It doesn't make a difference. My birds lay in the nest boxes because that's where they feel safe laying. I've put a variety of materials in there and they'll still lay in there. Currently I use hemp, which is on the coop floor under the roosts. They also drag in pieces of wood or feathers from the coop floor (I use wood chips in the rest of the coop) and it does not cause any confusion.
That sounds like a nightmare!
Do you live where there is snow, or the possibility of snow? Anything but a solid wooden roof and frame will collapse under the weight of any type of snow. The metal tubing for what you pictured will not support any weight.
You don't state what predators you have to deal with. We have Dogs, Opposums, Snakes, Bobcats, Foxes, Raccoons, Hawks, Owls and Eagles. Hog panels and hardware cloth seem rather expensive. We used the large opening chicken wire for the top to keep birds and oppossums out. Used standard welded wire fence roll for sides, then buried cement blocks (thin 1/2 size) at bottom with chick wire around bottom on inside. That keeps any little chicks in and keeps dogs from digging under. We have 36 hens and 1 very docile rooster. We used a small carport as the inside frame, built a tight fence around it. That is their internal secure house. We are in So. Georgia so don't have cold or snow as much of a problem, heat is big problem for us, so the carport allows us to leave more open air while still keeping them secure.
Interesting reading your descriptions. Never had to deal with rats as a problem with our chickens and glad of it. But then again we have 8 permanent cats and 2 ferals on contant patrol of our yard. One of them "Oscar" patrols the outside of their fence daily. That may be why we only have problems with predators who are as bigg or bigger than the cats.
What a great setup, thanks for sharing! I'd be very happy to have such a setup. Those 83% light panels really do keep things nice and bright, I'll have to keep that in mind.
Indeed, those rats were a total nightmare. I love rats as pets or out in the wild...but they poop and pee SO MUCH. So when they're infesting a human environment where the poop doesn't have anywhere to go, it gets absolutely disgusting and disease-inducing really quickly. When we evicted them from the garage and cleaned out all the damage they'd done there, just their poops alone filled SEVERAL 30-gallon storage tubs.
I think that is a definite improvement. For one thing, it's probably sturdier. And depending on how you attach other things to the panels, they might be fairly easy to take apart and move at a later date (when you quit renting that particular house.)
Yes, I'm planning on hardware-cloth-ing each panel individually so we can move them as needed. And using a separate piece for those removable panels in case we someday want to attach a coop. All gaps between panels will be covered as well of course. I want zero gaps because black snakes are a major predator concern here. They do occasionally kill and (try to) eat bantams.
What do J-clips look like?
