Flock Master64's Coop/Hutch Photo Contest!

[junebuggena]

*sigh*

I just CAN'T get a break can I

I guess we worked so hard for NOTHING! GEEZ!

Just layer some welded wire over it. Your birds will need a mostly solid floor in the roosting portion to be able access the roost that you put way up there. Or you can just instal a 2x4 wide side up where you have the wire 'flooring'. And you don't seem to have any ventilation above roosting height.
Basic rookie mistakes. Just about everyone has made at least one or more. All part of the learning process.

 

[Sylvester017]

*sigh*

I just CAN'T get a break can I

I guess we worked so hard for NOTHING! GEEZ!

Don't feel bad. It's just that so many of us used chicken poultry wire on our coops and either wild predators or ordinary neighborhood dogs easily destroyed the chicken wire on our coops. I looked closely at our 1-inch chicken wire and saw that the wire was only winding around itself and easily unwinds with pressure against it. We had a neighborhood stray German Shepherd along with a large stray Poodle mix that broke down our chainlink gate and attacked our first little chicken poultry wire coop 5 yrs ago and if it wasn't for a Good Samaritan neighbor chasing off the stray dogs they would've got to our 3 chickens. The wire was terribly mangled and if it was only a couple more minutes the mutts might've broken a big enough hole to get inside the coop.

If you can get a sturdier upper floor for your nestboxes and build a ladder ramp to the little loft so the chickens can use it if they want rather than trying to fly up to the upper floor to lay their eggs. You've got good basic bones on your coop. However, many of us sadly have not had the best experience with chicken poultry wire being sturdy enough either for chicken feet or to keep out predators -- I happen to have large clever city raccoons and possums around our place and they can easily tear apart chicken wire. Don't feel bad - keep thinking about what could work as a lightweight option for the upper floor. I found the cheapest thinnest lightweight plywood sheet at the hardware store and had them cut it to size when I needed a windbreaker wall for our first little coop. It was around $12 for the sheet and Lowe's cut it to size for us for free. It's nice to think about having chicken poop fall to the ground below through chicken wire. Hardware cloth wire 1/2" is sturdier than chicken wire if you still want chicken poop to fall through the wire. It's a nice idea in theory but I have the dog kennel wire floor in our present coop and the chicken poop sticks to the wire just as much as a solid floor. We have to daily clean the wire with a brush so whether it's a solid floor or a wire floor it will still require maintenance almost on a daily basis.

I was thinking that 3 or 4-in-wide board slats in two or three longitudinal separated rows around the open bottom of your A-frame would reinforce the chicken wire from something heavy like a big dog or clever raccoon attack. Some people have used cattle wire fencing to reinforce their chicken wire. Whatever you can think of to make chickens safe is always worth it. The chickens are easy to keep inside but the predators are hard to keep outside. I think you are very lucky to have the swingset frame. I had no children and the only frame in our yard were two old rusty clothesline poles LOL!

 

[Chickenchick11]

Wow, very impressive! Well built coop 

Thanks! They sure don't make things like they used too.

 

[JackE]

WoodsInTheWinter.

 

[Janie hall]

My main coop and grow out coop with a rhodie in full bloom.

nice what is a grow out pen

 

[junebuggena]

nice what is a grow out pen

The grow out coop is the small, wooden 3x3 coop, with a 12 sq ft run. It's used specifically for integrating chicks into the flock.

 

[Janie hall]

The grow out coop is the small, wooden 3x3 coop, with a 12 sq ft run. It's used specifically for integrating chicks into the flock.

ok awesome thanks

 

[summerb123]

Don't feel bad. It's just that so many of us used chicken poultry wire on our coops and either wild predators or ordinary neighborhood dogs easily destroyed the chicken wire on our coops. I looked closely at our 1-inch chicken wire and saw that the wire was only winding around itself and easily unwinds with pressure against it. We had a neighborhood stray German Shepherd along with a large stray Poodle mix that broke down our chainlink gate and attacked our first little chicken poultry wire coop 5 yrs ago and if it wasn't for a Good Samaritan neighbor chasing off the stray dogs they would've got to our 3 chickens. The wire was terribly mangled and if it was only a couple more minutes the mutts might've broken a big enough hole to get inside the coop.

If you can get a sturdier upper floor for your nestboxes and build a ladder ramp to the little loft so the chickens can use it if they want rather than trying to fly up to the upper floor to lay their eggs. You've got good basic bones on your coop. However, many of us sadly have not had the best experience with chicken poultry wire being sturdy enough either for chicken feet or to keep out predators -- I happen to have large clever city raccoons and possums around our place and they can easily tear apart chicken wire. Don't feel bad - keep thinking about what could work as a lightweight option for the upper floor. I found the cheapest thinnest lightweight plywood sheet at the hardware store and had them cut it to size when I needed a windbreaker wall for our first little coop. It was around $12 for the sheet and Lowe's cut it to size for us for free. It's nice to think about having chicken poop fall to the ground below through chicken wire. Hardware cloth wire 1/2" is sturdier than chicken wire if you still want chicken poop to fall through the wire. It's a nice idea in theory but I have the dog kennel wire floor in our present coop and the chicken poop sticks to the wire just as much as a solid floor. We have to daily clean the wire with a brush so whether it's a solid floor or a wire floor it will still require maintenance almost on a daily basis.

I was thinking that 3 or 4-in-wide board slats in two or three longitudinal separated rows around the open bottom of your A-frame would reinforce the chicken wire from something heavy like a big dog or clever raccoon attack. Some people have used cattle wire fencing to reinforce their chicken wire. Whatever you can think of to make chickens safe is always worth it. The chickens are easy to keep inside but the predators are hard to keep outside. I think you are very lucky to have the swingset frame. I had no children and the only frame in our yard were two old rusty clothesline poles LOL!

lol ok i will have to beg my dad to help me fix it but it is pretty freaken heavy it took 3 people to struggle to movve that thing!

 

[Sylvester017]

WoodsInTheWinter.

This coop design was one of the best ever and used since at least the early 1900's for good ventilation even in snow areas. Beautiful design -- do your hens ever romp in the snow?

 

[Flock Master64]

This coop design was one of the best ever and used since at least the early 1900's for good ventilation even in snow areas.  Beautiful design -- do your hens ever romp in the snow?

Id like one like that but a lot bigger. Enough to hold about 20 or 30 birds. Some of mine like the snow but I got some new ones in August so we'll see how they like it.