Dog Kennel to Chicken Coop

[LCTX-Chickens]

We have a 6' x 12" chain link dog kennel that is 6' tall with no top. It has a full size swing gate on half of one end. We would like to turn this into a chicken coop & are looking for input on some type of cover / roof plus what we need to do to make it more predator proof. I have read some of the suggestions on here. I have an electric fence charger that I could use to put up a hot wire, I suppose around the outside perimeter? I also read something about using hardware cloth around the bottom as chain link isn't sufficient to keep some things out. Any advice is appreciated. We are looking forward to getting this coop ready & some chickens laying!

 

[TexasVet]

I just put bird netting over the top of mine to keep out hawks and owls. It's cheap and easy to put up.

To keep everything else out, run a hotwire along the perimeter, 4-6 inches above the ground, and at the top. That'll keep out 99 percent of anything that'll get after your birds.

If you plan to have chicks in there too, you'll need to put hardware cloth, chicken wire, or plastic netting around the bottom. It needs to be at least 2 feet tall, because the chicks use a climb/flap method of scaling anything shorter.

You could also do what I do... just let the little ones run in and out through the holes in the fence. It doesn't take longer before they're too big to get out.

And here's the really important part... plug the fence charger into a photoelectric timer. That'll turn the fence off during the day, so no babies get fried, and turn it back on at night when predators are a problem.

Kathy, Bellville TX
www.CountryChickens.com

 

[tiffanyh]

Weasels can still get through. I wired the floor and top and lost a few since I didnt wire the whole thing. Now you can put chain link behind the whole thing-whole thing! I didnt do this, instead, I just put the ladies (and gentleman) away in their coops at night. I have since added corrugated clear roofing since the area does not drain well.