Need help on first time chicken startup

mxreed123

Hatching
Feb 21, 2023
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Hi all,
Having a lil trouble understanding some of the needs of our chickens for a coop design. First of all, this is a very urban design in the heart of Los Angeles so I'm not worried about predators except maybe the occasional cat but other than that nothing.
I was planning on purchasing a large chicken wire cage that is around 60 square feet that is large enough to go in and walk around and has a roof on it. I plan on also tarping the sides of the cage as well. Im planning to start with around 4 bantams and we would let the chickens scratch around the backyard freely during part of the day. My main question is do these chickens also need another classic style coop like the small wooden boxes I'm used to seeing or will they be ok with just being in the cage?
 
Open air coops are great if you got the weather for them. Sadly there are no sticky threads on them but here is a starting point-

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/jens-hens-a-southern-texas-coop.75707/

Wind. You want to have some protection from wind. The classic coop is for predator protection and extreme weather. In LA I'd think you could have an open air coop. Roosting bars in the back corner and protected by wind. Some have roost along entire back with back wall blocked from wind and the sides blocked for 4ft out or more. Your climate dictates what you need. And be mindful of the extremes. For me that's a bitter cold winter and wind gusts of 60 mph in spring. Knowing your prevailing wind direction is key.
 
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At minimum they need roost bars and nest boxes along with proper shelter. Proper shelter, as stated above, can look different than someone else’s. I agree that it is important to know your weather and know which way the wind blows. For me I chose to have an actual chicken house because our wind sometimes changes direction, like when a storm rolls in. I had a lean to up providing shelter for my other animals and they still got soaked from a storm that caused the wind to change. Now I have a five stall barn 😏 I don’t know what your winters are like, just make sure your chickens can stay warm, dry, and protected from wind and they should be fine.
 
First of all, this is a very urban design in the heart of Los Angeles so I'm not worried about predators except maybe the occasional cat but other than that nothing.
I'm sure there are stray dogs in LA.
And what about skunks living under sheds, etc?
An open air coop in CA is an excellent design as long as it is protected from wind driven rain (rare, yes, but it will happen occasionally).
Bantam hens (other than Silkies) can fly well. If you don't have very high fences, they can fly out.
 
My main question is do these chickens also need another classic style coop like the small wooden boxes I'm used to seeing or will they be ok with just being in the cage?
Little wooden boxes as nestboxes for laying eggs are useful.

Little bit bigger wooden boxes as coops are not needed (possible exception for small numbers of chickens in certain climates, but in general chickens do better with more space.)

Big wooden boxes as coops (big enough for the person to walk into easily) are very useful in some climates but probably not in your climate.

In general, the chickens need shelter from the weather and protection from predators. What you described will probably work fine, except that I would consider 1/2" hardware cloth rather than chicken wire (it's stronger, and the smaller holes provide a bit more protection from things like cats or raccoons that might try to reach a paw in. Chickens won't always move out of reach even in the daytime, and of course at night they are sleeping.)
 
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Welcome to BYC. It's great that you're doing research and asking questions first. :)

Even in an urban area you probably have more predators than you think you have, with feral dogs being one of the worst but coyotes, racoons, rats, and more being possible.

If your yard is fenced and protected to the point that you could leave an open trash can full of food waste sitting there for a few days and expect NOTHING to get into it except flies then chicken wire is probably sufficient. But if you'd find that can dumped and/or dug into then you have predators you need to protect the chickens against. :)

An Open Air coop -- a roofed run with a 3-sided shelter at the windward end -- is very well suited to a warm climate. My own coop is featured in my hot climate article: Hot Climate Chicken Housing and Care

And just for completeness, here's my ventilation article: Repecka Illustrates Coop Ventilation

Here are a couple more Open Air coop links:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/my-positive-local-action-coop.72804/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/california-living.68130/

You will need roosts and nests for sure and some "clutter" is useful as well -- things to enrich the chickens' environment so that they have the ability to engage in natural chicken behavior and places to be that are out of the other chickens' way. :)

A cluttered run

 
Lol no we definitely dont have raccoons at all in this part of the city. I am deep in an urban concrete jungle type area. We have 10 foot walls on both sides so Im not worried about dogs or anything but I am a lil concerned about rats and maybe a cat that could climb the fence
 
Lol no we definitely dont have raccoons at all in this part of the city. I am deep in an urban concrete jungle type area. We have 10 foot walls on both sides so Im not worried about dogs or anything but I am a lil concerned about rats and maybe a cat that could climb the fence
I have no personal experience with raccoons, but I have read that they commonly do live in cities too. They may be "wild" animals, but just like rats and mice are wild animals that often live near people, apparently raccoons do too.

So I can't be sure they are in your area, but I would not be 100% sure they aren't.

I really don't know what is the best thing for you to do.

You could make the pen you propose, get chickens, and hope for the best. Sometimes that works fine. Or you could make a sturdier chicken pen, never have a problem, and never know whether you wasted time & money that was not needed.

You could put out something (like a container of feed scraps) and see whether anything does take them, as a test before you get chickens. If something takes the food scraps, you know there's an animal around. But if nothing touches them, you still don't know for sure, because an animal could move into the area later.

You could get a camera that records things in the night and see what comes in your yard.

You could think about how much you expect to be fond of each individual chicken, and decide based in part on that. Some people are willing to risk losing a few chickens to predators, and they improve their coop if that actually happens. Some people are happier making a Fort Knox coop and knowing that their beloved feathered pet chickens are completely safe. I don't know how important which points are to you personally.
 

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