I'm making some headway on the coop.

[ColoradoMike]

Looks great! Nice work

 

[CityChook]

How SMART of you to build your coop BEFORE the chickens arrive. I only wish I had used the same fore-thought. Instead I ended up with chickens living in my house for over 3 months while the coop was being built...

Your coop is darling. For someone claiming to not know what they are doing, it looks like you have covered your bases. A couple thoughts:

• How is the hardware wire attached to your windows? I can't tell. If it's stapled, make sure it is VERY secure. Might not be a bad plan to cover the edges with some trim moulding to keep the sharp edges covered and also give it some extra securing. Or maybe do the screw/washer approach. Nice to see it painted inside. You won't regret that move.

• Are you running chicken wire only down to your picket fence and stopping? I can't tell from the photo. You'll want to run it all the way to the ground. It looks like you are backed up to a wooded area that might house some predators. Chicken wire is not the safest material to use (but I did too because of budget constraints), so make sure you lock the babies up at night. Out of sight, out of mind, you know?

Overall, it looks awesome. You should be very very proud of yourself. Job well done.

 

[Booswalia]

Thanks so much CityChook. It's nice to have such encouragement.

Good idea to secure the wire cloth on the windows. I only have it stapled there now.

As for the pen, I will have the bottom half covered in 1/2 inch hardware cloth and the top half and "roof" covered with chicken wire. ...for now. (I hope to use hardware cloth for all of it eventually.)

I do have woods behind me and there are raccoons and fox in the area, so know I will have to secure them really well at night. I think one advantage I do have is the fact that the pen and coop are only a few feet from by bedroom window where the dog and I sleep, so I'm sure if something starts digging out there, Buddy will alert me. He's pretty good to do that.