Unique Challenges in building--safety for chickens?

[TimelordChicken]

Hello everyone. I was referred here so that possibly you could offer me some tips.

I'm 19, and have absolutely no skills in building. We are getting some chickens as part of an Easter-chicken rescue program and I need some help in building a chicken coop with safety of the chickens in mind. My main concerns are the wind, heat, and cold. I live in the high desert which means 90-100F summer days and 20-25F winter nights.

There's no trees or vegetation here really for miles around and we're actually the only place in America the wind can blow in every direction at once! It's weak or not there some days- maybe 5-10 mph. Most days it's gusts 20mph and some days we have 50-60mph gusts that blew away my carport and broke my metal garage door, etc. Happens almost every august in monsoon season. We do have flash floods but the chicken coop will be built on raised ground where it doesn't get flood waters.

I need something that can block some of the wind so the chickens don't get sick (I've heard the wind can cause chicken diseases?) but it also must be able to withstand the strong winds! I was told using shade cloth can work but I also don't want it to bend the fence of the coop.

As for the coop itself, I have no idea where to begin. We're supposed to be getting 6-10 hens and a rooster. They're coming as chicks in a few weeks so they'll be indoors in an incubator until they can be out on their own so I have some time to build. I have the following materials already:

Chicken wire 1" and 1/2"
Tons and tons of wood for building
nails/screws/staples/etc
roofing tile
gravel

I can buy other things I need(I will be buying some pressboard as well) but I'm trying to keep the cost as low as possible so I can invest more money into feed and hay for my other rescues. We have 3/4th's an acre completely fenced in with 6 foot chain link, as well as a chicken-friendly dog so I'm not too worried about ground predators EXCEPT for weasels, we have at least 2 fa miles that pop in and out of the backyard so I need to weasel-proof the coop as well. I was thinking laying down 1/2 chicken wire 6" into the ground completely under the coop, and topping with a layer of sand, gravel, and then dirt. I'll also buy some 1/4" hardware cloth for the bottom 24" of the coop so the chicks can stay in and hopefully weasels stay out. I've also heard that roosters will try to fend off smaller predators?

I've heard chicken wire is fine for keeping chickens in but not so great at keeping predators out. What are the main concerns with predators and chicken wire? stray dogs/coyotes/foxes or? If it's dog/fox/coyote problems, I should be fine, no foxes here and the coyotes here mainly prey on the geese by the lake and the tons of wild rabbits, they've never bothered anyone's chickens or small pets. The chain link does go into the ground two feet and above it 6 and we've never had any large predator get into the backyard other than the weasels and the occasional hawk. We had rabbits back there too who did alright. Does it sound like it'll be necessary to use hardware cloth or can I use the wire I already have? The cloth's a bit expensive but I can buy it if I absolutely must.

I'm about to go look through the coop plans, everything I've seen so far has a lot of emphasis on appearance though, if you happen to have plans to a /very/ basic and plain coop, even if it's ugly, that would be great, as I'm really not handy at all and the simpler the better. I'm trying to find one with a chicken-door so I can open it during the day and let the chickens roam about on nice days in sheltered/safe areas.

 

[redirtchickens]

I would use 1/4'' or 1/2'' hardware mesh, instead of chicken wire. You can buy it on amazon for the best price. Snakes and mice can get through chicken wire. Mice will love your food and snakes will love your young hens. Good luck to ya.

 

[TimelordChicken]

Ooh, good point about the snakes. There's not any hiding places for them around here but I have seen some pretty big garter snakes going in and out of the gopher holes.

Which on amazon is the cheapest? For the size of coop/run I wanted to make I'd need a good $300-500 for the wire alone?. I've checked craigslist as well but the only cloth there is plastic. It just seems so expensive for what I need. Are they're any cheaper alternatives? If not I suppose I can just reduce the size of the coop/run but I was planning to expand my flock in the future...

 

[redirtchickens]

Where are you located? I'm in the desert too but there was a guy in the st. George, it Craig's list selling really nice coops for a good price. Make sure you put wire on the floor of the coop cause foxes will dig under and so will the mice. Coops can get pricey.

 

[VelvettFog]

I would use 1/4'' or 1/2'' hardware mesh, instead of chicken wire. You can buy it on amazon for the best price. Snakes and mice can get through chicken wire. Mice will love your food and snakes will love your young hens. Good luck to ya.

The best price for wire is not amazon -- check out wayfair.com

 

[TimelordChicken]

Thanks everyone!

I'm in Southern California high desert Elv. ~3000. We don't have foxes here as far as I'm aware, in fact the only large wild animal in this area I'm aware of are coyotes but they prey on the easy food of ducks and geese at the lake. One of my semi-neighbors (large lots here so they're a bit away) has not lost any animals to them yet as far as I know.

I did a bit of digging through the coops here and I'm going to try my hand at a pallet coop. I was wondering, if it's possible, to make the whole run out of the pallets too? It would solve my hardware cloth problem as I'd only need to use enough clot to securely staple in between the slats, which would significantly reduce my hardware cloth costs, AND it would reduce the wind and sun exposure as well as keep in some heat during winter. Thoughts? I could alternate between pallets and cloth as well, anything that would bring the cost down and still be effective.

It's still a week before our chicks arrive but I hope to get my project really going before then. We're repurposing an old raised garden bed to be the floor of our coop, it's meshed in on the floor with 1/4" pvc coated hardware cloth, so it shouldn't rot and should keep all the critters out. We've got plenty of wood for making the coop itself, but not enough for the run, so I'll be enlisting the help of some family to collect pallets from places that no longer want them. I was thinking using pallets for the run would be nice since it kind of helps knock out like 4 of my problems at once but I wouldn't find any runs with a similar build and I'm wondering if there's a reason for that.

On a side note- since I'll be buying hardware cloth for the coop and run, is there anything useful I could make for the chickens with the wire? I have a good 200-300 feet of 1" wire and maybe 50-75 feet of 1/2" wire.

 

[TimelordChicken]

Also, would raising the coop, but not the run, off the ground be feasible, and would it deter the smaller predators like weasels and snakes?