hello everyone

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cjohnson83

cjohnson83

Hatching
5 Years
Jul 24, 2014
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I am new and am in the process of building our own ch8cken coop. I see they can be pretty exspensive when trying to buy one already built. The orevious tenants left a dog run and I am turning that into our chicken area. I am worried though due to the fact that neighbors cats come in my yard often.my husband is going to build it and I cant wait. I am to relieved I found this page.
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC!
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So glad you could join our community!

Good luck with the coop build. Yes, it is cheaper to build one yourself. Prebuilt coops are not all that great either. This way you can customize it. Have you taken a look at our coops pages yet? You might find lots of good ideas to incorporate into your build...https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/2/Coops

I have never had any experience with cats around here, but if you run into any trouble, you can post questions here in our Predator and Pests section for help...https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/13/predators-and-pests

Stop by our learning center too. Lots of good articles on all the aspects of keeping poultry including keeping them safe from predators...https://www.backyardchickens.com/atype/1/Learning_Center

The one piece of advice I can give you is don't use chicken wire. It is very flimsy and can be chewed thru very easily by coons, skunks, crawled thru by rats, weasels and mice and snakes are huge pests and can slither right in. So use hardware cloth on exterior parts of the run and coop. 1/2 inch will do.

Good luck and if you have any questions, you know where we are!
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You are smart to build your own - *most* of the pre-fab ones are really not all they are cracked up to be and one can build a much better (and bigger) unit for the same cost .
 
Welcome to BYC! Glad you decided to join our flock. X2 on using hardware cloth instead of chicken wire. There are just too many predators that can either tear through chicken wire or else squeeze through the openings in the mesh. Good luck in getting your coop built and in getting your flock.
 
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I hope you can devise a run and coop that is cat proof. Or trap them and take to a distant animal shelter. A couple Jack Russell Terriers would send them on they way.
 

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