Need help with coop floor

[aart]

You got lots of good advice here:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/coop-in-progress-bad-planning.1282419/

 

[SomeChickinTN]

Ok, the coop is finished, and we've built the wood frame for the run. It's roughly 21x11 feet. But we only have about 15 feet of chicken wire, maybe 20, and nothing is open until tomorrow. I have assorted lengths of chain link fence.... Can I use it too, or should I just wait to finish the run this week?

 

[rosemarythyme]

Ok, the coop is finished, and we've built the wood frame for the run. It's roughly 21x11 feet. But we only have about 15 feet of chicken wire, maybe 20, and nothing is open until tomorrow. I have assorted lengths of chain link fence.... Can I use it too, or should I just wait to finish the run this week?

Are the chickens already moved into the coop? For a temporary measure (not predator proof) you could use what chicken wire and chain link you have to form a small temporary enclosure around one section of the run supports. Or just let them free range if you're comfortable with that. I would wait until I have the permanent materials on hand to actually complete the run simply so you're not doing double the work.

FYI chicken wire is not predator proof, not sure if you were planning to go with that as the main material or not.

 

[SomeChickinTN]

Are the chickens already moved into the coop? For a temporary measure (not predator proof) you could use what chicken wire and chain link you have to form a small temporary enclosure around one section of the run supports. Or just let them free range if you're comfortable with that. I would wait until I have the permanent materials on hand to actually complete the run simply so you're not doing double the work.

FYI chicken wire is not predator proof, not sure if you were planning to go with that as the main material or not.

Yeah, the chickens are in the coop. My husband says we actually have about 100 feet of chicken wire, so we don't need to buy much more. I did not know that chicken wire is not predator proof though, so I guess we will have to go around it again with hardware cloth. We have a bunch of some other kind of wire. I'm not sure what it is, but it has rectangular holes...I was going to use it when I sectioned off the coop, but the chickens seemed to almost get their heads stuck in it, so it will be useless for anything related to the chickens. On the bright side, since I made the coop playpen the bullies aren't trying so hard to get at my orps.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Yeah, the chickens are in the coop. My husband says we actually have about 100 feet of chicken wire, so we don't need to buy much more. I did not know that chicken wire is not predator proof though, so I guess we will have to go around it again with hardware cloth. We have a bunch of some other kind of wire. I'm not sure what it is, but it has rectangular holes...

The main issues with chicken wire are: 1) the holes are too large to stop small pests like rats, mice, maybe some snakes and 2) the usual chicken wire is very thin and can be pulled apart by raccoons or torn through by larger predators. So if you must use it, use it in conjunction with another wire mesh such as hardware cloth, chain link, welded wire. The overall wire openings should be no larger than 1/2" towards the bottom few feet of the run where you'd most likely get breeches.

 

[SomeChickinTN]

(Just an update)... I haven't been able to get the run done yet. Today has been the first decent day in awhile, so I tried to go out and work some on it, but I have no idea how my husband was able to stretch the wire so tight on the other side. So I have to wait until he has enough daylight on a day that isn't pouring to do it....

But I did get the tractor fixed up enough to put the 5 older hens in it. So now I have 10 chickens in 48 sqft, and 5 in 32 sqft. Is that still not enough until the run is done? The other issue is that in the coop, there are 5 layers, and 5 pullets which are separated, but my coop is laid out in a way that the pullets don't have much space, and I'm not sure how to divide it equally. If the pullets get too close to the wire, the sex links still try to eat their face... it's been about 3 or 4 days since I separated them.... I'm not sure what else to do.

 

[aart]

Is that still not enough until the run is done?.....
....If the pullets get too close to the wire, the sex links still try to eat their face

You might have answered your own question.
You do what you gotta do, and work with what you've got to work with,
but you're learning that more space is better... or faces get eaten(for some reason that cracked me up, I have fatigue inebriation from moving wet snow).

 

[SomeChickinTN]

You might have answered your own question.
You do what you gotta do, and work with what you've got to work with,
but you're learning that more space is better... or faces get eaten(for some reason that cracked me up, I have fatigue inebriation from moving wet snow).

I miss the snow I'm already mentally trying to survey my setup to see if I need to build some kind of addition on the coop for new arrivals. But then I wonder if that's practical with (trying) to maintain just 12 chickens. I'm not very good at seeing plans in my head...."breeding area here, but still within the coop", "look but don't touch area here".....On one hand I want to have it all figured out now, and on the other hand, I want to wait til the situation arises, lol. Either way, I can already see that I'll have issues in the future. I'm hoping to get it all figured out. As it stands, integration sucks...and I have to do it every two years? Lol.

 

[aart]

I'm not very good at seeing plans in my head.

Maybe try sketching it out?
Ima drafter so that's how I 'think' best....
...and hate dealing with crisis' due to lack of proper prior planning,
am not a leap first look later kinda gal.

You don't need a 'breeding area' with only 12 utility layers....
....an area you can separate off for integrating yearly chicks would be good tho.

 

[SomeChickinTN]

Maybe try sketching it out?
Ima drafter so that's how I 'think' best....
...and hate dealing with crisis' due to lack of proper prior planning,
am not a leap first look later kinda gal.

You don't need a 'breeding area' with only 12 utility layers....
....an area you can separate off for integrating yearly chicks would be good tho.

Thanks yes, I may try to draw it out. I think part of the problem is that I have the roosting bars in a corner. I should probably try to put some along the long wall of the coop, and then stagger some along the short wall. Thanks