them out as a predator. Large grey rat snakes and the occasional mouse/rat. But nothing else/larger that I’m aware of. We live near a creek, and a river otter came to look around my backyard one and snuggled around a tree for an hour, but I’ve not seen one since. No rumors of mink or weasels or anything else that I know of.
Do you think my preventions will be good enough, Or am I overlooking something? I will have the extra piece of wood I’m cutting out and can make a pop door for back up, but is it really a requirement to open and close it 2 times a day?
Thanks!
I’m building a fully enclosed run with the coop attached firmly to the side of it. It will be fully enclosed and I’m attempting to make it as secure as Fort Knox with 19 gauge welded & coated hardware cloth, secured to the posts and walls with washers and screws every few inches (& the hardware cloth placed on the outside of the frames so anything pushing on the outside will have an even harder time flexing the hardware cloth- not as pretty, but way more secure). I will have a skirt of the same cloth running outwards 12-16inches away from the coop and secured in place with 12 inch U stakes deep into the ground (it will also be one continuous piece, flowing from the wall, down to the ground and outwards, not a loose piece just tacked to the ground). I will also have cinderblocks on TOP of the hardware cloth along the outside for extra security (& where I will plant herbs in the open cube space) and that will back up to a 6 inch high board for extra base strength. I will have every crack and opening either covered with hardware cloth & fasteners, and even mini gaps (1/8” wide) in coop interior has been filled with spray foam to keep drafts and bugs to a minimum.
Is this good enough that I don’t have to mess with opening/closing the pop door every evening? I would love an automatic
Or solar door opener, but that’s outside the budget until probably Christmas (my husband wants to spend zero on the coop build and I’m being conservative but it’s already in the $350+ range and I still need to buy probably another $200 in roofing, framing and hardware (& paint). They will be on the back of my 4 acre property (another concession to getting them) and it’s an uphill 250 yard walk in all weather to get there (hello southern summers with full sun in 90% humidity!), so I’m looking to decrease the trips I need to take, but I want to keep them safe as well (hence the Fort Knox)
Our common predators here are varied-
The Airborne ines are everything from assorted hawks to a great horned owl to even bald eagles (rare but i saw one take a turtle from the pond next door not long ago). This is why the run will be 6 feet high and fully enclosed- no areal attacks wanted!. Then there is the other critters- we regularly see skunks & opossums, have seen Raccoon scat (never seen them, just the droppings) and we hear coyotes in the neighborhood various times of year. We also occasionally have 2 large stray dogs go tearing thru the fields after deer or the wild turkeys (and we don’t know who they belong too, but nobody around here), but I can’t rule them out as a predator. Large grey rat snakes and the occasional mouse/rat. But nothing else/larger that I’m aware of. We live near a creek, and a river otter came to look around my backyard one and snuggled around a tree for an hour, but I’ve not seen one since. No rumors of mink or weasels or anything else that I know of.
Do you think my preventions will be good enough, Or am I overlooking something? I will have the extra piece of wood I’m cutting out and can make a pop door for back up, but is it really a requirement to open and close it 2 times a day?
Thanks!
I over think everything 
