Heating Chicken Coop

[PirateGirl]

As others have mentioned, cut the heat back a little at a time. Chickens can certainly handle your weather without any heat *once they have been acclimated*. Since your outdoor temps are fluctuating, it might be helpful to put a thermometer inside the coop. This way you can see the effect on the temperature when you change out the bulb. It might not be as simple as just progressively going to a lower watt bulb since the outdoor temps are fluctuating too. Your chicks may very well be scared of the dark at first, however in terms of their development and eventual egg laying, it will be beneficial to have complete darkness at times. I know I am more restless at night if there is a light on myself.

 

[CapricornFarm]

Hey! We are practically neighbors! I am about 45 mins north of Danville VA.
Yes, it is not cheap to make a good run. I used to use 2x4s and welded wire on the outside then chicken wire on the inside. Kept the coons from reaching in, and welded wire keeps the dogs out. Stray dogs are one of the worst predators of chickens because they will kill every one they catch! Some predators are happy with one chicken to eat, not dogs.
Used dog kennels make pretty good runs, if you run hardware cloth along the bottom to keep coons from reaching in.

 

[Blooie]

We managed to make a run that was cheap, easy enough for two old geezers with disabilities to put together, effective, easily expandable, and pretty good looking! Cattle panels. Yep, just cattle panels arched between a few steel fence posts that were pounded into the ground. Heavy snow loads, high winds....nothing fazed it.

Summer:


Winter:

 

[PirateGirl]

This recent thread is full of great ideas for cheap coop construction and salvaging materials...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/tips-on-building-a-cheapo-coop-and-run.1213627/

 

[GraceLaneFarms17]

Hey! We are practically neighbors! I am about 45 mins north of Danville VA.
Yes, it is not cheap to make a good run. I used to use 2x4s and welded wire on the outside then chicken wire on the inside. Kept the coons from reaching in, and welded wire keeps the dogs out. Stray dogs are one of the worst predators of chickens because they will kill every one they catch! Some predators are happy with one chicken to eat, not dogs.
Used dog kennels make pretty good runs, if you run hardware cloth along the bottom to keep coons from reaching in.

We have a fenced in backyard with agriculture fencing - so it's pretty sturdy and the gates have chicken wire on them as well. As far as any stray animals that's what's odd. Our neighbors dog would come by every night and eat whatever leftovers we had left in a bowl on the front porch. The owners started locking him in a pen full time which meant he wasn't coming over for leftovers but we didn't know so we continued to put them out. I expected that a coon or possum or SOMETHING would come eat them. Nope. Ended up dumping in our burn pile. And as far as the neighbor's dog, he isn't even phased by the chickens and is scared of cats. ‍ I think our biggest predator would be a fox that could jump the fence during the daytime - but there are so many neighbors who have free ranging chickens.

 

[lazy gardener]

After looking at your current set up, I have some ?'s and possible suggestions for you. The run, are the corner posts set into the ground, or does it just set on the ground? My suggestion is to raise both coop and run up on skids or better yet, a foundation of cinder blocks. This would give additional height. I assume the current dog house/coop has a wood floor? Any how, if you add a bit of framing, you can turn your run into a coop extension, perhaps use the dog house to brood your chicks with a MHP system. Keep in mind the minimum size recommendations. Then, when you've expanded your coop, you can add a new run, that will provide at least 10 s.f. per bird. Keep in mind that a walk in run is ideal. That will allow you to convert it to DL when they have destroyed the vegetation.

Or, you could build a cattle panel coop. They are easy to construct, very well adapted to deep litter management, and a 2 panel coop would give you an 8 x 8 footprint, or 64 s.f. to work with! Bigger is better!!! If you went 8 x 12, you could have a one size fits all combo coop/run.

 

[lazy gardener]

Measures can be taken to help keep your flock safe when they are free ranging. But rest assured, predators will find you. Sometimes quite quickly, sometimes you may go several years before they find you. But, they will find you, especially if your flock is not locked in and secure every night. I got by for 3 years, allowing daily free range, whether I was home or not, then the hawks discovered the buffet. Northern Goshawk, followed by Red tail. 3 birds lost in a few weeks Now they stalk my yard, hang out in the trees and taunt me. Perch on the fence to the covered run, swoop down into the run when bird netting was removed for winter snow storms. Pace in front of the grow out chicken run/coop taunting and terrorizing my flock. I let them out now and then, always keeping my eye to the skies. Sometimes I can go weeks without hawk issues. Other times the hawks start screeching from the woods and show up within 10 minutes of the time I let my flock out.

So, it's a matter of risk assessment. If you feel that your yard is secure, allow limited free range, and see how it goes. There are trade off's each way. Risk vs. contented free ranging birds. Neat yard vs. demolition crew.

 

[GraceLaneFarms17]

The run, are the corner posts set into the ground, or does it just set on the ground?

The entire run, including the corner posts are all dug into the ground. Our chickens like to scratch the ground, and this way it keeps them from creating holes/gaps and digging through to the other side - not that they'd try to dig out, but just for a cleaner look. And yes, the bottom is wood but we keep shavings down so that we can scoop their droppings out easily with a squared shovel.
I appreciate your suggestions!! Looks like we have some work to do before egg laying time. I have milk crates and old tires I plan to make into places for them to lay eggs in. I am just so worried about it attracting snakes!