chicken coop plans

[Doug MacIVER]

It’s about more than just entertainment, bored birds are more likely to fight.

Ah, I get it. Thank you doctor, I feel much better about this? Thanks for the chuckle

 

[begreen]

I like the idea of portability and poultry tractors, but out here the chickens need to be protected from the eagles and hawks. A friend uses old big, satellite dishes for protecting them and filtering hot sunlight.

 

[mellow]

Portability is the key, I move mine once a week and really they should be moved more often I just don't have the time, those boogers wreck havoc on my grass. Thank goodness I have a good size backyard and by the time I have cycled them to all the spots grass is growing again in the first spot.

 

[Ashful]

Portability is the key, I move mine once a week and really they should be moved more often I just don't have the time, those boogers wreck havoc on my grass. Thank goodness I have a good size backyard and by the time I have cycled them to all the spots grass is growing again in the first spot.

I went permanent with mine, and I’m kind of regretting it for a few reasons I won’t bore you with. But I’m wondering, those if you with a portable rig, is that their year-round home? What happens when you get 3 feet of snow in a single day? Hurricanes? Predators? We have to consider all of these factors where I live, they aren’t frequent, but each will occur a few times over the life of a coop.

 

[mellow]

I had them in a really large dog pen that came with the house we bought, kept them in that for the 1st year and they really trashed the ground so we looked into making them mobile. My setup is far from perfect but my chickens don't run around due to neighbors so I had to design something big enough for 6 chickens to live in. I am going though wheel designs, they keep breaking so I need to beef up my structure they attach to.

Something like this:

 

[mellow]

This butts up to one end of that triagle coop, gives the chickens cover and a place to roost. We cut a hole that the front with the door opens up to and they can pass through. The issue is it is a pain in the butt to move, trying to figure out a better way to move it with the other coop.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/innovation-pet-chicken-homestead-coop-222-87?cm_vc=-10005

 

[Ashful]

I think I’d want cage wire across the bottom of any portable run, to keep varment out at night, if I go portable. That won’t help with their scratching, or the grass, though.

The issue I foresee is that I have an automatic door operated by photo-eye. It opens at dawn and closes at dusk. I anticipate something digging under the side of the tractor run overnight, and waiting for fresh chicken when that coop door opens at dawn. I’m rarely around when it opens at dawn, either already at work in the winter, or just rolling out of bed in the summer.

 

[mellow]

I have plenty of foxes in my area, not had any issues with them. I did have a bald eagle that was checking them out one day but gave up and haven't seen him back. Have you seen evidence of them trying to dig under?

 

[Ashful]

I have plenty of foxes in my area, not had any issues with them. I did have a bald eagle that was checking them out one day but gave up and haven't seen him back. Have you seen evidence of them trying to dig under?

Yes, but so far only small critters, which are probably foraging for chicken food... not chickens. The only predator to which I’ve actually lost chickens was a hawk, when I had them out free-ranging once last year.

 

[jeanw]

Yes, but so far only small critters, which are probably foraging for chicken food... not chickens. The only predator to which I’ve actually lost chickens was a hawk, when I had them out free-ranging once last year.

ah small critters can be weasel, minks, skunks etc they will kill your ladies. Yall need hdwe cloth not cheap butt poultry wire at least 3 ft up round and buried around permimeter.. too...
a covered"run" or at least 1 inch poultry wire overhead I unfort did 2 inch pw and blankey blank small birds got in and stole their feed.
. Ah guys, have a heart ... let them out once in a while. even if just 1/2 before they roost. and stay outside with them. the chickens will be so happy. remember yall we are what we consume.
Chickens are NOT vegeterians.

 

[mellow]

Funny this came up, the wife sent me this link yesterday about putting the chickens on a zip line in the back yard.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F7Z7WRW/?tag=hearthamazon-20

 

[Ashful]

Funny this came up, the wife sent me this link yesterday about putting the chickens on a zip line in the back yard.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07F7Z7WRW/?tag=hearthamazon-20

When I first read this, the image in my mind was the outdoor adventures places, like ski resorts that set up high speed zip lines for some summer revenue. Just imagine my mental picture.


