My new coop, (looking for advice)

[Backyard rancher]

My wife and I are building our first chicken coop. We have bought a 12X16 prebuilt shed. It has a 4 foot front porch across the front, this gives us really only a 8x16 available floor space. I have devided the interior into 3 sections the right 1/3rd is for my Netherland Dwarf rabbits. I have two what we call bunny bins in this area (one for the guys and one for the girls, this will cut down on the surprises). the left 1/3rd is for our little girls when they arrive from McMurray next month. I am a little unsure about the exterior I am building a 12x8 run with a wire top but the bottom edge is where I am stumped. Can I line the bottom of the wire with a Treated 1x6 or do I need to bury the wire into the soil. Our soil is red clay and to put that wire into the ground will require a ditch witch. To be honest I have spent so much on this house and convertion the ditch witch will break the budget.
Thanks

 

[speckledhen]

You can do what I did because of lots of tree roots. Turn the wire outward at the bottom about a foot and a half. You can use a shovel to sort of scrape the ground, bend the wire outward and tamp dirt over it. You may need to put some sort of stakes or large staple-like things to hold it down or even large rocks, but it works pretty well. Most predators dig right at the fence bottom and dont think to dig two feet out from the fence. Hope this helps.

 

[Backyard rancher]

great idea, I am trying to make this look a much like a little old house as possible. I can do a rock bed around the run to make it a little more like just part of the landscape.
Thanks again

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

I would not recommend using any treated lumber in the construction of your coop or pen. CCA, or Chromated Copper Arsenate, is a chemical wood preservative and pesticide formulation that is regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As its name suggests, CCA consists of three principal compounds – arsenic in the form of arsenic pentoxide, chromium, in the form of both hexavalent chromium and trivalent chromium, and copper in the form of copper oxide). Two of these chemical components (arsenic and hexavalent chromium) have a notorious reputation as toxins, carcinogens and teratogens.

 

[robin416]

I think you'll find that the majority of us have used PT wood without incident in building outside runs. Its best to avoid its use on the interiors.

Since I have ground about like yours I brought my wire out as suggested, then using the tractor I dug soil from another area and put it on top of the wire. That was the easiest way I could think of to do it at the time. Its worked very well, the wire has stayed buried without a lot of physical effort on my part.

 

[jstudy]

You can use new pressure treated wood with no worries whatsoever. CCA was banned for residential use several years ago, what you will find at your local lumber yard is ACQ treated wood, which has none of the toxic chemicals that were present in CCA.

 

[Barnyard Dawg]

Quote:
Great information I was not aware of this treated lumber it is nice to know there is an alternative I have always taken precautions when handling and cutting. Where I work we have the treated lumber and we have to take a lot of precautions to make sure in doesn’t get into the waterways and ground due to it high toxicity.

 

[Feathersprings]

We are also building a coop and run for our chickens right now . We , just today, put in the treated 2x6 footer around the bottom of the run. We wont bury wire as we keep the chickens locked up at night and have a very safe coop for them. If you intend to give them in and out access you would surely need to have the buried wire. I didnt take pictures today of the footer but you can see what we are doing from this picture. Today the footers and some of the top rails went on. The taller posts will be holding up a cover over the front part of the coop. ( next step after the wire )