Hello, backyard chicken farmers! We have 24 chicks that we got on May 8 when they were a week old. 10 Plymouth White Rocks, 5 Black Sexlinks and 9 Buff Orps.
We converted a lean-to behind our garage to a coop for them. It's about 12 feet by 10 feet and we have two old-time enclosed nesting boxes plus an open wooden one. Here are my coop questions:
1. We have a large piece of plywood (3x4) that is about 4.5 feet from the ground and suspended from the ceiling. The previous owners put it up. Would you take it down? If an egg is laid in the back corner, I'd need a ladder to reach it and I think it would be full of poop. Perhaps I just answered question #1.
2. We don't have any roosts yet and am quite ignorant about where to put them and how many to put up and what they should be made of.
3. We have one measly little window in the coop with no screen. Would you put up a screen and secure it so the critters don't get in?
4. There is no ventilation in the coop. We have an opening to the garage from the coop that we have blocked temporarily, but we are thinking a door would be safe from critters when the garage is open (not often, but still). Again, quite ignorant here on how to install ventilation that is economical and with a husband that is no Bob Vila.
Our run is about 12 feet wide and 40 feet long and we have barn-type doors off the lean-to that open into it. We've enclosed it with chicken wire and buried about 18 inches of wire in the dirt. Tonight we put a 10 foot post in the middle of the run and covered the run with netting. We get into the coop through the run, not the garage.
Here are my run questions:
1. How do we secure around the door to the run? We can't attach chicken wire to the bottom of the door, we can't attach the netting around it, there is a gap of 3 inches or so between the door and the fence post. Basically any critter can lift the netting and slide through or dig under the door. I want this to be easy enough for my 7-year old to open but not a raccoon. She feeds the chicks and I water them, and sometimes we don't do that together - so she needs to be able to open the door. However, right now the netting makes it tricky - but without the netting, big trouble.
2. Do you mow the lawn inside your run? Our grass is getting long!
Okay - lots of questions and I'm sorry if these have been asked before. We love our chicks and want them to be safe and sound.
They are out in the run right now for the first time with the netting above them and I feel much safer.
I welcome your advice!
Blessings,
Stacey
We converted a lean-to behind our garage to a coop for them. It's about 12 feet by 10 feet and we have two old-time enclosed nesting boxes plus an open wooden one. Here are my coop questions:
1. We have a large piece of plywood (3x4) that is about 4.5 feet from the ground and suspended from the ceiling. The previous owners put it up. Would you take it down? If an egg is laid in the back corner, I'd need a ladder to reach it and I think it would be full of poop. Perhaps I just answered question #1.
2. We don't have any roosts yet and am quite ignorant about where to put them and how many to put up and what they should be made of.
3. We have one measly little window in the coop with no screen. Would you put up a screen and secure it so the critters don't get in?
4. There is no ventilation in the coop. We have an opening to the garage from the coop that we have blocked temporarily, but we are thinking a door would be safe from critters when the garage is open (not often, but still). Again, quite ignorant here on how to install ventilation that is economical and with a husband that is no Bob Vila.
Our run is about 12 feet wide and 40 feet long and we have barn-type doors off the lean-to that open into it. We've enclosed it with chicken wire and buried about 18 inches of wire in the dirt. Tonight we put a 10 foot post in the middle of the run and covered the run with netting. We get into the coop through the run, not the garage.
Here are my run questions:
1. How do we secure around the door to the run? We can't attach chicken wire to the bottom of the door, we can't attach the netting around it, there is a gap of 3 inches or so between the door and the fence post. Basically any critter can lift the netting and slide through or dig under the door. I want this to be easy enough for my 7-year old to open but not a raccoon. She feeds the chicks and I water them, and sometimes we don't do that together - so she needs to be able to open the door. However, right now the netting makes it tricky - but without the netting, big trouble.
2. Do you mow the lawn inside your run? Our grass is getting long!
Okay - lots of questions and I'm sorry if these have been asked before. We love our chicks and want them to be safe and sound.
They are out in the run right now for the first time with the netting above them and I feel much safer.
I welcome your advice!
Blessings,
Stacey
