turn horse stall into a coop

[piecemaker]

OK I've had the girls for about 2 years. I have them in a coop that we added on the side of the garage. It's nice enough but I would like to get more chickens next spring. I have 5 stalls that we don't use so I thought I could turn a few into a coop. The ground is REALLY hard and rocky so digging to put wire underground is out what other way can I secure the boundary? I have thought about running hardware cloth out from the wall 12 to 18 inches and covering it with rock or some other material. What kind of covering should I put across the top of the stall walls to close in the top. The floor is dirt so I thought I could still use deep litter like I do now. any ideas would be great

thanks
theresa

 

[keljonma]

For the floor to the barn wall - can you make a concrete foundation?

A determined digging predator can get through what appears to be a solid rock floor. We put thick horse stall mats down on top of the dirt floor of our hen house, with wood chips and straw for bedding.

Hardware cloth is best protection, so I would use it on top of stall also, if your plan is to cover it.

We use deep litter late October or early November through Memorial Day (approximately, it depends on our weather). Then we remove it all, clean and disinfect the entire space. We only use a couple inches of bedding June through the end of October (again approximate, depending on weather). We muck our 20' x 20' hen house daily in warm weather, as it only takes a few minutes. In November, we start piling up the bedding again for the additional insulating value of the deep litter.

 

[cmom]

There is a thread on with pictures of someone who turned some stalls into coops. I can't find the post. I will keep looking and post the thread if I can find it. It's been awhile since I saw it maybe a month or so.

 

[piecemaker]

Did what I should of done in the frist place. I ran a search and came up with good info.
Still looking for more info if you have some. Thanks cmom for reminding me about the search

 

[LynneP]

We converted a jumbo horse stall into a coop and feed room.
All the renos, with pics, are described in the link below.

Key points- we used recycled windows in the barn aisleway to keep the feather dust away from our remaining horse;
we made is ultra-predator proof;
we created a porch from the barn to the coop so that barn cats would not get stupid and try to go in with the birds;
the feed room is now equipped with a hoper feeder (our design) that keeps a week's pellets available for the birds.


If can help, please PM me!

Lynne

 

[dominiques]

Lynne, How did you ultra predator proof your stall? I've seen your blog but can't find the posting(s) showing your stall conversion. Can you redirect me? Here's a picture of our stall that we are just beginning to convert. My biggest concern is predator proofing. Not sure how much and where exactly to put hardware cloth. Everywhere? Just some places? https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/684816/barn-stall-conversion-question Any help/suggestions/tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Mary from Maine