First Coop Build, how’d I do?

[Welllaidacres]

I have doubled the size of my coop. It is now 10’x15’. I did this because I felt my other one was getting too small for the 26 pullets and one cockerel I had in it. Only 12 of those are mine, I am raising 15 for a friend. Another reason for the expansion is that if I ever have to lock the girls inside for a few days, I won’t feel bad as I know they have plenty of space. I made a few other modifications. You can now see the ramps in and out of the coop and into the runs. One outside pen is my garden, the other is the chicken run. I will alternate them each year. I also moved the nesting box to a lower height and added these chicken curtains I found. Oh and i almost forgot, i added a pop door with a couple pulleys so that i can open/close it from outside their coop. I Hope you guys like it!

 

[Welllaidacres]

Thank you so much! Will I need to use hardware cloth for the apron too? or is burying chicken wire enough for that?

 

[Welllaidacres]

Looks like I will be using 1/2" HC for everything then! Thanks again.

I saw your rope and auto locking mechanism. Very neat design! I'm quite impressed. What made you decide to have a lock? Did you have issues with it coming open? I figured with a covered run I shouldnt have to worry about raccoons or the like having access to it to open it and wasnt going to use a latch.

 

[aart]

It's good to have a predator proof coop and run, so that when your flock is locked in, they won't go nuts and start hurting each other.

Large ones.
Mines pretty safe for daytime, especially since I'm home and within sight/sound 95% of the time.

 

[Folly's place]

Consider having a safe run as large as you can afford at once, and then a larger section that's 'pretty good'. It takes time, effort, and $$$ to develop a really good effective Ft. Knox.
Mary

 

[Welllaidacres]

Very nice design!
That chicken wire isn't actually predator proof though.
Mary

Thanks for the reply. The inside of the barn, where the coop is, is predator proof. All windows and doors shut tight. The cupelas on the roof have hardware cloth over their openings. I am not the slightest bit concerned about the chicken wire in the barn. If the structure around it is predator proof all that had to do is keep the birds in. The run is obviously not with just chicken wire and no overhead coverage. At some point I will upgrade it to hardware cloth, but I had chicken wire sittinghere and t posts, so that’s what was used for now. I wanted to give the birds access to the outside world, even if they haven’t ventured there on their own yet. I work in agricultural and it is our busy planting season right now. When work slows up and I have time, I will upgrade it.

 

[aart]

I will put a tank heater in this drum come winter time to keep it from freezing. I’m hoping that will be enough heat to keep the bar and nipples thawed but time will tell.

It will not, the nipples will freeze, then the pipe.
Better off putting horizontal nipples in the tank, or tanks if you need more than one.

 

[ValerieJ]

Looks like I will be using 1/2" HC for everything then! Thanks again.

I saw your rope and auto locking mechanism. Very neat design! I'm quite impressed. What made you decide to have a lock? Did you have issues with it coming open? I figured with a covered run I shouldnt have to worry about raccoons or the like having access to it to open it and wasnt going to use a latch.

That's a good question. We are building a "Fort Knox" coop and run this coming spring to go inside our current "sort-of-protected", really semi free range, run. When we do, the plan is to leave the coop door to the run open 24/7 so they can go in and out at will. My thought was, if the run is predator safe, then why do they have to be locked in the coop.

 

[ValerieJ]

Well, I love the larger coop. I think your chickens will too.

 

[Folly's place]

Very nice design!
That chicken wire isn't actually predator proof though.
Mary