Unexpected Options -- Can I Predator-Proof This?

[3KillerBs]

My 4 New Arrivals came with a coop of their own that is bigger than my Little Monitor Coop (and an indoor brooder/playpen), plus other equipment.

Because it had started to rain when I got home with everything I scrambled to turn the broody breaker into a mini-open-air coop so they could have food and water while we waited for both dry weather and the 15yo to get home to help with the lifting.

Thinking about all this and about the fact that I'm getting chicks from Ideal's May 19th hatch and Welp's June 2nd hatch and don't have the new coop finished yet I started wondering if I could use the broody-breaker and the playpen as an integration mini-coop-and-run (inside my electric netting), and use the 4x8 as a brooder to handle both batches of chicks I'm expecting. But it would be a lot more convenient (not to mention safer), if I could put it next to the house where the electric is instead of having to buy another 100-foot cord to run the heat lamp.

So, here are some photos, both mine and the ones my friend sent me. I know that chicken wire and tarp aren't proof against anything but other chickens. I'll list what I have that I might be able to use after you see the photos. Getting another electric net kit isn't an option at the moment because we need to buy the roofing for the Chicken Palace.

And the brooder/playpen:

I have that chunk of 2x4 scrap fencing, some unknown quantity of scrap hardware cloth, some random pieces of metal siding in odd shapes, and this dog pen with it's 1" hardware cloth:

And this junky, scrap metal roofing:

I can buy more tarp for wind and weather-proofing.

This is the proposed site to set it up as a brooder:

I also have quite a few concrete blocks, some pallets that I can't readily take apart, some assorted salvaged boards of various sizes, and *maybe* some damaged plywood.

Thoughts?

 

[1muttsfan]

I've used something similar for a temporary coop for young birds. Cover the whole thing with hardware cloth (1/2" or smaller). You can make aprons, or cover the bottom with the 1" hardware cloth. You can use anything that sheds rain for the top of the playpen. I would enclose one end or corner of the brooder for protection from wind/rain and for roosting. Might be a good idea to use blocks to weight it down - they could be used to hold aprons down. Mine was a very useful movable unit that worked well for day outings for chicks, and for a few hens that raised chicks for me as well.

 

[3KillerBs]

I've used something similar for a temporary coop for young birds. Cover the whole thing with hardware cloth (1/2" or smaller). You can make aprons, or cover the bottom with the 1" hardware cloth. You can use anything that sheds rain for the top of the playpen. I would enclose one end or corner of the brooder for protection from wind/rain and for roosting. Might be a good idea to use blocks to weight it down - they could be used to hold aprons down. Mine was a very useful movable unit that worked well for day outings for chicks, and for a few hens that raised chicks for me as well.

It's got a solid metal roof and was quite waterproof before we took the deteriorated tarps and plastic off.

Other than buying new tarps, I have to do this with the stuff I've got available as listed above and I have only until the middle of next week to do it.

 

[Brooks_]

I'm pretty sure you can make it work.

 

[aart]

My 4 New Arrivals

Thinking about all this and about the fact that I'm getting chicks from Ideal's May 19th hatch and Welp's June 2nd hatch and don't have the new coop finished yet

Better get a buildin'!!


Is that mesh under the coop plastic?

 

[3KillerBs]

Better get a buildin'!!


Is that mesh under the coop plastic?

All sorts of things have interrupted the coop build -- weather, inability to get supplies in a timely fashion, and DH suffering a backstrain at work.

There is chicken wire under the plastic now -- exposed, actually, because I've been ripping off the deteriorated tarps and plastic. I've got to see just how much scrap wire I've got and where I can put on something solid. I figure I'd want the bottom half solid anyway to use it as a brooder -- blocking drafts.

I'm starting with something better than a prefab coop, at least.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

All sorts of things have interrupted the coop build -- weather, inability to get supplies in a timely fashion, and DH suffering a backstrain at work.

There is chicken wire under the plastic now -- exposed, actually, because I've been ripping off the deteriorated tarps and plastic. I've got to see just how much scrap wire I've got and where I can put on something solid. I figure I'd want the bottom half solid anyway to use it as a brooder -- blocking drafts.

I'm starting with something better than a prefab coop, at least.

For real though, lol

 

[tigger19687]

I wouldn't put them near that big AC unit

 

[3KillerBs]

I wouldn't put them near that big AC unit

Why not?

We sat the thing there because that's where the outdoor electric plug is and I don't want to run a heat lamp on a hundred-foot extension cord.