Fortress coop ... in some ways

I have constructed this heavy duty chicken shed. It is still a "work-in-progress". The exterior is 90% done. I thought some would appreciate the sight. This thing was made for free using material lying about on the property excepting the 2.5 inch hex head bolts. The construction material is the extra heavy duty galvanized corrugated steel panel exterior fastened onto 1/2 inch OSB or plywood sheets that are attached with nails and screws onto 8 ft tall 4 inch diameter spun posts. These are a common fence post available at Home Depot. There are 8 posts .... 1 post in each corner and 1 more post half way between each corner post. The building is precisely 8 ft square. I cut three of the south side posts 1 foot shorter than the front north face posts and cut the middle posts 1/2 ft shorter. The roof slants to the south at a relatively modest angle. The posts are buried 2-3 ft into the dirt. We have a small chicken opening and an access door I can cover in the winter to keep it warmer. I have 3 photographs to show since 2 sides are identical. The place is not drafty but it is also not comfortably cool in the hot summer yet since it is not yet well insulated. It is more than adequate in the winter spring and fall. Right now the poultry seek out shade since it heats up like an oven in the mid-days to some extent depending on the outside temperatures. There are about 45 -60 days where they really move in and around the building to find shade ... since the chicken run is barren of any shade trees. I leave the water running for the ducks and they're all reasonably happy. They need only protection form predators like mink and not yet raccoon.

Here's a photo of the south facing side. The poultry access door is visible. This is the only side with the galvanized metal not quite finished. Cutting the metal is difficult and dangerous as heck. I have had cuts all over my hands as evidence. thick leather gloves are strongly advised when cutting this kind of corrugated galvanized sheet metal. I had to use an electric drill to create holes in the metal for the hex head lag screws. A ratchet with the appropriate bit to fit the hex head made for simple work but a bit time consuming. We aimed for the posts to ensure a stronger grip of the lag screws. Kelly in Moxee

Here's the 3rd side facing the east ... identical to the west facing side. My neighbors 75 ft tall Catalpa tree is dead center in the background. I have 2 Catalpa trees growing from seedlings in our yard. The one thing we do not have enough of here is shade. With 300 days of sunshine ... our weather patterns are much like Palm Springs, CA or Reno, NV just a bit cooler. Kelly in Moxee

what do you use for fencing around the chicken shed?

oneanjl,

I have 2 wire fences on the south side ..... in the 1st photo you can see the 4 ft welded wire fence to the south between the hen shed and our back yard. This was the original fence we put up 6 years ago. On the other 3 sides of the hen shed we used 6 ft or 5ft woven wire or welded wire held up by the same 8 ft tall 4 inch diameter spun posts that I used in the construction of the chicken shed frame. We dug post holes .... 2-3 ft deep. We used1/2 inch diameter by 5 ft tall fiberglass rods to hold up the 4 ft & 5ft welded wire to the south. The rods work OK but the vinyl ties wear out too quickly so I've been switching to aluminum ties. The 6 ft tall woven wire keeps out dogs, cats, coyotes, skunks and probably raccoons. Skunks dig under the fence and the cats and raccoons can follow. Wonderful news here .... the skunk population has taken a significant drop around our place (my trapping may be the cause) so the other animals have less to no impact due to fewer holes under the welded wire perimeter. We also have 2 additional weasel varieties (mink & stoat). Neither of them is deterred by the fences ... they can run thru it like its not there. The saving grace is my fenced chicken enclosure is about 225 ft from the weasel highway ... our stream. Only the hungriest mink travel that far to get food. My plan is to put a skirting of hardware cloth on the south side perimeter welded wire about 18 inches tall. We have a series of 2X6 rails buried directly below the south perimeter in the gravel driveway. There's really no digging under the 2X6's. So just having the lowest portion of our southern facing perimeter welded wire fence reinforced with the hardware cloth will eliminate dogs, coyotes, mink, skunk, stoat ... aka Least Weasel, raccoon, feral cats, rabbits and lastly ... gophers; who are our major gardening headache. The bad thing is our south side perimeter fence is more than 150ft long facing our gravel driveway. How much per foot does hardware cloth cost? ... the answer is way too much to do this now. My animals simply are at risk. I shut up the little ones in boxes at night now. I literally drive screws into side panels of these boxes to create entry proof boxes that I could only gain access to with a pry bar. They're safe. The big birds are roosting too high in the air for mink and my ducks are just gonna have to out run the mink. I've lost 2 ducks in 6 years inside the pasture. The 1st duck may have just wandered away when there were low spots along the north fence line. We started with 5 Swedish Blue ducks and have 3 of the originals. We have also have 1 Swedish Blue duckling recently hatched.

