My new coop

[Rainbow Advaya]

My dad is building this for me, and he just moved it to my yard today. He was building at the neighbors and bought it over with a tractor

You can see in some photos the door leaning against the other building that will be used on the coop. We're putting hardware cloth on the inside to keep the chickens from pecking, and to prevent anything from getting in if the glass breaks.

He is building a pop door, and also the windows will have flaps for me to close if I need to, but I shouldn't have to too very often. I hope.

The chickens have a skylight above the door. I don't know what made him decide to build that there, but he did! I am pretty sure he's building a poop board and roosts but I'm not sure. If not I'll just throw the roosts up there and use milk crates for nesting boxes.

The only thing I'm unsure of how to do myself is attaching the hardware cloth around the rafters. I was confused about that in the coop I had been working on as well. It might be easier to attach the hardware cloth to the outside and nail it to the roof, but then I worry about leaks.

Here are the pictures. I'll update as it gets completed.

There's a bit of a gap where the roof and rafters meet I'll have to seal up somehow...

 

[fiberart57]

It's a lovely coop and you are a lucky daughter to have a Dad who will build this for you. Any chicken who lives there should be grateful.

I would make a couple of suggestions and observations, if I may.

First, I would take the glass panes out of the door before you use it for the chickens. They may break it because they'll see their reflections and peck at it. Replace it with hardware cloth or tough screen. It needs to be secure against raccoons and other predators and I wouldn't put it past a 'coon to break glass.

I may have missed it, but I don't see any ventilation at the top of the coop. Chickens need lots and lots of ventilation as they put out a lot of moisture and CO2 when they sleep. That gap you were considering filling in - don't. Cover it with hardware cloth.

Go see Patandchickens' Big ole Ventilation page. You need to have the ventilation at the top to be a minimum of 10% of your wall area.

Hardware cloth is best attached with fence staples - the kind you need to nail in, also called grapas. They can be easier to nail if you close up the "U" a bit first but they're difficult at best. Regular staples from a staple gun, even the long ones, can be pulled out by 'coons.

Good luck, Mary

 

[Keri78]

WOWZERS!!!

That's a nice coop! Give your Dad a big hug!!!

PS. I have a VERY similar style coop..no vents...no problems...I open the little side window(Mine is just chicken wire)...nice & breezy...plus in the winter..it's nice
& cozy!

 

[Rainbow Advaya]

We're covering the door with hardware cloth. We're leaving the glass in it, but as I mentioned in the first post, hardware cloth will be attached to the inside so the chickens can't peck at their reflections. All hardware cloth is attached with poultry staples, and for the windows, the staples are reinforced with wooden borders.

I was going to use hardware cloth to fill in the gaps at the rafters anyway. I don't think I'll ever have to 100% close down the coop, so there should be ventilation either way, I'll probably just prop open the window a bit if it gets cold. I think it'll be ventilated enough between the windows and the rafters though.

Thank you guys for your suggestions

I have no idea how I'm going to do the run though, to be honest. I'm basically out of money, and my dad doesn't think there is any reason to cover the run anyway (though as you can tell from the photos, I live in an open area with hawks). He wants me to buy 4 foot high welded wire that our neighbor uses to fence in his turkeys. For one thing, I believe my chickens can fly over 4 feet, at least at the age they are now. Ideally, I want to make it as secure as possible, but I'm afraid I might have to suffer some losses before I get it there. I just don't have the funds to do an entire enclosed run at this point. They can free range in my yard, but again, I'll suffer losses. My idea is to build the initial 4 foot high fence and then build up from there and enclose it from top. I might have to start with tarps. If the wire I'm buying comes in 4 foot high rolls 100 feet long, how many rolls should I purchase to make a basic run for 13 chickens?

 

[Tamter143]

Oh, wow! I gotta show my fiance this...he will love it!

 

[teach1rusl]

I have a full glass door, and my chickens have never pecked at it???? And mine doesn't even have the panels like yours does...which makes yours very visible, so they would never fly into it or anything. Personally, I don't think it would be necessary to cover it with hardware cloth, but that's just me. Your ventilation for now is great, with those big window openings. Come winter time, if they have to be covered, then ventilation will probably become an issue. But you have several months to correct that.

What I would suggest is: Get some clear silicon caulking and plug the holes up in the metal roof (I can see some in a few photos). When it rains, you don't want water dripping down inside your coop. Dampness inside the coop can lead to lots of problems.

How large is the opening where the metal and the rafters meet??? If it's only an inch or so, I wouldn't worry about it as long as you have some roof overhang, which should prevent blowing rain from getting in. If there is no overhang, then you might have issues...

OH...and one roll of wire will be enough...a 20 x 20 run is more than enough, and that would only use 80 ft. of wire... So you could go a little bigger even.

 

[Tamter143]

 

[Rainbow Advaya]

I'm not sure what that photo above is of...?

Anyway, THANK YOU for pointing out the holes in the roof. I don't know how I (or my dad) overlooked those. I would have found them the first time it rained I'm sure

I think the weather is good for a few days and I'm heading off to town tomorrow, so I'll go ahead and get the necessary things for caulking those holes.

I need to check again about the rafters/roof. I worry obsessively about weasels. In the 70's, my grandmother lost her entire flock to what she presumed to be a weasel. I've never, ever seen an actual weasel in my life, but I fear them now.

Can chickens fly over 4 feet? I can keep them mostly confined until they're older if I need to. I know it's not ideal, but it's better than being dead. It'd also give me some padding time to build the fence higher if I do need to. It's great to hear that 100 feet will be enough to start with though!

 

[teach1rusl]

Well...my girls are allowed out of the run when I'm home, and the field fence that surrounds our yard/property is 4ft. fence. They've never tried to fly over it (although I know at least a few of them can fly much higher than that). I've read that if a fence doesn't have a top bar (like chain link fencing, privacy fencing or wooden horse fence, etc.), that chickens can't really "see" the end/top of the fence, so they generally won't try to get over it. But if it does have a top bar, they can see that and it gives them a "goal" to shoot for. So hopefully they won't be able to see how high the fence is (or isn't...lol) and won't try to fly out. Place roosts in the center of the run, not near fence itself, so that they'll have things to do and places to go. The more appeal the run has for them, the less "the grass will be greener on the other side." If you can plant shrubs inside along the edges, do it. Or if you can form your run around shrubs of some kind??? Roosts in the center can be as simple as a 2 x 4 screwed onto wooden horses or something along those lines.

 

[Rainbow Advaya]

Planting shrubs sounds like a great idea, but the grass you see in those photos are an optical illusion

Nothing really grows back there, but I'm hoping to improve that. Part of the reason I have chickens is to help improve the soil here! I'm sure I can construct roosts in the middle somehow.

I'm just going to buy a roll of the welded wire tomorrow and show my dad a picture of a few runs I've found on the coop design page. I'll cover it myself somehow, even if I have to double up the welded wire (I want to be able to walk inside!) and then run another across the top. I have no building abilities at all, but some of the run designs look fairly easy to construct. If I could can just make a gate somehow. It'll be like a fun challenge for me!

I do plan on eventually covering the bottom portion of the wire with hardware cloth to prevent anything from reaching in, but that will have to wait. As I said, I might either have to face losses or keep them cooped up until I can get that all done. I'll let them out when I'm around to supervise either way.