Dog Kennel Coops

[Chickenaddict]

I use the dog kennels for runs But have a smaller one i plan on putting a nice little dog house in and turning it into a summer serama coop. Looks like your cochins love it

 

[CATRAY44]

It is what I use, too!

 

[WildBurroShirts.com]

Love the coop!

So how long does the transition take, from heat lamp to being out like that?

I've got a dog kennel. But they were shaking with the cold at 50 degrees (probably 40 in the shade) last week and it's only twenty right now.

(they're 5 weeks old)

 

[embkm]

I have a dog kennel coop too. We had the top all covered in wire. It's still not completely safe. Something tore into ours (tore a big hole in the chainlink) and killed all of our chickens. We think it was our neighbor's dogs that are always loose. Whatever it was didn't eat them, just killed them and left their bodies.

 

[halo]

You had dogs tear a hole in the chain link?? I can't imagine that. I have dog kennel coops too, and figured they were safe. I have wire fencing over the top of it, and hardware cloth on the inside so they cant stick they heads out.

 

[embkm]

Quote:
Yes. They dug until they managed to break the wires holding the botton down. Broke the chicken wire too, which I thought would be enough since we had the chainlink. Then managed to push up the links until there was a big enough hole to fit through. It was either the dogs, a bobcat, or a raccoon on steriods. Either way, had the same sad end.

 

[wasatusay]

I have two dog kennel coops. Being here is SC it works good. But during the day they free range in both yards I have fenced in. Inside I also have separate nesting coops and kitty litter boxes for laying. The ducks and chickens really like the kitty littel boxes the best for laying. You would never think a duck would like that tight of a space. One of the ducks does like the big box coop over the small ones.
In the winter the outside and insides are tarped for air space insulation with about 6 inches or more of hay on the ground at any given time.
They are great in the summer since I leave the tarps on the top (some areas have tin roofing across them, to keep areas dry from rain and cool from sun. But I roll the sides up and remove the inner tarps. Makes for fresh air through the day, and only a small amount of hay on the ground. I will roll the sides down according to the weather and open part of the top to boot. If it is a heat wave I will hang a fan inside to keep the air moving. Heat and humidity can be rough if the air does not circulate.
But I also have the 1/4 inch square wire on the bottom 4 feet and chicken wire attached to the hurricane wire that it is built from everywhere else. At least with the chicken wire if a snake is taking your eggs, he may get in but he is not getting out until that egg is crushed and if he is big he is not getting in at all.
The nice thing about these is that I can move them if I need to. I drive 5 foot metal fence posts at each corner and hose clamp it to the corner pipes of the frame to keep it from ever blowing over in high winds. The are easy to pull up with a pole and heavy wire or rope that you run through the hole in the fence post. Use it like a t- handle and lift with the knees.
This winter has been pretty cold, as every one knows, and having 4,100 watt lights down the length of each roost (8 total) keeps the chickens pretty toasty even when it dropped into the teens.
I did bring in the bantams because they are so small and farther away from most of the lights and my really old girls and kept them in my big transport cage in the house at night. What's a little hay that gets on the floor and early morning crowing in the house?

 

[hippichick]

This is our kennel coop. It was once a kennel for our dogs, but we no longer used it, so we moved it to the chicken yard to use as a coop. We added the siding, and used the cedar fence boards to make it look more like a coop than a kennel. We also recently poured a cement slab in it, and I use wood chips over the cement. Since this picture, we built a nesting box unit along the back wall. You can really do alot with a kennel. It can make a pretty nice coop. We've since picked up a couple more to make the run for our new Orpington coop. That's next week's project.

Paula

 

[thecochincoop]

That looks nice maybe I will have to do something like that. I at least want to put a top on it for bad weather.

 

[hippichick]

We had the tin lying around. We're always using tin for something. We just recently had part of our horse barn torn up by a hurricane. We had to change out most of the tin, but some of it, we can use on other things. The sheets were 24 feet long, so we can cut it and use pieces on structures that don't need 24 foot sheets. So we just stack it up to use for later. If you look around, you can almost always find things for nothing or next to nothing. The fence boards, we got from a local fence company a while back. It is fencing that they took down when they put new fencing up. We picked up the fence panels from the fence company, and took them apart, and just stacked the wood. We've been using that stack of wood for about 3 years now, but it's dwindling, not much left. We need to check on getting more of that. Although, I find it's much harder to find stuff for free than it used to be, especially with the economy the way it is. People are selling thing that they used to give away. You have to look a little harder, but it's out there, maybe not free, but cheaper than new.

Paula