I can’t see this working well, though. Chickens have rocks for brains, they’ll be perpetually tangled with their flock mates.

 

[mellow]

The kids saw those harnesses and offered to take them for walks. Of course the catch is they want to be paid for doing it. My thought is pay them with electronics time and it's a win win, get them outside and the birds get out of the coop.

 

[Swamp_Yankee]

Woods Fresh Air Poultry House Public Domain Plans:

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924003138272&view=1up&seq=7

Basically a little over 100 years ago a guy began examining how folks constructed chicken coops all over the eastern seaboard back to Colonial times and found the attributes that allowed chickens to thrive in everything from harsh Maine winters to brutal Georgia summers. The woods coop is open to the south with windows on the east and west walls but totally closed on the north side. I will be constructing a 10' x 16' version on the foundation of an old sheep barn on our property with an attached 10' x 20' enclosed run. We are crawling with foxes, coyotes, and raccoons out here so I'll be using heavy wire cloth extensively on windows, etc... Basically the south facing windows on the bottom are just screened openings with closeable windows only on the top and sides. It seems counter-intuitive at first, but the combination of solar gain from the south facing windows and fresh air combats frostbite in the winter and overheating in the summer.

 

[mellow]

My next build will be something like this, only taller.

http://www.farmagain.com/fabrication.html

 

[ben94122]

I just finished building this, now I have to enclose the run. The guys who did our pavers overbought and left 5 pallets of pavers in the yard...this plus the electric fence should keep the bears out for a little while.

 

[SpaceBus]

View attachment 244980
I just finished building this, now I have to enclose the run. The guys who did our pavers overbought and left 5 pallets of pavers in the yard...this plus the electric fence should keep the bears out for a little while.

Are you a mason? I wish someone would leave several tons of pavers at my house!

 

[SpaceBus]

Is there a fear of predators during the day? Can someone explain why the chickens are kept in essentially a cage? Most folks around here let them roam in a much larger environment and put them inside the caged area only at night.

 

[mellow]

I keep mine in a pen due to neighbors, not predators. I had let them out and they went in the neighbors yard and started eating from their grape vines. No matter how much I explain to them the concept of staying in the yard they do not listen.

 

[SpaceBus]

I keep mine in a pen due to neighbors, not predators. I had let them out and they went in the neighbors yard and started eating from their grape vines. No matter how much I explain to them the concept of staying in the yard they do not listen.

Yeah, I suppose neighbors would make it a necessity

 

[Ashful]

Is there a fear of predators during the day? Can someone explain why the chickens are kept in essentially a cage? Most folks around here let them roam in a much larger environment and put them inside the caged area only at night.

I let mine out once last year, and a hawk got one of them within 15 minutes. Back in the cage they went.

 

[SpaceBus]

I let mine out once last year, and a hawk got one of them within 15 minutes. Back in the cage they went.

That's a big hawk. I see bald eagles every day here, but I think they prefer fish.

 

[AlbergSteve]

That's a big hawk. I see bald eagles every day here, but I think they prefer fish.

Eagles love chicken. Lost three to eagles last year and one last week. The wife caught an eagle in the grisly act last year and he did not scare easily or leave willingly.

 

[SpaceBus]

Eagles love chicken. Lost three to eagles last year and one last week. The wife caught an eagle in the grisly act last year and he did not scare easily or leave willingly.

My wife scared away a juvenile watching us when we first moved in. I worry about my 20 year old Chihuahua getting snatched by an osprey, red tail, or bald eagle around here. The eagles stay year round as well. I don't let her get too far from me. Some friends of ours keep losing doves that they let fly around all day. Apparently the doves just replenish the flock on their own.

 

[Ashful]

That's a big hawk. I see bald eagles every day here, but I think they prefer fish.

Nah, the chicken was about 3x the size of the hawk, but that didn’t stop him! Big gentle giant of a chicken, light Brahma, RIP.