Chicken Coop

I'm ready to move forward on my chicken coop and chicken yard. Right now I have a large fenced section but the fence is only 4 feet high or so. Is that going to be high enough to keep the chickens in?

For the coop, I'm thinking to purchase plans for a large playhouse or garden shed or some kind of cutesy small outdoor building and then modify the inside to make it into a coop. What things would I need to do to modify it? Should it be off the ground or how does one keep rats out? I hear they are relentless in their efforts to get inside.

Since one would be able to walk inside, is it still a good idea to be able to collect the eggs from outside as well?

Will I be able to have any vegetation at all in that area? Will chickens leave large shrubs alone? How about small ones? My plan is to get the area ready this summer and fall and then get the chickens next spring when they go on sale.

Any and all advice welcome.

Thanks!
Gwen

I find the chickens like to taste test just about everything and the ducks are right behind them. My roses , my hostas, my tomatoes and forget about my hot peppers...lol, it's just one big buffet to them.

Everyone has a different idea of what a coop and chicken yard should be and what works for everyone else may not work for you. Something that can be secured tightly to lock up the flock safely, draft free in the winter, but have the potential for cross ventilation for hot days along with something that is easily accessible for you are probably the most important things.
There are also a TON of other things that make it all much more convenient and or practical, it just depends on how much you want/can afford to spend and how much time you want to invest into it.

There are tons of pics and links out there for great coop ideas and tractors as well I'm sure you'll find something that you like, and probably change your mind a few times along the way...lol. Some of those little shed kits they sell at Home Depot can be easily made into a coop.

Good luck and have fun !!!

~Julie

Agreed! And there are lots of plans online that you can get.

I have a 6' fence that some of my more determined and younger girls hop over.One or two a season do it, so 4' is probably not going to cut it, but you could ( and probably should) put fencing over the top, too, so nothing gets in from above.

do you have lots of rats in the area? ( Knock on wood) we don't have them around here, but we do have a naughty chipmunk who would like to move right in, and my mother had a woodchuck who did move in one time and had to be relocated.

I LOVE LOVE my current coop ( it is new). It is 8 x 12 and nice and big for my 27 chickens. If you are going to build one from scratch, I suggest doing what we did. We made a roosting area up off the ground. Under it is a horizontal panel of chicken wire, which allows the chicken poop ( they poop a lot at night) to pass through onto a tray which is covered in shavings. Outside of the coop, the tray opens up and we can easily scrape the mess out right into a wheelbarrow. I can't tell you how much cleaner the coop is due to this.

Make it tall enough to stand in, if you, like me , want to hang out in there.

Our coop is on sloping land, so one half of it is on stilts and the other half sits on the ground. I have fenced along the outside of the coop, so the chickens can sit under the coop and dustbathe in the summer. they love it.

I agree, chickens will try out most anything to eat. I have a nice big fenced in yard for them and about half of it is still grass. They have eaten the other half of the grass. If you have a garden and plan to let them roam around the yard, you will want to fence it.

You can collect eggs any way you wish.

Chickens are messy. I feed layer pellets instead of layer mash because I find they seem to waste less and if it falls onto the ground, they still see it and will eat it. THis cuts down on spoilage and waste, and is less attractive to the rodents. I also keep my feed in covered metal trashcans, and have not had too much of a problem. I will post a couple of pictures of my coop for you. The sky is the limit! Have fun!

Here's our coop from the outside. The wings on the sides are the roosting areas I mentioned.

This is what the wing looks like from the inside. Up top are the roosting areas and down below the poop collecting shelf are the nest boxes

I want mine big enough to go inside, stand up, walk around, clean, etc. Definitely.

Outside, I don't want to put anything overhead. Do the full grown chickens have overhead predators or just the babies? I should mention that the property is surrounded by 6 foot fencing. The area where I'm putting the chicken yard has the 6 feet on one side and then the shorter 4 feet on three sides. So if the chickens 'get out,' they're getting out into our yard. Possibly the fact we have dogs waiting with open mouths will deter them. Or not? Are chickens afraid of dogs? (They should be. )

Yes, we have rats. Or I should say had. When we first moved here, I put out a bird feeder and learned the hard way that rats are attracted to the seed that falls on the ground from feeders. So no more bird feeders. Then we had a rat under the house that we trapped and got rid of. And fixed it so nothing could get under the house anymore. We haven't seen anymore since then but I've been told that if we get chickens, the rats will come. So I want to make sure they can't get inside the coop. I guess they go after the eggs, not the chickens.

From the photos, it looks like your nest boxes are on the ground? Is that right? For some reason, I've only seen them raised up higher so I thought they had to be. Not so?

Thanks for the info and pics. Very helpful!

Gwen

If you have a dirt floor you will definitely have rats/varmints in there, although they can chew through the wood to get in as well.

I have my coop raised up (it's basically a little barn shed style bolted on an old trailer bed) the chickens like to go under the coop to shade and dust bathe during the hottest part of the day. It's about 18" off the ground. I would think if you used the 1/2" wire mesh over your windows/vents and other places you think might be critter accessible it will help you a lot.

Eagles and hawks will come take a full grown chicken and be gone before you know whats happened....leaving a pile of feathers behind. Once they get a meal they will be back. I used 6 ft fencing only because I wanted to be able to walk around inside the pen area to clean, visit etc... A sturdy wire covering over the pen area is best, but many ppl use netting etc...

Julie

I was thinking about have a cement slab put in under the coop itself. Or to put it off the ground as you suggested.

Nobody around here puts an overhead netting or covering. I wonder why. I'll have to ask around.

Gwen

Awesome questions Gwen and great answers everyone. Thanks I am learning alot.

I was curious about the nest boxes being on the ground. All that I have seen have been off the ground.

BYH, the poop catcher is a great idea. Anything to make it easier to clean and keep clean I am all for.

OH by the time I get mine going you all will have answered all my questions.

Yeah, I learned afterwards that they are supposed to be off the ground, but it doesn't seem to bother my gals any. Actually, they most prefer to lay in an old apple box that they have to hop into, or they all fight over the same nest box. So, you could put the nest boxes up farther is you want. Whatever works :)


Around here, we only have red tailed hawks that can take bantams. There isn't any other predator that can take a full grown standard hen from the air, but I know in other areas there are. Maybe you could call the Audubon Society and ask them?

Julie, my hens love the dust bathe under the coop. It also provides extra cover from those airborne predators. It's just a pain if someone lays an egg under there! Lol!

Love the roosting area...now have to figure out how to incorporate one into the coop I'm building now.

We were letting ours free range during the day, but recently lost 2 hens to hawks or coons or possums. When I finish the coop today, I'm putting up a 6' high chickenwire fence and doing the top too, for a yard that they will be able to get to from inside the coop. Hopefully, that will take care of preditor problems.

On the other hand, I may kill a couple myself for destroying a large beautiful Hosta yesterday while I was building the new coop! LOL