As noted on other threads, my New Arrivals came with a coop of their own but I put together other Temporary Accommodations, leaving the 4x8 "coop" to convert to a walk-in brooder for the chicks I'm expecting next Friday. The friend who gave it to me said it had been the run they used on their original coop before they built the huge fenced enclosure and they'd used it as an auxiliary coop since then.
After pulling off some beat up tarps and plastic I took off the metal side panels and removed the roost structure that was perfectly fine for what it was but which would be in my way using it as a brooder. That leaves me with a roofed box, 50" wide, 51" tall, and 8 feet long that is covered in chicken wire.
One end has an odd window in it:
The other end has a door.
Poking around in our scrap, I found a 20-foot piece of 48" hardware cloth -- which will wrap the two long sides and the window end -- but which isn't *quite* tall enough to go all the way from top to bottom. I also have plenty of 12 or 14" scrap pieces of hardware cloth that will serve as at least a minimal anti-dig apron and which will cover the two sides next to the door.
The problem here being the door itself (which also needs a more secure latch.
Before I found the big piece of hardware cloth (I knew I had the 12" pieces), I was thinking of covering the sides with this salvaged metal roofing that isn't sturdy enough to be an actual roof.
I don't know if covering the door with that stuff is a good idea or not. I don't know if there is a means of seaming the narrow pieces of hardware cloth safely without having to invest in those special clips for making cages and the tool to fasten them.
We have a moderate amount of scrap metal siding, some of which is, at 6" wide, about the right size to fill the gap between the size of the structure and the height of the wire -- a solid bottom would be handy to keep bedding in anyway. I have no clue how to fasten wire to metal siding.
I would also like to put a pop door on the window end so I could let the little ones into a larger run as they grow and/or use for other purposes in conjunction with my electric net later on but I don't know how to rig that on such a lightly-build structure (all 2x2's). I can add that later if I have to.
Once all the wire is attached we'll cover most of it with tarps temporarily in order to use it as a brooder.
DH can't give me much help with this because he's working hard on the new coop so I have to keep it very simple.
PS -- Just before I hit "Post Thread" I thought that I might improve my comfort level in there by setting it up on a couple layers of concrete blocks. I am pretty sure we've got enough to go around once. Even those few inches will improve things and they'd nicely weigh down the inner edge of the anti-dig apron.
All feedback and ideas welcome!
After pulling off some beat up tarps and plastic I took off the metal side panels and removed the roost structure that was perfectly fine for what it was but which would be in my way using it as a brooder. That leaves me with a roofed box, 50" wide, 51" tall, and 8 feet long that is covered in chicken wire.
One end has an odd window in it:
The other end has a door.
Poking around in our scrap, I found a 20-foot piece of 48" hardware cloth -- which will wrap the two long sides and the window end -- but which isn't *quite* tall enough to go all the way from top to bottom. I also have plenty of 12 or 14" scrap pieces of hardware cloth that will serve as at least a minimal anti-dig apron and which will cover the two sides next to the door.
The problem here being the door itself (which also needs a more secure latch.
Before I found the big piece of hardware cloth (I knew I had the 12" pieces), I was thinking of covering the sides with this salvaged metal roofing that isn't sturdy enough to be an actual roof.
I don't know if covering the door with that stuff is a good idea or not. I don't know if there is a means of seaming the narrow pieces of hardware cloth safely without having to invest in those special clips for making cages and the tool to fasten them.
We have a moderate amount of scrap metal siding, some of which is, at 6" wide, about the right size to fill the gap between the size of the structure and the height of the wire -- a solid bottom would be handy to keep bedding in anyway. I have no clue how to fasten wire to metal siding.
I would also like to put a pop door on the window end so I could let the little ones into a larger run as they grow and/or use for other purposes in conjunction with my electric net later on but I don't know how to rig that on such a lightly-build structure (all 2x2's). I can add that later if I have to.
Once all the wire is attached we'll cover most of it with tarps temporarily in order to use it as a brooder.
DH can't give me much help with this because he's working hard on the new coop so I have to keep it very simple.
PS -- Just before I hit "Post Thread" I thought that I might improve my comfort level in there by setting it up on a couple layers of concrete blocks. I am pretty sure we've got enough to go around once. Even those few inches will improve things and they'd nicely weigh down the inner edge of the anti-dig apron.
All feedback and ideas welcome!
