my coop

[Braxton1]

not fancy its my first one and im very new to this but I love it!

 

[Michael OShay]

Congratulations! It's a very nice looking coop! Based on experience, I'm sure you'll love raising chickens!

 

[Braxton1]

Thank you Michael!!!

 

[Manningjw]

Reminds me a lot of the coop I first built, I even have the same type of feeder made from drainage piping.

I wish I had used hardware cloth like you, rats can fit right through the larger holes in my fencing so now I had to engineer an automatic coop door so I wouldn't keep feeding the local rat population!

 

[Braxton1]

I hope I can keep rats out, snakes scare me more than anything lol im trying to keep the new girls as safe as possible. is your feeder working ok I just made it the other day, seem feed is in the bottom, and I have watched the girls eat there, took to it real fast

 

[Michael OShay]

Your hardward cloth will keep the rats and snakes out. Is there hardware cloth across the top as well (I can't tell looking at the pictures)? If not the rats might be able to get in under the fluted edges of the corrugated roofing.

 

[Braxton1]

yes top and up and out on the ground, but not in the run itself, I was worried it would hurt the feet, I check daily and so far so good!!

 

[Manningjw]

yes top and up and out on the ground, but not in the run itself, I was worried it would hurt the feet, I check daily and so far so good!!

I bet your chicks will be very well protected. I picked fencing for two reasons - I thought I would want to toss food through fencing for them, and because it was cheaper. I really do wish I had used hardward cloth instead because of rats.

 

[Manningjw]

is your feeder working ok I just made it the other day, seem feed is in the bottom, and I have watched the girls eat there, took to it real fast

Mine is still working well, the best part about it is I see a LOT less wasted feed compared to my parents hanging feeder that they just nose the feed out onto the coop floor. The only way my chickens waste feed is if they pick up a pellet take it out of the tube and then drop it intentionally.

I think the drainage pipe I used isn't as slick inside as true PVC is, so the feed level is pretty shallow. Every couple of days I shake the tube a bit or scoop some down so that it will fill up. My White Leghorn has a huge comb so I had to cut out larger holes than I had originally intended - I didn't want to risk her catching/tearing that big ol floppy comb.

 

[Braxton1]

i understand that !!! do you have pictures?