Our Coop

[winchesterva]

We don't have chickens -- yet, but are preparing for them in the spring. We found this coop on Craigslist (we are not very handy) and we now are trying to predator proof it and build a run. Just wanted to share it, we are getting exicted about having chickens.

 

[NonnasBabies]

Looks good!! Seems like ya'll are off to a good start!!

Missi

 

[gumpsgirl]

Wow! Good find!

 

[CoyoteMagic]

I see you have put down wire in the run itself. Unless you are going to cover that with a LOT of dirt, it's going to hurt the chickens feet when they try to scratch.

May I suggest you just extend out the "skirt" you have put on the outside of the run. Mine is 2ft of wire that's tied to the bottom of the run with hog rings. Then it's covered with a bunch of mulch.We actually surrounded it with landscape timbers and built flower beds on the outside of the run. (not that that stopped them from eating all the flowers)


ETA--good score on the coop!!

 

[acdoc]

good find.. Wanted to say hello Im pretty close to you if you need anything.

 

[briana1975]

Quote:
I was thinking the same thing but about the chickens and their dust baths. I am always filling holes that are 10-12 inches deep from dust bathing.

 

[winchesterva]

Thanks for all the kind words. We were pretty excited about the coop since as I mentioned we are not very handy.

CoyoteMagic: We do have hardware cloth on the bottom and will extend it out about 2 feet on all sides. Our plan is to cover the hardware cloth on the inside with dirt, leaves, grass clippings, mulch, etc to about 6 to 8 inches deep (hope that is deep enough?) so that it does not hurt their feet. We also have landscape timbers that will border the run on all sides.

We plan to put an extended run on this, sort of a hoop design I found here on BYC, we will not cover the bottom of that with hardare cloth. And I suspect they will spend most of their time in the extended run or free ranging. We covered the floor of the extisting run because the coop will be within that run and it was just extra precaution. We have a little bit of everything as far as predators are concerned so we wanted to be sure nothing got in.

ACDOC: Greeting from Winchester, thanks for the shout out, nice to know there are other BYC'ers close by!!!

 

[Omran]

Very nice coop

 

[consdrs]

I am very impressed! you don't even have chickens yet!! It's kinda funny most people on here get chickens first and then think about building something, me included....

Connie

 

[Country Heart]

Congratulations on your great coop find and your upcoming brood! Looks like your girls will be well protected from predators. Thanks for sharing.