Rome wasn't built in a day, but our coop was!

[KMHunter]

I love your coop!
I am in the process of redoing mine and I was wondering what you used on the roof? It seems to let a lot of natural light in and I like it!

 

[gottalovemychickens]

Quote:
see thats why i love chickens , alot of people say " chickens are dirty " "I dont like chickens" , but as i have noticed , until they really see chickens in real like enjoying them they have not seen anything yet. My mom , best friend and his girlfriend were like dont get chickens they are dirty nasty and loud , but not that they are laying , all 3 of them wake up early in the morning just to run out and see how many eggs i have HAHAHAHHA

 

[huck]

Quote:
Home Depot has corrugated plastic in the roofing department for about $10 a panel. It comes in 8'X2' panels and can be cut with a utility knife (careful!) or heavy duty kitchen/garden scissors. We used the white-- but they also have clear plastic and green. It varies in price depending on color.

It really does let in a lot of light and the corrugation allows for ventilation. It's very light-weight, too. This may or may not be a problem when we go to winterize... but it seemed like a good material at the time....it certainly helps make our coop more movable like a chicken tractor. We'll deal with winterization when it's not 95 degrees out!

We used a dab of construction putty to seal the areas where we screwed the paneling to the roof. We've had some good rain and all seems dry on the inside!

 

[gottalovemychickens]

Thats what i have on my 30 chicken coop. Half the roof is Solid metal sheets and the other half is the clear so even if they want to remain inside they can and still get sun light , and during the winter when we have snow and what not and they dont want to go out , they will still get sunlight and still produce eggs

 

[berkeleysprings]

looks great but u might watch out useing only cattle fence because racoons will reach right in and pull a chicken out pice by pice or just lift it up at the corners , they are so strong ! and even more dog-ed

 

[huck]

Quote:
I was wondering about that. We used it 'cuz it was free. The girls are very good about going into the coop at night, which is out of Coon-Reach. I've not been closing the pulley-door... but have been thinking about doing so.

Should I still be worried? I'm not concerned about Coons during the day time.... but maybe rats? I've never seen one, but we are in an urban setting....

 

[gottalovemychickens]

nice comment on the cattle gate .


Might laugh , might not but i used the chicken wire like stuff that they use to stucco a house . I got 150' long x 4 feet high for 22$

 

[ColoradoMike]

Quote:
I was wondering about that. We used it 'cuz it was free. The girls are very good about going into the coop at night, which is out of Coon-Reach. I've not been closing the pulley-door... but have been thinking about doing so.

Should I still be worried? I'm not concerned about Coons during the day time.... but maybe rats? I've never seen one, but we are in an urban setting....

Nice looking coop - great job!

Regarding securing your run, you should most definitely put a bit more effort into making your run predator-proof, especially if you're not closing your pop door at night. Typical recommendations for doing so include installing 1/2" hardware cloth around your run for the lower 2 feet and either burying fencing around the perimeter another 2' (to deter digging predators) or place a hardware cloth apron around the perimeter.

If you don't feel like doing that, I'd shut the pop door every night to be safe. We have a pretty secure run and we still have gotten into the habit of closing the pop door each night and opening every morning. It's a good habit and gets us out to check on the girls a few times a day.

Enjoy your birds! They're a hoot, aren't they?

 

[gottalovemychickens]

Hey ColoradoMike , do yall have a problem up there with coyotes and foxes ?? Im down here in Elizabeth CO and wow we are getting hit really hard with coyotes and foxes .

 

[ColoradoMike]

Quote:
There are occasional coyote sightings in town (I'm in Ft Collins), but I've never seen one within 10 miles of my house. Foxes on the other hand have adapted very well to urban living here - I frequently see foxes near my house and we're right in the middle of town. Our coop hadn't been occupied 2 weeks when we got our first fox visit - it came two consecutive nights and dug ~10 inches next to our human access door to the run - luckily I heeded some BYC advice and had buried galvanized fencing 2' around the perimeter of the run - so the fox gave up and hasn't been back...