Our coop... and questions!

[hippiefarmer]

My husband and I have a beautiful chicken coop - he built his children a log playhouse many years ago, and it has since been repurposed. We put up a run that is about 10x20 feet, but allow the chickens to free range out of the coop/run during the day. The run had deer netting stretched over the top and connected to the sides, to discourage aerial predators from attacking. We also buried the chicken wire 18 inches to discourage other critters from digging in. The coop itself has a dirt floor, which we layered with a cover of chicken wire (again, to discourage predators), and dirt. Unfortunately, a recent snow/ice storm collapsed our chicken run. Luckily, I had turned the chickens out earlier in the day and they were all standing around outside the run confused about what had happened - noone was harmed! Phew!

I'd post pictures, but I was just informed by the server that as a newbie, I'm not allowed, haha!

We have 15 hens, and 1 roo, of multiple breeds: black australorp, rhode island red, araucana, comet, barred plymouth rock... and two Pekin ducks who were raised with the chickens and seem to believe they are chickens. We also just acquired 5 Black Copper Maran chicks - I'm eagerly waiting to see if we have hens or roos. Hopefully 4 hens and 1 roo... or all hens! Probably not, though...

We are figuring out some changes that need to be made to make the chicken's playhouse more chicken (and tall-people) friendly. We have repeatedly nailed up roosts, but they always manage to fall down, so I need to make some free standing ones this year. Any tips on making sturdy, tight space roosts? The log walls make nailing the roosts in place a bit awkward.

Also - we are planning to either add a skylight, or, better yet (for us), raise the roof and where it is raised, put in plexiglass panels (or the like). I'm thinking, since we have cold awful winters here, that I should shrink the door to the coop, which was at one point a large window in the playhouse. The skylights would serve several purposes - more light for our hens, particularly in the winter when they avoid going outdoors anyhow, and, in the event we raise the roof with them, more head room for us to collect eggs and clean!

We had been using straw as bedding in the coop, however we are planning to switch to pine shavings. I look forward to learning lots on this forum and interacting with everyone! We are new to chickens and are trying to live more sustainably on our small farm.

 

[tommboy1973]

 

[gryeyes]

from California!

Just head over to the Social section and greet some other newcomers, or visit the Where am I, Where are You? forum to check the area you're from and say howdy there. You only need a few posts to be able to share your photos with us.



Because we really wanna see photos of your coop and flock!

 

[hippiefarmer]

Our coop - pre-snow failure (our chickens were mesmerized when a friend started serenading them on the fiddle):


OH NO:

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
Now, THAT is a fantastic photo of a what must have been a wonderful experience! How COOL is THAT!!!

 

[Country Heart]

Hello and

from California!

 

[Dare 2 Dream Farm]

We use 2x3's cut to the necessary length for roosts. We mount 2x4 fence brackets mounted to the wall and just slide the 2x3's in. It makes it easy to remove the roosts for cleaning. I would post a picture but I am a newbie as well and can't! But I hope you get the idea...

 

[elmo]

Welcome to the forum!

Chicken wire is basically a no go for predator protection. It will keep out hawks, but not much else. I don't see much point to burying it, since hawks aren't going to try to dig inside a coop. Predators who dig aren't going to be slowed down long by chicken wire. It will keep your chickens contained, though. Since you free range, I'm assuming you're willing to accept the risk of daytime predation and the fact that over time you will lose a chicken or two. Do be sure that your coop's windows and vents are covered with welded wire, rather than hardware cloth, because predator risk at night time is much higher.

I see ventilation as a potential problem with your repurposed playhouse. It's very important for chickens (particularly in winter), something that most people starting out don't realize. Here's the best discussion of the subject that I know of:

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

You might try using shelf supports to hold up the roosts.

By the way, I'm not sure how large the playhouse coop is, but with 21 chickens you may well find it's seriously undersized. Usually, it's not recommended to go below a stocking density of 4 square feet per chicken for a coop, especially if winter weather is likely to confine the chickens to the coop for periods of time. Manure management at high stocking densities is also a lot of work for the chicken keeper just to manage basic sanitation and odor control.

 

[ARose4Heaven]

Where do you live that you can have a run made of chicken wire? We have raccoons and opossum that would be through that in an instant!
In these parts, we need welded hardware cloth either buried or aproned and at least 3 feet above ground too. We also have to have our coop at least 2 feet off the ground to stop rats, etc from burrowing under and in.

If you are going to have chicken wire over the top of the run, you need to have wooden support framework under it...like rafters.

I absolutely LOVE that log cabin coop! I can imagine that is very warm for the chickens.

 

[hippiefarmer]

Wow - thanks for the replies and tips, everyone!

Regarding the chicken wire: we live on a horse farm. While we get an occassional stray dog (and I mean occassional... like, once in 3 years), and we hear coyotes, our property is surrounded by electric fencing and horse scents. The side of the coop with the brush growing is actually a drainage ditch, and directly on the other side is a pasture with electric fence... We are also surrounded by open fields. We were worried mostly about small animals (fox, owls, raccoons, etc) getting in. It helps that we have an orchard that adjoins our property where the smells of "fresh meat" abound - they have turkeys, guineas, crazy pigs and other birds that free range all of the time... surely the critters that would attack would go for the easy, out in the open, "lets not get electrocuted trying to get it" stuff? My husband and I are home nearly 95% of the time, and if we aren't, the chickens don't go out that day.

We actually had deer netting over the top, supported by beams (hence the pile of wood to the middle right of the "OH NO" picture! However, they were nailed to the sides of the posts, instead of on top of them, which made them prone to being pulled out. There was a foot of ice/snow piled up... I thought that surely the deer netting would have torn before pulling down the run! Apparently not

Regarding ventilation - I never had considered that until I was looking at the coops others have made! We are so new and fairly inexperienced with chickens, other than feeding and watering them. I think that our coop is actually probably pretty well ventilated, there are slots all around it where the logs have settled and don't quite match together... which itself is a problem in the winter, with drafts! Although, I have gone in there and sat with them (I enjoy watching them) in the winter, and it really is not too bad! I think I am going to build an actual door at their "in and out" place, so that we can prevent drafts! We have some spots where the bigger gaps are covered/filled (the whole North wall is covered to protect from chilly drafts from that direction). I am going to try to figure out a way to incorporate that into our coop "addition"! Just a thought - do you suppose that heat-register covers that slide open and closed would make good vents if we placed them directly under the roof, where, unless it is a dramatically hard-driving rain, the "elements" won't get in?

Also, I forgot to mention that we are making another, smaller chicken coop for our marans... more of a garden-dollhouse kind of thing that is actually built from the ground up to be for chicks! I actually stumbled upon this site looking at other people's beautiful, creative coops!

Hmm... hope that I have responded to everyone's comments!

Oh - and thanks! We have a bluegrass festival at our farm, and our friend plays in a band... he got off the stage with his fiddle and walked over to the chickens! I will have to find the picture of all the chicks huddled together listening intently!