new help with this coop before winter

[chickengirlnm]

ok here is the problem I need to enclose this cage and make it warm and dry for my girls for the winter. I want to keep the chain link in place and build wooden sides and a top around it plus lift the floor up off the ground maybe with pallets? The reason I want to leave the cage in place is because where I live it is very close to neighbors and half of them are breeding pitbulls and most of these dogs are allowed to roam free and I was hoping the cage would offer alittle more protection at night ?in the cage right now we have a water bowl, perches, and only one nest box right now( since I only have one hen laying anyway) the roof does not have to be very tall since I have a huge tree over looking my yard the front of the coop/cage I would like barn door style so I could open the whole front for cleaning and gathering eggs and airing it out in the summer months, also on there I need a small chicken door so they can come and go when they want. any ideas would be great we would like to start building this weekend.

 

[BeckyLa]

My first inclination would be to build a wooden coop next to it and use the chainlink as a covered (with heavy wire) run to keep your birds safe. The coop could be built out of heavy plywood and 2x4's in such a way that the dogs could not get into it.

But, yes, you can cover what you have with wood, there would be no need to use a real thick plywood if you have the chainlink on the inside anyway. I wouldn't advise putting it up on pallets, however, as rats and mice like to nest in that nice warm subfloor. There really is no need to raise it off the ground, many coops, even in cold climates, have the ground as their floor. If you are concerned that they could get cold in the winter, just throw some shavings in there and they'll be fine. As for a pop door, to try to put one in the chainlink would probably compromise the strength of the chainlink in that area of the fence and so may not be a good idea. I'd just leave the gate proped open a bit when you want to let them out. And I'd take some wire and put it up a foot or so, tied to the chainlink, then bring it out, away from the coop bottom a couple of feet to discourage the dogs from trying to dig under. Just set some rocks or something on the wire to weight it down until the grass grows through it.

 

[chickengirlnm]

thank you for the advice it helps give us an idea on where to begin this thing LOL. coop/pen is inside a larger fenced in yard, so I would rather use the cage for a coop for them.
The one question I have about using the ground as the floor in winter -when the snow melts/rain wont the rain just wash under the wood right into thier coop? that is the major reason I wanted to know about putting a rised floor for them I am trying to find a way to keep them dry I admit leaving the ground as floor sounds like an easy way to keep the cost down on buying wood and it might be easy to keep clean but I want to make sure it will keep them dry. We were planing on adding alot of shavings and hay for them to sleep in and adding a few more perches since the girls are getting bigger and need more room.

thank you for the help so far I will tell hubby we now have a place to start and a few ideas.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Instead of covering the outside of the pen, you can also build the coop inside the pen, as an option. That's also a common way to do it.

 

[chickengirlnm]

ery cool idea i never thought about doing the coop inside the pen that would make it easier to put up new perches for them- I am thinking about putting up some L brackets and layingthe perches on them and holding the perches in place with some small screws that way I can take them out when they need to be cleaned or replaced - would it be safe to put some stain or polyurathan ( sp )? on them to protect the wood ?maybe do the same for the floor of the coop to make the poop not stick to the wood ? sorry about the many questions but this is my frist time making a coop and my frist winter having chickens just want to make sure they make it to spring LOL