Hurricane Harvey coop rebuild (Picture heavy)

[Tesumph]

Those babies are adorable!! The coop looks awesome!

Thank you so much!

Wow! You should post before and after pics (shot from afar) when it's 100% done.
Looks great AND functional! Good work.
Also, hardware cloth is of the devil. Much like beer, it is the cause of, and solution to, many of life's problems.

I will for sure do some before and afters. I had to see where I started after getting discouraged at the lack of progress today and was blown away!
This dump is really coming together lol.

Leather gloves! Maybe Kevlar! Tin snips or power tools, long sleeves, and old jeans. Positive thoughts about the safety of your birds, and some swearing helps too.
Mary

I am definitely breaking out the bandaids and gloves tomorrow. When those little wire cuts are on your joints and get all dirty and raw, they HURT.
Swearing really does help, as well as frequent chick TV breaks.

 

[aart]

When those little wire cuts are on your joints and get all dirty and raw, they HURT.

Any galvanized wire cuts get especially irritated due to the chemicals used in processing.
Those chemicals are good reason to wash hands thoroughly after working with it then eating too. I have had some nasty cuts/scratches from heavier fencing, they take some time to heal up for sure.

Didn't have too much damage from working with HC tho, but I laid it out on concrete garage floor, sometimes back 'bending' it gently over a saw horse to fight off the 'rollup', and bent over the little wires left after making a cut...yes, time consuming and tedious(borderline anal/OCD) but sure beat getting 'bit' by them during installation.






@Tesumph ...You've come a long way baby!!
A daunting task it was but, with a lot of hard work, you made it happen.
Congrats and Kudos!!
Chick pic is precious, cotton balls indeed!

 

[Tesumph]

Any galvanized wire cuts get especially irritated due to the chemicals used in processing.
Those chemicals are good reason to wash hands thoroughly after working with it then eating too. I have had some nasty cuts/scratches from heavier fencing, they take some time to heal up for sure.

Didn't have too much damage from working with HC tho, but I laid it out on concrete garage floor, sometimes back 'bending' it gently over a saw horse to fight off the 'rollup', and bent over the little wires left after making a cut...yes, time consuming and tedious(borderline anal/OCD) but sure beat getting 'bit' by them during installation.






@Tesumph ...You've come a long way baby!!
A daunting task it was but, with a lot of hard work, you made it happen.
Congrats and Kudos!!
Chick pic is precious, cotton balls indeed!

Huh, never knew that! Good to know.
And thank you so much, I’m finally feeling content with progress and not tearing my hair out at the growing to-do list.

Went to check on them this morning and my heart dropped. The lid is covered in raccoon prints!

Feeling thankful for the white paint now. The thought of them (there is at least two from the print size difference) crawling all over, testing and prodding for weaknesses.. ugh.

No more mucking around. Replaced the main door lock with something sturdier (had some trouble with the hardware on that gate latch) and put a latch on the egg box.
Need to find or buy some carabiners to lock them both with.


After the last vent is covered in hardware cloth (it already has the larger gauge wire on it), the coop will be 100% raccoon and snake proof (our two biggest predators by far).

I’m torn about trapping. On the one hand, killing a predator will just make space for another one. If they can’t get in, what’s the harm?
On the other hand, they ALREADY found my birds. They will be back tonight, and every other night. Raccoons aren’t territorial and lone hunters like a fox, who knows how large there colony is or could be..
Thoughts?

 

[aart]

If they can’t get in, what’s the harm?

Exactly ....but it's hard not to try to stem the tide.

 

[Tesumph]

Exactly ....but it's hard not to try to stem the tide.

Hmm..
We really do have a massive raccoon population here.
Thankfully we have grey foxes, not red, and they’ve never shown interest in chickens (knock on wood).
Even the snakes have never actually done harm, just eaten eggs and fallen asleep, not that I doubt their interest in chicks.

The raccoons have been devistating in the past.. I’m so conflicted.

 

[Folly's place]

I have a secure coop and run, but I'd be unhappy about those visitors!
Sometimes 'trap and shoot' is really the best plan. Is your run secure against raccoons, etc? If not, consider some pre-emptive eliminations.
Mary

 

[Tesumph]

I have a secure coop and run, but I'd be unhappy about those visitors!
Sometimes 'trap and shoot' is really the best plan. Is your run secure against raccoons, etc? If not, consider some pre-emptive eliminations.
Mary

It’s not raccoon proof yet but it will be.
It will NOT be snake proof, and a determined canine could dig under with some effort. But it will be raccoon proof, I believe.

I guess I’m going to go ahead and trap them.. who knows how big the population has gotten in these woods.

 

[aart]

I guess I’m going to go ahead and trap them

Go for it...but make sure you kill them too.

 

[Tesumph]

Go for it...but make sure you kill them too.

I plan on it, relocating predators is selfish and ignorant imho.

 

[aart]

I plan on it, relocating predators is selfish and ignorant imho.

I thought so, just wanted to make sure.