The Baker's Dozen... Our Chicken Coop... tell us what you think.

[cjeanean]

Wow, you were very inventive!!! I love the roof, and will probably steal the idea (if that's okay) to build one for my other coop. The only thing I can suggest is to use something more sturdy than chicken wire. Chicken wire is designed ONLY to keep chickens in, not to keep predators out. A raccoon could slice right through the wire and not miss a step. You want to use welded wire or hardware cloth for the run and to cover any holes or ventilation areas to ensure predators can't get in. I would suggest welded wire for the run and hardware cloth for the coop window and the gap around the roof. If you don't want to go through the trouble of burying the wire again I will post a link to another thread with pics of my setup, which someone on BYC suggested to me and works perfectly!!! Good luck, and

 

[jmilandfam]

Quote:
We don't get very harsh winters here, though last year was definately an exception. Worse case the water will go into the house where it is already insulated from the cold. Just getting it out of the direct eliments will help. I would prefer it to not be in the house as I don't wan't to add spilled water to the "mix" in there. I have two heat lamps I plan on using in the winter when it becomes really cold, otherwise I think it will be fine. The house has exterior and interior walls. This was done to keep the draft off the chickens in the winter but will also keep the water from being exposed to the direct air. If I come up with a different solution, I'll let you know. Realistically the waterer stems from not wanting to fill their water everyday. This set up lasts at least a week and there are 13 chickens drinking from it.

 

[jmilandfam]

Ok... so lay it on me. What to do about the chicken wire. I knew I would miss something. We do have many racoons around here though my dogs usually keep them off of our property. We used to have them in our trash and such but since we got a big ole lab they tend to keep far away. The flip side is we have become the haven for stray cats as our dog gets along fine with them... oh well we also have no more mice running around. I don't even want to say we haven't lost any so far because I have read other posts from people who didn't lose any for a year or more and then bam... no more chickens. That would be very devastating. The windows and the vent openings do have the hardware cloth on them... 1/4" size. The chickens go into the house at night but we have not been locking the run door as it didn't seem to be necessary. We let them out of the run in the evening but only under supervision. This lets them roam around and clean our yard area of stray insects. I appreciate any ideas... Thanks

 

[Wildsky]

Thank you for those pictures - I'm going to think on it a little - My goal is to have some kind of water outside for the chickens (inside if it works well would be a treat - I have a galvanised font and its a pain in the... )
Anyway - I just need to figure out how to prevent it from FREEZING right away - perhaps I could use just one big bucket or drum of somekind and if I HAVE to put a de-icer in that? not sure how well that would work out as the water in those pipes would freeze.....

Hmmmmmmmmmmm I just don't want to be out changing water 6 times a day.

(THANK YOU - its a great little system there)

 

[JSC]

It looks great!

Two things I would do different:
1. Pour cement in the ditches you made for the chicken wire,the chicken wire is not that strong and will not last for years buried in the ground


2. Put 36 inch high 2X4 welded wire around the bottom of the run to back up the chicken wire.

JSC's Hubby

 

[CarlaRiggs]

Jmil ~

Chicken wire is great for your run, as long as the gauge is heavy enough. Though I used 1/2" hardware cloth over the windows, I have 1" hexagon 18 gauge that I use around the vents at the top of the coop, and for the entire run. It's buried 6" underneath the entire run and comes back up on the sides where it's stapled to pt wood along the bottom.
I've had NO problems with predators at all. Seen raccoon tracks around the coop

but no drama there.
The GAUGE is the important aspect, whether you choose hardware cloth or chicken wire or whatever. Size 18 or 19 is good; I've seen some hardware cloth with a 22 gauge. This was really flimsy.
A raccoon (I've been told) will reach its hand through a 1" opening and grab a chicken. We don't have raccoons during the day, and my hens don't roost high enough to be next to the chicken wire in the coop, so I feel we're be fine.
The 18 gauge chicken wire I purchased had 'Stucco Wire' on the label of the roll. You can ask around when you shop for your wire. Sometimes it's hard to find, but just persevere.

Carla