Repurposed lumber coop

[OnlyOneCannoli]

Hey all. So my kids have been bugging me for years on getting more chickens but my excuse was always “we don’t have a coop” which wasn’t entirely true. I had just disassembled the old one and put it in a pile behind the storage building on our land. So I forced my hand about a month ago and bought 12 leghorn pullets from TSC. They went into an old dog crate in the garage for the time being (still sleep there at the moment) but the coop is completed. I used nothing but old fence wood that was still a fence when I bought this place six years ago. The roof is from the old coop (it’s measurements were 6’x6’x4’). New one is 6’x7’x7’ in the front 6’ in the back. I had a problem with predators getting my chickens before because we would let them free range on our land. The new coop is in our almost acre sized fenced in back yard so that should eliminate most ground predators getting them during the day. My concern is I think it’s almost too ventilated. I set the posts up against the chain link fence (put hardware cloth/old metal window screens on inside) and built it in the corner. Pics should give a general idea of what is going on. What are y’all’s thoughts? I’m in the central Texas area close to Ft Hood. I do intend to cover larger areas in the winter for warmth but leave upper roof vents open. Pics go from beginning to end of construction. Sorry they aren’t great! Thanks for any and all input. Still waiting on one nesting box to finish it up.

 

[Freeloading slacker]

I think it looks good. There is a lot of ventilation so you might want to cover up some of the wire, especially in the winter. Also chickens like to jump over wire fences so that might become an issue.

 

[Freeloading slacker]

One more thing, you might want to add a skirt around the coop so that preditors cannot dig in

 

[OnlyOneCannoli]

Yeah. I was definitely going to do that in the winter. I think in these summers though they’ll be good. I was thinking of clipping the flight feathers to keep them in the back yard as well.

 

[OnlyOneCannoli]

North side is the “solid” wall. I was thinking about doing the south side too. Then it would just be the roof vents, rear and front.

 

[Mamatomany123]

Yeah. I was definitely going to do that in the winter. I think in these summers though they’ll be good. I was thinking of clipping the flight feathers to keep them in the back yard as well.

You dont only have to worry about them getting out. You need to also worry about something getting in.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Lots of ventilation is good, especially if you get hot or humid summers! I'd only put solid walls in the directions you know you tend to get storms from, to keep rain water out, otherwise I don't think you really get cold enough temperatures to have to worry about protecting them from winter weather.

 

[OnlyOneCannoli]

You dont only have to worry about them getting out. You need to also worry about something getting in.

The dogs will protect them from the ground predators in the fenced in back yard (they have no interest in the chickens and have been raised with birds when younger)....so only thing I really have to worry about is aerial predators. I'm hoping the dogs will deter that as well.