Thoughts on New Coop

[brettshomestead]

Hey everyone just built a new coop a few days ago, and I was wondering if I could get some feed back on improvements. For reference I live in central oklahoma and the winters are fairly mild. I'm planning on cutting down some black locus trees to use as roosts and build egg boxes soon.

 

[ChickEchick]

Having just had to reinforce my coop because of Racoons - I would say you need to go over the front and side screened sections with wire cloth...... what you have but with much smaller squares.

AND As it sits - anything could dig under it - some options for this..

1) take some wire cloth and slide under the coop - leaving several inches on the outside as to deter digging.
2) dig a trench several inches deep all the way around the structure and slide the wire cloth straight down in the trench
3) make a "skirt" of wire cloth all the way around the coop.

Love the look of it - Congratulations on building such a great coop! Your Chickens will be very happy!

 

[brettshomestead]

Having just had to reinforce my coop because of Racoons - I would say you need to go over the front and side screened sections with wire cloth...... what you have but with much smaller squares.

AND As it sits - anything could dig under it - some options for this..

1) take some wire cloth and slide under the coop - leaving several inches on the outside as to deter digging.
2) dig a trench several inches deep all the way around the structure and slide the wire cloth straight down in the trench
3) make a "skirt" of wire cloth all the way around the coop.

Love the look of it - Congratulations on building such a great coop! Your Chickens will be very happy!

Thanks! The metal extends about 5inches into the ground already, but I do need to reinforce the front for sure. Thanks for the input

 

[ChickEchick]

Solid metal 5 inches down - should take care any critter concerns on those sides for sure!!

 

[Rooster one]

A lot of people ill also put down fencing around the coop and outside of the run. Most will place it just under the grass and out to about 1/12 feet.

 

[brettshomestead]

A lot of people ill also put down fencing around the coop and outside of the run. Most will place it just under the grass and out to about 1/12 feet.

Not a bad idea, if I end up having digging problems I might have to try that. I'm putting electric fencing around it to keep things like pigs, and goats as well.

 

[Rooster one]

The fencing will surely work on animals that dig because they will not go out that far so usually they will just leave.