Mountain Chickens

[demayo]

Hi everybody,
We are thinking of getting chickens, and i was wondering how our coop should be designed since we live in the mountains?
Should we put cement under it? What type of fencing? We have coyotes, fox, bears and mountain lions. Thanks for all your help.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It sounds like you need to build fort knox. Because of the strength of those predators you might want to put down concrete but if your building materials are heavy enough you can probably get by with floating on stilts and deck blocks.
http://www.doorsixteen.com/2009/04/26/instant-deck/
My brooder house is on a concrete slab and is just a garden shed but other coops I build with 4X4 timbers in the deck blocks and minimum 2X4 framing. That should be sufficient.
I like putting the building on legs so the chickens can go under the coop on hot days. It also creates a dry area for dust bathing in winter.
Plan on keeping the feed locked up tight and don't leave it out at night so the bears won't be attracted.

You might want to try electric fencing, there's a solar version.

 

[RedDrgn]

We've got all of the same predators and are also on a mountain, so here's what we've got (and everything but the electric fence, which isn't shown here, was fully completed by the time we got our chicks).




-2x4 inch welded wire from 12 inches below ground to the base of the porch

-0.5 inch hardware cloth overlays the welded wire from just below ground surface to a height of 4ft

-electric fence leads run at 2, 4, and 60 inches above the ground and are powered by a solar fencer; delivering 10K volts (even through the winter).

-all coop vents are covered in 0.5 inch hardware cloth and we shut/lock the coop door every night and re-open in the morning. We recently ordered an automatic coop door so that we don't have to trouble our neighbors when we take an overnight trip somewhere.

-feed is a gravity fed PVC feeder in the coop and is out 24/7

-water is in a 5-gal bucket hanging right outside of the coop door (not shown here) and dispensed through chicken nipples

 

[niedenzu]

Hi,

we just started a coop in the mountains:

I've put some info here:

http://www.mountainchickens.net/index.html

Hope this helps