This message was edited Jul 30, 2008 11:41 AM

I think ducks would be fun.... just have to wait til I have more land in the country.... city doesnt allow them :o(

on the ground around the perimeter....you have hardware cloth? or?

I am asking because we are building our coop this weekend. only threat here are racoons, possum? skunk on a very rare occasion....and hawks.

we are planning 6 x 6 x6' high enclosure of chain link fencing and it will have chain link across the top to prevent hawks from getting them. enclosure will be movable...to help keep weeds down in the lower level of our back yard.
do you think we will need something 2' in on the ground ? do racoons, skunk possum dig?
cost isnt much of a concern...as we already had the fencing and most of the poles.... I could get some hardware cloth, but dont want to hassle if its not needed here.

oneanjl,

I think you need the smallest 1 inch chicken wire ... sewn into your cyclone fencing at the bottom ... lying flat on the ground. Think of the capitol letter " L " as a fence shape ... tall and extending out flat along the ground from the bottom by 1-2 feet. Raccoons can dig under a fence but the flat skirting on the ground would stop them. If you don't have weasels (think mink; etc) ... a side skirting would not be needed. Skunks, raccoons, badgers all dig. The fencing on top may be overkill. I doubt hawks will fly into a coop like yours. The size is likely too limited for raptors to be a threat. Howver, your reliable raccoon can climb over anything ... they'll not get in from the top with what you have planned for the enclosure.

Kelly in Moxee

cool coop

How does the ventilation work? It's hard to tell from the pictures.

it looks like there is a gap were the walls meet the roof

Josh, There's really no gaps ... perhaps a small slit. I have the 1/2 inch OSB & plywood screwed onto the top rail 2X4's that rests on 3 side posts. The top sheet metal piece closest to the side edge will be hammered down to cover what appears to be a gap. I hammered the other side already (photo that I didn't post). I even put lag screws into the hammered down lip to hold the metal in place. The side sheet metal pieces all extend higher than the the roof 2X4's. This boxy coop is likely more solid than any coop seen on this forum. I believe the only way to make a coop sturdier would be if it were made of cement or brick walls. The most remarkable thing is this building is basically scrap ... cost next to nothing.

The ventilation is limited to the two doors on the south facing side. Heat is the only real issue here regarding ventilation. We're in the middle of the heat wave ... the birds are outside in the limited shade. I could put a fan on the roof and suck out the heat in the summer evenings. Maybe when I get a bit more flush with extra cash. Kelly in Moxee

we are going to do a fan, as soon as DH figures out how to put it o n the roof. it works, it came out of an old trailer house furnace... FREE.

love that fortress idea, esp after today. shade is scarce here too...

so nothin aint gonna get into your coup kelly

My hen house area is NOT secure by any stretch of the imagination. The skunks can cause trouble by digging. sunks allow cats to get into the chicken run. Last winter and the long cold dry spring ... thinned out the skunks to a certain extent + my trapping and my neighbors son with his scoped .22 rifle. He hunts skunks for fun .... every other evening during the summer. The perimeter fence is reasonably good for all but Mink and the not yet seen raccoons. We're 200 ft from where the Mink roam except when they're terribly hungry. I just don't see any more trouble ahead. I have 16 guineas now .... 2X's more than I had a month ago. We're down to 3 adult ducks but have 2 viable eggs being incubated by a hen. Within 2 weeks we may have 5 ducks .... the same qty we started with .... 5 yrs ago. We've added a pair of Toulouse geese to our flock this year. All together ... things here are getting nicer. My Helmeted Guinea Fowl are more colorful since we've added a Buff Dundotte to the menagerie in the latest hatch. I lock them up at night in secure boxes ... kinda like the "bear boxes" for guests visiting Yosemite Park's Tuolumne Meadows Lodge ... and staying the night. Without the "bear boxes" in Yosemite Park; visitor's cars would get broken into .... every night by the wandering bear population. Even with the steel bear boxes that are along the parking lot area ... there is an occasional bear break-in.

