New to all this. Could use some help.

[Striker911]

Just bought a house on 5 acres and I am transforming one of 4 out buildings into a coop. I have a few questions.

1. I am trying to build a cage in the building for them to stay at night and want it closed off so none are killed by other wild life. The cage will be 9' wide x 3' deep x 3' high. I built the frame and wanted to leave about a foot on the top to put the lamp so they cant break it. Can I use chicken wire for a ceiling or should I use plywood and use a bbq grate for the light to sit on? I question this in its entirety cause I may need more space for roosting but I dont know. Maybe I can just make some perches in the run? The run also has a metal roof.

2. The walls are wood frame and metal panel only and will let a good amount of air in. So in the cage I assume expandable foam will not work to stop draft. So will I need to insulate and put wood up on the walls? I am in north Arkansas so the winters will get down to about 10 degrees or a lil less.

3. The door to the run is an old single pane window I found laying around. Should I worry about them breaking the glass?

4. When I moved here they had a bunch of windows in the run. lots of broken glass. I tried to pick up and rake all I could but some was bound to be left. What should I do to make sure I got it all? Small glass is hard to rake up. Maybe I should just rake a bunch more?

I plan on posting some links to you tube video's as soon as they dl. Takes like an hour per minute so its real slow going. I went from 15 gigs to half a gig for the same price

. Oh thats country life. Dont tell the lady that sells this crappy internet that they are all about highway robbery. It didn't get me far.

 

[Striker911]

So here is the first video. Excuse the mess. Its taken 5 truck loads of moving junk out of here to get it this nice and we only been here 4 weeks. It looks like this around 3 other buildings and that's not including putting in a new floor in one and wall up on another. In the mean time I am arranging this house and raising a 18 month old and 3 puppy's. My hands are full but I enjoy it. and thanks to having my own junk yard now, I have been building this for free from things I find laying around.

 

[friedkitty]

I'm pretty new to this as well, and was considering using a window for their entrance door to the coop, as I am using recycled material to build mine as well. (Although I don't have a ready made house for them

) It seemed like an easy way to close them up at night, but I hadn't thought about them breaking it. Is that really a concern?

 

[gryeyes]

from California!

I'll have to look at the video when I'm at my PC, not when using my iPad. That said, it sounds like the "cage" you want to. Build is for a chick brooder? Not a coop, right? Perches in the cage? Sorry, I'm kinda confused.

 

[Judy]

You really should spend some time in the coop section. You didn't say how many chickens, but a cage is probably not really practical. You will probably want to fortify one of your outbuildings, or part of it, to make a coop.

Chicken wire stops chickens but not much else. To be anywhere near predator proof you need solid walls or hardware cloth, also called wire mesh. A raccoon can reach through 1" holes, and pull a chicken out piece by piece. The building will need to prevent a critter from being able to dig its way in. They will need a place to get outdoors that is safe, too, if you want to stop predator losses.

At least there is a lot there to work with, hopefully some good materials, and I imagine you will be able to scrounge something for nest boxes.

Chickens tolerate cold much better than heat. They will be fine in your temps as long as there is enough ventilation for the ammonia and humidity to leave; it needs to be up high as these things are carried by warm air.

Here is a good writeup on ventilation, to get you started. Keep in mind this person is in Canada.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=1642-VENTILATION

 

[Striker911]

Quote:
I would not think the window would be a problem but with the research I have done their seems to be a lot of broken light bulbs so the thought crossed my mind.

 

[friedkitty]

Well, lightbulb glass is a lot thinner than window pane, so I guess unless I have a really strong chicken, they wont break it. Now I just have to figure out how to do the other 250 things I need to figure out!

 

[Striker911]

Quote:
Its okay to be confused. I assure you that I can be confusing lol. I am trying to build a cage in the building. I am putting the cage off the floor so I still have the whole building floor to use for other things. So its more of a multi purpose building. I have the idea that where they stay the nite does not need to be such a huge area since they will have the run and also later will be in the yard during the day. I may be wrong and just need to focus on making the whole building a chicken home. Not sure on that. I am using a smaller domestic bird cage in the house for a brooder. Its been almost 2 weeks though and I am ready to get them out. We have 8 total. 6 hens.

 

[Striker911]

Quote:
Hey ask away. I may even be able to help. I am willing to try anyways.

 

[Striker911]

Quote:
Thanks for the help. I have 8 total. 6 are hens. Here is a link to the second video. This one should help get a better idea of the size I am working with. The nest boxes are already made thanks to an old water bed head board I found. Just need to modify it a little. So really as long as I fill in the holes in the upper side of the building I should be able to keep out the coons and such. I did have some holes in the floor decking and thats why I put the new flooring in. Well here is the link to video 2. I will post #3 tomorrow. Thanks again.