Why no suspended chicken houses?

[mjastram]

Hi all, we're getting back into chickens after a few years in the bad kind of suburbia (thank goodness!) and we're bouncing around ideas for the coop and pasture. I've got a question that I can't seem to get through myself, and you folks seem like the ones to ask:

Why doesn't anyone hang their chicken coop from a tree? With a solid floor, plenty of roosts inside, a (removable) ramp for them to walk up, and an anchor wire to prevent spinning...it seems like it should work really nicely and prevent digging predators from getting to the sleeping birds. Am I missing something?

Thanks in advance for helping a rookie!

 

[scooter147]

The first thing that popped into my mind was how are you going to collect the eggs, clean etc. Even if it on some type of pulley system that allows it to be lifted and lowered its just more of a pain than its worth.

Simply lift into a tree and removing the ramp will not stop predators such as raccoon, possums, owls etc.

Simple build your coop a couple feet off the ground.

 

[MeepBeep]

The swinging around in the wind will disrupt their sleep pattern and lower egg production likely quite a bit, for one... I doubt guide wires would be all that effective at stopping it from rocking and swaying...

Also I have to wonder if one is overthinking the digging predator issue, digging predator protection is not overly complicated, a solid floor in the coop is pretty much all that is needed... As stated above many of the chickens predators are very decent climbers so hanging is not going to deter them...

 

[mjastram]

Ahh gotcha. Yep swinging around seems like a real issue. Not sure our opossums are athletic enough to zipline down a wire but they're generally smarter than me Anyway I was only curious about the idea because if it was at all effective, it seems like you wouldn't need to open and close the door like a typical coop. Might try it at some point but I don't think we'll put all our eggs in one hanging basket...

 

[MeepBeep]

Not sure our opossums are athletic enough to zipline down a wire but they're generally smarter than me

Regardless of their appearance opossums are incredible climbers... I have personally witnessed them high wire walking along the wires from telephone pole to telephone pole just like a squirrel does...

 

[enola]

A wire skirt is all that is needed to keep predators from digging under the chicken house.

 

[mjastram]

The swinging around in the wind will disrupt their sleep pattern and lower egg production likely quite a bit, for one... I doubt guide wires would be all that effective at stopping it from rocking and swaying...

Ah so what's your thought, basically any unusual stress will mess with their physiology? Have you ever heard of it happening? I guess people used to keep chickens aboard ship in the days of yore

 

[birds4kids]

A hanging coop would be a LOT harder to structure and hang and accomplish nothing a solid floor in a ground based coop with a solid bottom will for vastly less effort.

 

[TalkALittle]

The swinging around in the wind will disrupt their sleep pattern and lower egg production likely quite a bit, for one... I doubt guide wires would be all that effective at stopping it from rocking and swaying...

I've known chickens that were never coop trained and roosted in scrubby trees all night long, swaying in the breeze and even being whipped by winds during storms. They fluttered out of the scrub every morning without looking too stressed and layed pretty regular in the doghouse they adopted as a nest box.

I'm not saying that a hanging coop is the most practical idea, but a hanging coop that provides safe shelter and is well tethered to prevent drastic swaying and swinging would probably be pretty well tolerated by most chickens.

 

[enola]

It sure would be hard to herd stubborn chickens into a suspended coop. But, if you build it, we really want to see pictures.