post your chicken coop pictures here!

[TJordan]

No the run is not covered and I don't believe coons could get in unless they can blim a 6 foot fence. My hens wings are cliped can they get on a roost?

Those critters can climb big time!!! I watched one climb a 6' tall fence then used it's crazy hands to open a secured trash can just to get a late night snack.

 

[junebuggena]

Those critters can climb big time!!! I watched one climb a 6' tall fence then used it's crazy hands to open a secured trash can just to get a late night snack.

That's why I padlock my coop. The coons haven't learned how to pick locks yet. lol

 

[kenmlang]

This is my coop what should I add to it or do different please let me know I'm new to this

Listen, racoons can climb just about anything, and so can a lot of other, not so nice critters. With a wide open front on the coop, you are inviting coons, skunks, possums, foxes, and that is just at night. During the day, you will probably go to collect eggs, and come across a snake or two, stealing the eggs, or if it is big enough, one of your birds. All of the animals I have named, and some more can and will climb that 6ft fence and decimate your flock. What you need to do, at the very least, is put some hardware cloth, 1/2" mesh, on the front of the coop itself, or get son exterior grade plywood and close it up. Put a door in the makeup that can easily be opened in the morning and closed after the birds have gone up to roost. If you are gone for most days, you need to have some kind of protection in the run from predators from the air and ground. "Anything Can And Will Get In There".

To give you an idea of what a simple coop/run should look like, here is a pic of one of my coops...

 

[Minflick]

This is what I had built for my girls, because I have raccoon stroll through the yard of an evening, ignoring my husband 10 feet away on the front deck having a smoke! My hardware cloth goes down in an apron, since my ground cannot have a deep trench (I wish I could have done that) and then I have pavers over the apron of hardware cloth. The middle of my covering of the run is 2x4 fencing, but the bottom 18" and roof of the pen are all the 1/2" hardware cloth. Raccoons have been up on top of that run, fighting with each other. They cannot get in...



I've prettied it up since then, and closed off access to under the coop, and swapped out the wood popup door for an ABS door, but the run is what it is.

 

[jerrey]

it looks like the ground is level I just don't know how to fix my fence

 

[PLFarm]

Hello from Big Lake Ranch, BC
We are new to chicken raising and have lots of room and not much time, so we are repurposing an old shed left by a previous owner. It's further away from our garage/house than I'd like so I'm taking extra care to predator-proof the coop. Here's a pic of the shell after I removed all the old log slab siding and added expanded metal (feebee) around two sides of the base. The hardest part was digging and root cutting. The rocks are there to deter digging predators and aid drainage:

 

[PLFarm]

 

[Latestarter]

Hey there PLFarm!

and welcome to the thread! Maybe that's too nice to house chickens... fixed up a bit it might be better for mom-in-law

You did say it was further away from the (main) house than what you wanted, right?

Anyway, keep us posted w/pics as you progress! It's a solid looking start!

 

[Sylvester017]

Dachshunds were used for finding Badgers... They are ferocious and fearless hunters. Terrier breeds in general are also known to be excellent diggers too.

deb

Someone forgot to tell our friends' Dachshund that she was supposed to be ferocious. She loves sitting by the chicken pen to watch the girls and sometimes snoozes by them but has no inclinations for digging. She also would sit by the CornishX chicks cage for the few weeks they had them to chase off the Crows that wanted to go after the lethargic Cx chicks. Now her Chiquaqua companion has no interest to patiently watch anything for more than 2 seconds before she's on to other distractions in the yard. In any event that was our friends' pets. I, for one, don't trust any non-flock dog breed around birds.

 

[Sylvester017]

No the run is not covered and I don't believe coons could get in unless they can blim a 6 foot fence. My hens wings are cliped can they get on a roost?

'Coons can climb anything. They can climb rain gutters, stucco walls, block wall fences 6-ft high (they have fine claws that allow this ability), claw apart flimsy poultry hex wire, and they have collapsing spines that enable them to crawl through cracks a bird couldn't fly through. Chickens will sleep through anything so it's easy for predators to catch them before the chickens are awake enough to know they're being burgled. Always think secure, secure, secure where poultry is concerned - especially if their wings are clipped and they can't fly to safety. I haven't clipped chicken wings and they don't fly out of our yard. I have 3 older girls that chase out in flock unison any feral stray cats that enter the yard. But at night on the roost they are very lethargic and barely aware of their surroundings in the dark.