Using a former Ostrich Pen for a coop. Could use advice...

[Lorus6]

We are trying to find a logical place to house chickens on our rented property. Since we can't really build anything, we are trying to use what is available. A previous owner kept ostriches so we have three large fenced pens on the property. Each pen has an insulated house (about 8 ft x 8ft) that we thought could be used for the actual coop. I have several questions about how to make this area chicken friendly.

First the entire pen is fenced with a rectangular wire fencing, (holes are about 1.5 x 3 inches), so I was wondering if lining it with chicken wire would be sufficient or if I need to use something more to keep the chickens safe. The fencing is 6 feet tall. Do I need to put any type of roof or fencing over the yard part? We have seen a couple of barn cats on our property and because of our country location I am quite sure there are a number of other critters that eat chickens...

Questions about the coop itself: The coop appears to have medium sized rocks for the floor (about 1.5 inch diameter) Can chickens live with this, or do I need to remove or cover them with some other material? I have been reading about sand covered floors - so I am wondering if I could just cover the rocks with sand or if I need to remove the rocks first.

Any advice would be appreciated!

 

[Whittni]

If you can, cover the top of your run with something, to keep the hawks out (tight and re-enforced chicken wire should do). If you can, take all the rocks and put them around the sides of run on the outside to discourage digging predators.

Did I miss any questions?

 

[Lorus6]

Should I line the inside of the fence with chicken wire as well?

 

[chfite]

To deter predators from digging in from the inside, a large quantity of large rocks lining the outside of the fence would help. These rocks need to be heavy, at least on the order of concrete blocks to keep the digging from dislodging them. Raccoons and other animals are quite strong relative to their size.

What might be a simpler approach is to attach 2 x 4 wire fencing 24 inches wide along the bottom edge of the run fence, then add the rocks to hold it down. This will keep most any animal short of a bear from digging under.

Lining the fence with chicken wire on the inside will help prevent a predator from reaching through. It is not as good as hardware cloth, but I feel that it should do the trick. I did mine that way.

I think that life would be simpler, if you remove the rocks from the run and add 4 - 6 inches of sand. Sand drains well, is easy to rake, and the chickens will turn it and any poop over allowing decomposition to occur. What is best is that you can shovel the sand through the run fence without having to carry it inside. Just shovel it into the middle of the run and leave it. The chickens will spread it out by themselves.

I have strung colored nylon twine over my run to keep raptors out. I believe that they won't try to fly into the run if it appears that they cannot safely do so. The twine is spaced 6 inches apart. I am sure that there are many other solutions.

Chris

 

[miquwid]

these are all great solutions and I do agree about removing the rocks from the floor and putting something else down. Good luck and I can't wait to see pictures.

 

[Lorus6]

Ok, so the rocks ought to go. I can do that. After further reading in the Learning Center and these recommendations - I think the sand is a much easier to clean option.

I like the colored string better than covering the entire run for sure, as the pen is 30 feet wide and at least 70 feet long.

I will have to go look at hardware cloth. I did see several references to using it instead of chicken wire as I read in the Learning Center area.

As we searched our property some more, we also found an actual chicken coop. I thought it was a third Ostrich pen, but it is definitely a chicken coop. The run has been removed, but we might be able to join it to one of the Ostrich pens. It will need rocks removed and sand put down too. but the inside is more chicken sized instead of Ostrich sized!

Thank you so much for all of the advice!!

 

[Whittni]

That's awesome, good luck.