I'm getting a chicken coop! Need some advice.

[MamiPollo]

The girls (all 6 of them) are flying around my bathroom now. I have a chicken house being built & should be delivered either Friday evening or Monday afternoon. I'm hoping and praying for Friday. I would post photos, but can't figure out how to do that here. You can see it here: http://louisville.craigslist.org/grd/2370610716.html

I am limited to what I can do physically, so my plan is to get a dog run. What have been people's experiences with using chain link dog runs?

I would really prefer something more attractive, but have to work with the resources I have. Limited $$ and limited physical strength. To top it all off, what tools I had were stolen so I am pretty much having to start over in that area also.

I live in a suburban area in Louisville, KY..... a subdivision of little brick 1950's tract houses. A modest, but tidy and well-kept neighborhood. I want things to look as nice as possible, because our yards are small and we all see into each other's yards.

If anyone has any suggestions, please share! Even brainstorming might come up with something good.

One resource I do have is 16 8 ft. long landscape timbers. I was planning to use these for a raised garden bed, but am open to building a run out of them. My issues are: no post hole diggers (and not sure I am strong enough to do it anyway) and no drill. I am probably going to replace my nice Dewalt drill & bits with a used one from the pawn shop, but just haven't done it. I don't feel confident in my ability to identify a good one, but they have dozens of them for cheap.

Looking forward to your feedback!

 

[latebloomer]

how many square feet is that coop? i ask because the craigslist posting says it's for eight to ten chickens, but i looks kinda small to me, even for six chickens.

how about a hoop style run. i just made one for about fifty bucks with 3/4" diameter uv resistant pvc pipes, hangers, and chicken wire over a wood frame. it's in the foreground of this picture:

 

[MamiPollo]

I don't have exact dimensions but approx. 2 ft by 4 ft. I wrote him back for dimensions.

I also have a small aluminum shed I could convert, but it is full of stored garden items. I feel overwhelmed when I think about trying to do this. I am a single mom raising a young teen with multiple disabilities. I have a neuromuscular disability myself, and am missing most of my tools.

I have a chicken tractor I was fixing up, and replaced all the chicken wire on it with hardware cloth. Thought I was finished. Went to put the roof on and it fell apart. So now, no roof. Spent a week trying to figure out a new roof and just decided to go with a permanent coop.

How do you do the hoop house? Is it something I could do by myself? I do not have a helper. My daughter is not able to help me.

 

[MamiPollo]

I heard back from the chicken coop guy. It is 5 ft long and 2.5 feet wide.

So the floor space is 12.5 square feet. That is more than 2 sq ft per bird.

 

[latebloomer]

i know you can build this hoop house all by yourself. i did.

just need a drill for screws, and tinsnips or something to cut the hardware cloth or poultry wire. oh and a hammer for...

i'm planning just to have a tarp of the top of it to give the girls some shade.

 

[latebloomer]

Quote:
from what i've been reading, you really want more than 2 square per bird unless all they're doing in there is sleeping.

 

[MamiPollo]

How do you bend the pipes? Is that pvc pipe or what?

 

[zookeeper15133]

The hoops are very economical to build and you can do it without power tools. Use your landscape timbers for the base. You will need the pipe, wire, wire ties and the brackets to hold the pipe to the base. Make it as large as you can because that coop does look quite small for 6 chickens! Good luck.

He used electrical conduit. It is UV resistant. You bend it by hand. It is not hard to do.

 

[latebloomer]

i used 3/4" diameter pvc pipes that i got an an electrical supply place (they're okay to be used in direct sunlight)

i used a hanger on one side of the frame, fit in the pipe and then bent it down to the other side of the frame.

the length of pipe per hoop on the one in the picture is about fifteen feet, so i used one full ten foot length, then a half of another one.

each length of pipe has a bell end, so the five foot piece just slipped into the ten foot section.

the pvc cuts very easily with a hacksaw.

 

[MamiPollo]

The plan is for them to only be in there at night. Our winters are not so harsh that they cannot go out during the day. And I got hardy breeds that should not have a problem with the cold here.

Someone I know here has an open air coop, his hens have been in for 3 years and they have done fine. It is only enclosed on 2 sides and the other 2 sides are screened.

My main concern is predators, as we have raccoons living in the storm drain under our street. I have seen a possum on the carport.

A cooper's hawk makes regular visits to my bird feeding station. He generally sits on the roof of the house or on my front steps and waits for his lunch to arrive. So if I go with the dog run option, I will need to cover it with something. He is beautiful, but don't plan on feeding him my hens!