*waves hi* Need some advice. Just getting started. :)

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:welcome

Hi Dahn, I agree with @Callender Girl...you might not be seeing predators but they are out there even in the city.

While it might not be an inexpensive solution, maybe a dog kennel would work for a couple chickens...something like that would be easy enough to cover. And you could bury a "skirt" around the bottom to deter digging predators. Maybe you could even find a used one through CraigsList? For example:
Screen Shot 2022-08-02 at 1.35.42 PM.png


However you proceed, best of luck!
 
Hello Dahn, and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.
I'd go with @Callender Girl's advice. I do things very differently but I have taught myself to build and have all the tools I need at my disposal and no toddler to chase around.
If the coop survives the winter, you might want to consider upgrading to something sturdier and better suited to snow.
 
Welcome to BYC! :frow

Depending on the number of chickens you are planning to keep, that coop may be too small. This is the minimum of space you should provide for your chickens. Remember, the more space, the better.

  • 4 square feet in the coop, (0.37 square meters)
  • 10 square feet in run, (0.93 square meters)
  • 1 linear foot of roosting space, (30 centimetres)
  • 1 nest box for every 4 to 5 birds
  • 1 square foot, (0.09 square meters) of permanent ventilation, which is best located above your chickens when they are perched on their roost.

Best of luck starting off your chicken keeping journey.
 
Callender Girl said:
Congratulations on finally getting your lifelong chicken dream! I bet your daughter will be thrilled.

It looks to me like your coop already maybe has hardware cloth, and I am totally on board with keeping your girls inside at night. I have limited carpentry skills myself and have to admit to having "temporary" runs on two of my coops -- one of them for several years.

These are by no means sturdy or predator-proof, they're just enough to keep the chickens contained when I let them out of the coops in the morning and before I left them loose for the day. I just take metal fence posts from Menards, pound them into the ground with a cheap mallet, zip-tie wire garden fencing to the posts and attach the netting I use to keep birds off my fruit trees, again with zip ties.

Again, these are certainly far from a "best practices" solution. But it's something just about anyone can do to give their chickens a little more space. BTW, none of my birds is EVER loose or in the runs unless I am home -- even those chickens who have actual sturdy runs stay indoors; I KNOW I have predators here.

Also, you may not be seeing predators, but increasing numbers of wild things are moving into city settings where it's easy to find meals. I had no idea minks live around here -- until one committed a massacre at one of my coops.

Welcome to BYC, Dahn! Let us know how things are going!
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Thank you!! I'm still on the fence (ha!) about how to do the run. I've gotten a lot of great advice here so I'm going to mull it over and figure out the best solution.

I will definitely share my progress! I'm excited to be here. Everyone is so nice and helpful. :)

Dahn
 

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