My husband thinks the fence/coop doesn't need a roof!?!?!?

[Bengalcats1]

It's a matter of large area with no cover and take a chance with hawks, owls etc OR a smaller area fully covered and safer chickens and that's not even a Sure thing, I lost 5 last spring to a small hawk that got in despite the netting

.......having chickens brings heartache sometimes, they are so vulnerable to so many predators unfortunately.....even my Own dog

 

[Gingertoots]

I don't even know where to go with this now. Hubby is upset because my free chickens have cost him$850 in fencing. I wish I knew how to upload a pic from this iPod. That way I could show what he has rigged up. For that amount I could have bought a mini shed from lowes and a dog pen.. Lol. I have NO clue what to do about a roof!!! He bought two of these coops off of a tractor supply place.. It looks like a rabbit hutch with a roosting pole... For them to I guess go into at night?? I guess if they got out they could go into the goat shed fir shelter..

 

[Gingertoots]

Dbounds...I love your fenceing and coop idea!!!! Really looks expensive though... You look like u did it the right way the first go round.. My thing.. Is after these nine.. Hubby is NOT letting me put a brooder and chicks in his garage again.. I am so jealous!

 

[Bengalcats1]

My chickens have prob about the same amount of space as yours will have, however I am going to rearrange the whole setup because right now part of it is covered and part is not, I had it all netted and with the heavy snow we had most of the netting came down. I worry All the time about them out there with no cover, Im always looking out there esp when they start getting noisy, I have to for my own peace of mind cover it all, then at least I know they are safer than having nothing. I am going to put poles in the center to secure the netting and will use a larger hole netting so Maybe it can withstand our winters. I do let them free range towards the end of the day and I watch them, then they go in the coop when it's dusk. I think you will find that you will worry about them more than expected, I get very attached to my little guys and when something happens I am heartbroken and in my case it was always preventable.

 

[patandchickens]

Well, it was apparently HIS choice to fence in that large of an area without consulting your preferences first...

Seriously. There is no big problem. Essentially you will have chickens "not quite free-ranging", or anyhow loose in a very very big pen. There is nothing wrong with that. The chickens certainly like it!!! It is good for them. It's just that you have to accept that they will not be entirely immune to hawk attacks, and because it can't be predatorproofed as well as a small run can, you will really, really wanna lock the chickens into a good predatorproof coop every night by dusk without fail.

So I think you're FINE as far as the area goes, it's just that it sort of necessarily puts you into one style of chicken-keeping rather than allowing you more choice of styles.

Now, that said... I don't mean to sound negative in the following or to cause further stress to your marriage LOL, but little hutch-type things from TSC is not necessarily the most economical (nor safest) way of creating a coop for these chickens. I don't know what climate your in, but they are not real desirable for northern-type winters; they often contain chickenwire which needs to be switched out for hardwarecloth; and for the same money, you could knock together something simple YOURSELF that would be larger and better designed, or get a secondhand shed off Craigslist to convert. I'm not saying you can't use them, but OTOH if you can still return them it might be a good idea to think carefully thru your options before you do something where you CAN'T return them

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[teach1rusl]

If I had to choose between a HUGE uncovered run (your fenced in area) and a smallish covered run, I'd opt for the open area for my birds. I don't say this lightly, because my girls are pets before anything else, so it would hurt if I lost one. Provide plenty of cover. Plant shrubs around, or provide decorative structures inside their fenced area that would give them a place to hide if hawks, etc. are about. I've found that even with no roosters present, my birds are VERY aware of hawks, and will head toward a sheltered area when they're in the sky.
You will however need to make sure they are closed inside their predator proof shelter each evening, because they become sitting ducks at night.

 

[zookeeper15133]

Here is a link to build some hawk shelters to scatter around in your run.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=505464&p=1

 

[birdmomma]

We have a similar deal - fenced in yard that the chicks free-roamed in. The girls were cautious about hawks and evaded them.

But the fox climbed the fence. I don't recommend an open top.

 

[darkmatter]

See my BYC page, I have a large unroofed ChickenRun. Works for me, and yes there is occasionally predation. I deal with it the way our ancestors did------raise enough to compensate and eliminate the predators that I can. Raccoon is good BBQ, so is Possum.

 

[LindsayB]

Is there a door on the coop to protect them at night???

My wonderful DH (D is not dear in this story) told me they didn't need a cover over the run either or a door on the coop. He said predators wouldn't come into the backyard.......yeah.....this is why our german shepherd has killed possums on a monthly basis...

Within the first week of our girls being out in the unsafe coop my favorite easter egger pullet got killed by something. I never found her but there were feathers all around the coop that lead to our back fence. It was pretty apparent that something when into the coop at night and dragged her into the woods to be eaten.

I called him that morning when he was at work and let him have it....I was ticked. Our coop now has an automatic door AND a cover over the run. Its totally secure. Nothing is getting in there.

I would cover the run if I were you. Let him read some of the stories on here about people losing their birds to predators. Its not alot of work or very expensive and completely worth it. I would install a door on the coop if you don't have one already as well.