Open Coop design? -Update on page 2

[kameron]

Thanks for all the tips. I'm probably going to pick up my hens on Friday. I will have to give the bell or can shaking a try. We may have some overhead predators too but in a valley with 2 million I'm more afraid of a human predator than anything.

 

[kameron]

I decided to make the coop more enclosed. Here are some pictures of the finished product. Please excuse all of the recycled wood.

This is the coop with the roost. So far they have not been sleeping on it or even using it. They like to huddle back in the corner. Any ideas on how to train them to use it?

The right side is the nesting box. I put a golf ball in there but they keep laying inside to coop. I need to get them to learn to lay in there because I hate crawling in the back of the coop to get the eggs.

My wife helping build the run.

Our hens. We only have two for now but may get another down the road.

 

[debid]

Your roost bar looks too small to me. They don't wrap their feet around a perch the way a parrot does. They'd rather it was a big, fat branch or a flat board at least 2" wide.

BTW, I love your use of recycled materials.

 

[kameron]

Thanks for the help. I will swap it for a 2x4 and see how they like it. Would you recommend putting a roost in the run too? I got two more eggs yesterday but still not in their nest.