New coop - huge thanks to BYC

[bertgwen]

Before I say anything about the new coop, my first, I must start with a huge thank you to the BYC community. Everything I know about coops and chickens I've learned here at BYC. I love my coop, but I don't think there is one original idea in it. Pulled lots of different ideas from a lot of different coops and threads.

You wouldn't recognize it now, but I actually started with the kids old play structure. Combine that with some old cedar siding I had in the shed and you have the following. Lumber wise I had to buy two sheets of plywood. I can't imagine starting from scratch. Intent was to build similar to the "Witchita" design, but I didn't have enough lumber to frame the roof over the needed run area. Thus the raised garden bed. It's planted with herbs and salad greens currently.

Inside is pretty straight forward. Feeders are on the left, nearer one is connected to a PVC pipe so they have food in the run. I can get about 35 lbs of food in them. Nest boxes on the right, blocked off as we have 9-13 week old birds. Roosts in the back. They are currently content with the lower one. I might take it out to try and force them onto the upper one, the one I designed the poop board for.

Run under the raised bed, I'm considering putting a nest box under the bed behind the roost. Also have a PVC horizontal nipple water system planned to go in and a PVC oyster shell feeder.

Have had the girls (hopefully) for exactly one week now. Very interesting. One EE, one SLW, one GLW, and a gold star.

Ozzie, our 6 year old vizsla, got a hold of the GLW last night. Daughter was sitting in door hand feeding them. He saw an opportunity and blew past her. Had the hen in his mouth in no time. I was able to get in quickly and he dropped her, she walked off, barely a feather ruffled. He's always been a good bird dog, soft mouth, going to be tough getting him, and our newish english pointer, to understand these birds are not prey.

Thanks again to all. Couldn't have got to this point without you.

robert

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

-- Nice work!! Welcome to the BYC flock!

 

[sumi]

That is a very nice looking coop! You did a great job there. I can see from the pic that dog is very curious about the new family members. There are a few great discussions on how to train dogs to leave your chickens alone, if you're needing some advice, here are some:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/700017/how-to-train-your-dog-not-to-kill-chickens/0_30

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/866449/can-you-train-a-dog-to-not-hurt-your-chickens/0_30

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/829562/training-teaching-a-dog-about-chickens/0_30

Enjoy the site!

 

[Rocky Rhodes]

Welcome from Georgia!! I love that coop!!

I may copy your design when I build my next coop!!

Good luck with your dog, it may be quite difficult to teach a bird dog not to go after birds.

 

[bertgwen]

I've read up on many of the dog/chicken threads, need to figure out what is going to work for us. The coop is like a magnet for the dogs. Wish they would lose interest, don't see that happening in two bred to hunt bird dogs. Much work to be done.

robert

 

[petrel]

That is a great coop!

Our retriever became accustomed to our birds as we raised them from chicks. She ignores them in the coop, but I would not free range them in the yard unless she was safely secured in the house. However, I could see a cage full of chickens being a source of unending torment for a high energy pointing dog! Since you hunt them, you would not want to do anything to dampen their enthusiasm for birds. You may consider a second perimeter fence to put some distance between the dogs and the birds. It would save both a great deal of anxiety.

 

[sumi]

I've read up on many of the dog/chicken threads, need to figure out what is going to work for us. The coop is like a magnet for the dogs. Wish they would lose interest, don't see that happening in two bred to hunt bird dogs. Much work to be done.

robert

Chickens do unfortunately fascinate most dogs. Amazingly our two couldn't care less about and completely ignores them unless the chickens are foolish enough to try and steal their food while they are busy eating! There was no casualties thankfully, but we had a few close calls and started feeing the dogs on the opposite side of the house where the chickens don't go.

Maybe, hopefully, in time with a combination of firm training from you and lack of reward for bothering the birds they'll lose interest. Good luck!

 

[JanetS]

bertgwen- Love the coop. Your chickens should be very happy

I'd be pretty worried about the dogs.
What about putting a second fence around the coop? Maybe 5 to 6 ft away with a small gate. That would give you room for
taking care of your chickens but it would keep the dogs at a distance. Just a thought. Good luck. I do like your feeders.

 

[bertgwen]

I'm actually not too worried about the dogs, it's more of a PITA then anything. The dogs will never (intentionally) be given access to the birds, and the dogs are not out unsupervised, just need to get them refocused. A tennis ball does it for the vizsla, have not found the trick with the English pointer yet. He is a rescue and has some real quirks.

 

[Yellowcoop1]

Wow, your girls have a beautiful home. Will you be putting nesting boxes in? You have nice skills!!!

I have and English pointer and a Carne Corso (Italian mastiff). We recently had a robin make a next directly under our deck boards on the higher rafters. My English pointer smelled those baby birds the second the eggs hatched. Our grill is basically on those deck boards above and she would not stop running around the grill trying to get under it to the birds. When every I let her out the door she went right to the spot to smell and scratch. Drove me crazy. The birds have left the nest, unfortunately they either fell to their death or landed softly and my dogs got them. I found a dead one in my Mastiff mouth (already dead). Thank goodness she lets me pry her mouth open. Not sure which one did the killing, but I have a feeling it was my Pointer.

Good luck trying to get yours to ignore the birds. Mine is stubborn like crazy. I will be building my coop the week of 7/7. The dog/chicken interaction is gonna be closely monitored. Gonna have to divvy up their time free-ranging and the dogs time out..

Good luck.