- Sep 17, 2014
- 5
- 0
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Hello All!
I have been reading forum after forum staying up WAY too late each night! We don't have any hens yet but are in the process of building a coop. So far we have three walls with a roof up and plan on using hardware mesh for the open fourth side. The coop is 12 feet wide and 7 feet deep. Of the 7 feet, 3 of them are also going to be open with the mesh. This presents us with a challenge for the roosting bars/poop deck. I want the ladies to be comfortable and have plenty of room out of direct winds but we also need to be able to use the outer structure as it is. Any recommendations or ideas to help modify the inside would be amazing!
A little information about weather: we are in Texas, our lot is wooded which helps with winds (prevailing winds coming from the S/SE)
I have been reading forum after forum staying up WAY too late each night! We don't have any hens yet but are in the process of building a coop. So far we have three walls with a roof up and plan on using hardware mesh for the open fourth side. The coop is 12 feet wide and 7 feet deep. Of the 7 feet, 3 of them are also going to be open with the mesh. This presents us with a challenge for the roosting bars/poop deck. I want the ladies to be comfortable and have plenty of room out of direct winds but we also need to be able to use the outer structure as it is. Any recommendations or ideas to help modify the inside would be amazing!
A little information about weather: we are in Texas, our lot is wooded which helps with winds (prevailing winds coming from the S/SE)
) My wife and I were both raised in east Texas. Your coop is very nice and appears to be well thought out. I'm glad to see you are planning to use hardware cloth instead of chicken wire. Too many predators can either tear through chicken wire or squeeze through the openings in the mesh. Are you planning to free range your chickens? If so I would not leave the fourth side open with only hardware cloth over it as your birds will need shelter from cold drafts in the winter. Also enclosing that wall will give you extra surface for attaching roosting bars. If you are not going to free range, you need to enclose it anyway and attach a run ti your coop that is at least 2 1/2 times the size of your coop. I don't know how many chickens you are planning to get, but the minimum required space is 4 sq. ft. of floor space per bird (more is better), and 10 sq. ft. of ground space per bird (again more is better). Please feel free to ask any questions you may have. We are here to help in any way we can. What kind of chickens are you planning on getting?
Glad you joined the flock. More than sure your chickens will be happy in that super coop you have under construction and what a lovely setting you have it in. Good luck with your new chickens in the future 
