Need ideas for an easily constructed coop

[wannahavechickens]

Some friends of ours have offered their six chickens to us as they will be going on a month long mission trip and can't find anyone that lives close enough to their home to care for their birds while they are gone. They're leaving on April 4th so we would need to put something together fairly quickly to keep the birds in.

We've been thinking about getting some chickens for a while so it seems this might be a good opportunity for us.

We have a deck that is completely closed in underneath with lattice. I was thinking we could keep the birds there on a temporary basis until we are able to build something more permanant. I know we would need to line the lattice with wire to keep preditors out and we'd need to have nesting boxes and some kind of shelter for the birds to go in at night. Any ideas on what sort of structure we could put together that would be quick and easy? Anything else that we should consider before taking this project on?

 

[asher]

That is actually a very good idea for a quick run area. Are the chickens standards or bantams? If bantams, you could put a dog house in there for shelter. Make sure to not only line the sides with wire (hardware cloth preferably as chicken wire really will not keep predators out), but also line it with wire and/or put it along the outter perimeter of the lattice. Is there a door that you are able to open to get in under the porch to go in and get eggs or care for them if something happens, etc.?

 

[rancher hicks]

There are lots of designs on this site, but one I've been dieing to try is with 6 sections of stockade fencing. Using 4 as the sides and 2 as the slanted roof. You can use your imagination as to the floor and doors. Since your south you could cover the openings w/ chickenwire and hardware cloth.
I personally like to go to HomeDepot to buy their culled lumber pieces. For Six birds you wouldn't need too big of a coop though I recommend something bigger than what you need, cuz you will want to get more. You can always modifiy afterwards.

All the best

Rancher

 

[wannahavechickens]

Quote:
Yes, there is a door that provides access to the area so that's not a problem. The space is also high enough for us to stand up in so that makes it very easy to work in. The birds are standards (Rhode Island Reds) so a dog house wouldn't be big enough.

We would probably run a couple of electric fence wires around the outside of the lattice, and I would think that, along with the hardware cloth on the inside of the lattice, would do a fairly good job of keeping out predators.