Lessons Learned

[My Bagurks]

I’m sure there are other threads like this but I wanted to see if I could get a good one going.

Lessons Learned.

What have you done so wrong that you wish you could go back in time and slap yourself in the face for thinking it was a good idea?

I’ll star with two.

1. Bird netting for the roof of my run. It was cheap and it will keep predators out, I thought to myself. What can go wrong I thought. Raccoons tearing it, branches falling and ripping it up, having to triple layer it just to have some confidence in it. No thank you. Chicken wire and zip ties. Little more effort and cost but WAY worth it.

2. Building a 20x40 run with 8ft walls and NO center supports. It’ll be fiiiiiiine. Yeah until the walls buckled and caved in. Not even from a storm. Scared the chickens half to death and I had to take a day off work so I can bury new posts and build trusses under a mess of chicken wire.

Tell me your horror stories. We’ve all screwed up in one way or another along the way. We may even be in the planning stages or in the middle of a new screw up. But I’m sure we can all learn from each other’s mistakes. Thanks in advance. I hope this makes it to the “active threads” section.

 

[CoopintheWoods]

That place in the coop door where you think that there's NO POSSIBLE WAY those chickens could get at the insulation? When there's a will....
Don't use foam insulation anywhere they could even think of getting.

Chickens love woods. Who else loves the woods? Every animal on earth that eats chickens. Don't let the chickens in the woods.

Do not buy that straight run of Easter Eggers at the feed store. There's 5 out of 6 roosters in there.

Funny, I have the same one about the deer netting. Ours caved in in a snowstorm.

Oh, and maybe the best one?
If a friend offers you pick of two (free) roosters, and describes one of them as "feral," she is NOT kidding. We loved him, but he was a nutcase.

 

[MeanCheek]

Don't put the lock on top of the door, it will lock you in the pheasant coop

 

[My Bagurks]

Get a pair of chicken boots. No matter how careful you are, you will get poop on your nice shoes if you even think about the chicken coop hard enough.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Just because 2 years pass by without a hawk getting to your chickens, doesn't mean it won't happen.

 

[NorthFLChickenChick]

Hi there…glad that I found this thread! We just completed (Mostly) our 2nd coop/run after relocating from Maryland to Florida. Our first attempt was during the Covid chicken craze of 2020 and we really were flying by the seat of our pants with our design. I wanted to share things that worked and didn’t work, and things that we did differently this time with our second coop (And new flock) after relocation to make life for enjoyable for both the chickens and for us

Our journey started in March 2020 when egg prices went through the roof, my teen was depressed on lockdown, and I was working from home. Our neighbor had chickens and I always like hearing the rooster crow…we had a nice big backyard, so we decided it would be a nice family activity to get us out of the house and lift our spirits. My daughter picked out 8 chicks and we started a brooder in our basement, and then she and my husband started framing out a coop and run in our backyard. I started watching YouTube videos on chicken keeping and learned that there was more to it than just a little wooden box with chicken wire (especially the part about every creature wanting to eat oir chickens), so then I became involved with the “Project”.

Things we did right:
Hardware cloth, 1/2 inch, top to bottom on the run
5x7 coop attached to run, all exterior doors latched with caribeaners
PVC fencing/cement pavers around the coop
12x20 Ft covered run w corrugated roof and 4x4 sand pit

Things that we did wrong:
1) No rat proofing on bottom of run…rats crawled through pvc fence, under pavers, into run to eat food
2) We poured concrete on the floor of the run and sand pit
3) rats squeezed through small crevices between hardware cloth and corrugated roof or under sliding barn door
4) we bought galvanized locking feeder, closed off pvc feeder, bought expensive rat traps…killed dozens, but they still came in…the chickens even killed a few
5) we lost the war against the rats, but never had another predator enter the coop or run in 2.5 years.

Not enough nesting boxes

We thought 3 boxes for 8 hens would be enough.
But we had 4 golden comets who laid almost every day, 2 cuckoo Marans who took turns being broody, a Silkie and Seabright bantam who didn’t lay until they were about a year, but then they ALSO liked to be broody, so the boxes became very crowded.

Also, after concrete floor poured, we would put down organic soil which was fine unless we had bad storms/flooding…then it was a muddy stinky mess and we’d had to throw down cedar shavings and fan dry(Yes I now know cedar is no good).

NEW COOP/RUN -FLORIDA 2023

RAT MITIGATION

Our base soil is sand, the previous owners had a tot-lot w rubber mulch, so we raked all the rubber nuggets out and laid down 1/4 inch hardware cloth over a 20x40 area. Then hubs built a 10x10x10 house on a platform covered with hardware cloth. He left about 3 inches of space between the T-111 and roofline for ventilation, and that is covered w hardware cloth. The roof is plywood/shingle, with drip edges and gutters, and all open eves are covered with hardware cloth. Window and vent in the house have hardware cloth stapled on the inside, and there is a temperature controlled exhaust fan on the opposite side to move air (We live in FL…it’s hot).

The run is actually an outdoor cat structure from TSC, 9x12 ft. We secured it onto a frame of 2x4’s that had already been covered in 1/4” hardware cloth, and the entire structure is secured to the house with deck screws, and a solar chicken door so the girls can go in and out independently. The run is covered with 1/2 hardware cloth and half tarped for shade, but the house seems to be cool enough that they like hanging out in there during peak sun. We let them free range in the evenings when we can be out with them.

I have five nesting boxes that I’ll be installing inside the coop once they get closer to laying age, plus there are two boxes in the run that I’m sure they will use as well.

With two silkies, two brahmas, two Orpingtons and 13 total..I’d rather have too many than not enough!

We use untreated pine chips for the run floor, and so far we’ve had three back to back severe thunderstorms and the house was bone dry inside, and the chips were just a little bit damp…there is good drainage due to the hardware cloth and the sand. We have planter boxes up against the run and those rubber nuggets to keep our male German shepherd from jumping on the run, as well as deterring other predators.

The front door my husband found on Facebook marketplace for $20…just needed paint and a deadbolt and frame. We installed it to open swinging outward so that the wind can’t blow it in if we get tropical storm force winds.

We plan on building a second run on the Eastern side of the house this fall when the girls are bigger and the weather I’d cooler

I posted pics of the Maryland coop first and then our Current Florida Coop.