Hi everyone, first post here.

[TheCapps']

Quote:
yes when they go in to roost for the night the coop is closed and locked. before I leave for work in the morning I open their door. My wife stays at home during the day. My neighbor said thay have lost chickens to hawks, so I figured i"d get them under the trees to hopefully give them a little cover. I'll look into the 1/2 cloth, The welded wire on the coop is the same as the barrier fence 2"x 4". the floor is tounge and groove 3/4" plywood, it locks up tight. we are also looking into getting some guineas, which we could really use to help with the ticks, and I hear they are good "watch dogs" for the flock.

 

[chickengal30]

Looks good so far!!!

I second the hardware cloth sudgestion and replacing the newspaper, Im new to chicken keeping and are using sand in the coop and run, on the advise of fellow BYC'ers

and love it!!! Ive been rakeing it when it needs it, ever other day or so, and it takes all of a minuite.

Happy hen keeping to you!! and....

 

[Hoosierchickens]

The two things that jumped out at me have already been mentioned and that's to replace the newspaper with pine shavings and to predator proof the windows by the roosts or move the roosts to a corner away from the window. Not having an enclosed run will put your chickens at risk but not anymore than if you free ranged them. So long as you're okay with the risk and accept that you will loose chickens your good.

 

[TheCapps']

I have two more perches on the opposite corne from the window. They acually use those more than the ones by the window anyway. I will add the smaller wire. As far as haveing the upen run, I'd rather that, and I do understand the risk, as I said eventually I'd like them to be completely free range. I have seen a couple houses locally that have their chickens just all over their yard, I just figured if they could do it, I should be able to also.

 

[Kudzu]

Gather those babies up and give them a goodbye kiss, it's only a matter of time before they are history. Remember, they chickens and everything wants to eat them.

 

[Chickencoop1996]