Old, neglected chicken coop

[S1mba]

I have an old, shamefully neglected little chicken coop which was absolutely fine (save the need of a lick of paint etc). Except I'd never checked the external nestboxes. The lid of that was built out of a different material and covered with a black sheet of roofing material. It got wet through, swelled, and is totally coming apart- I went to lift it up and chunks came off in my hand. One of the hinges rusted all the way through, too.


So what's the best way to make a lid for the nestboxes that's weather and predator proof? Predators are foxes and dogs, weather is rain and lots of it (usually). It has to be able to stand up to constant moisture.




There was always a covering of newspaper under straw, but the floor still has ingrained chicken **** in places. It's been scraped and swept. Anything I should be doing with that other than scrubbing it with hot water and disinfectant (bleach or jeyes fluid)? Would paint be appropriate or necessary?

Oh, and being wooden, there are lots of crevices etc. Should I fill these up? I'm getting cautious now after reading all the stuff on here on red mite.



This isn't used, by the way. There are no bewildered hens sitting in nest boxes wondering why it's raining in here! It won't be used in a while, but I don't want it to go to rack and ruin worse than it already has.

 

[bargain]

I would try to find some tin and put it on top of some good exterior wood and then do a latch system that only humans could open.

 

[chfite]

I made the roof/door for my nesting box from a sheet of 3/4 inch plywood painted then shingled. The roof extends 1 inch over around the box, The shingles extend an inch over that. Frankly, you could make the roof from almost anything, so long as it is waterproof. I use shingles because they work well, and can usually be gotten from the Habitat for Humanity store cheap.

For your floor, clean it as best you can and leave it until time to use it. I use deep litter of pine shavings in mine.

Chris