My chicken coup is a fortress in how sturdy or solid it is. The fence perimeter keeps out everything but Mink. The Mink have been a problem for a few days each summer. I believe... I'll have my most southerly fence line reinforced with 18 inches of hardware cloth next spring. This fence is just 60 ft from the creek and runs adjacent to our driveway in front of the home and shop ..... about 175 ft total. The poultry are okay ... I'm far less worried about my flock than for most everyone else's birds. I'm lucky the hawks aren't hunting my flock. Still don't know why ... but it is likely due to the plenteous food supply chain.

is it possible to build a coop that keeps evrything out but the chickens still get there freedom

Josh,

NO !

Kelly

oh well it was just a thought

What gets in your coops, josh? Snakes, dogs, cats, dingos?

Myxomatous rabbits?

This message was edited Jul 20, 2008 3:40 AM

oh have you got Myxomatous over there as well i thought it was just us

foxes are my main problem they just dig under or climb over there is no stoping them they are rodents

Josh,

I find it tough to believe a fox can climb a 6 ft tall welded or woven wire fence. If your chicken run had the same fencing on the ground .... covered by a 5-6 inches of dirt .... I'd believe the fox would be incapable of getting into your chicken area. You could also theoretically just have a skirting of the same wire ....say 2 ft wide sewn into the perimeter fence line extending outward flat along the ground. That should be adequate to prevent fox from digging their way in and they would likely never even try to dig into the area much given the wire on the outside along the ground. They'd wear out their paws pretty darn fast. As long as chickens are surrounded by fencing ... I would not refer to their abode or living style .... as free range. FWIW .... that is ONLY my opinion. Lucky me ... we don't have foxes here. We do have coyotes and I confirmed again yesterday that we may have to deal with raccoons at some time in the not too distant future.... but today ... the coyotes in our community are just too too wary to try to dig their way inside our pasture.... and the chicken pasture area is too close to the house and us people. In my case I suspect another $200 on fence material will likely make our poultry significantly less of a potential meal for the mink. Kelly in Moxee

okay Kelly, I have a dumb newbie question....

What is FWIW?

AnjL

oneanjl,

acronym = For What Its Worth .................. duh ! There are hundreds of these new abbreviations .... LOL, ROFL ... etc.

Sorry ... I couldn't resist.

Kelly in Moxee

tee hee! my son got me on the IDK one....
I kept asking what it meant and he would say "I Dont Know" ....
we went back n forth, if you dont know...why did you say you knew...lol! anyhow, about five minutes later I finally caught on....sheesh! I must be getting older and slower! lol!

Hi josh--here is a nice site for fox and feral cat exclusion fence design--you have to open the PDF at the top. It seem the fence needs to be at least 5'11" (1.8 meters) with special care taken to prevent them using the posts to climb. But they have instruction for adding a curved top edge that works as well as electrification even at lower hights.

http://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/invasive/publications/cat-fox-fence.html

We do have myxomatosis here, especially along the Pacific coast--we have even been given a name for our own strain--the Californian strain. I am so proud!

Not really--it is a nasty disease--I guess there has been a drop in virulence in Australia? Do you see a lot of symptomatic rabbits?

well my old coup had a six foot fence and the fox got in there so i didnt bother with my new coup i just lock them up at night. Kelly u are perfectly fine to have your opion every one dose if people didnt have there opion i would not have as much knowlege as i hav no thanks to u guys


thanks for that link catscan

oh and kelly are coyotes and raccoons hard to keep out

Josh,

A raccoon can climb up and over the top of most any fence (unless it has an electrified wire barrier). It would keep them out. Coyotes don't having climbing ability. A 5-6 ft fence keeps them out fine as well as dogs.

I am surprised a fox can climb a 6 ft wire fence. The best suggestion I can make for you (given the wire fence climbing fox) is create a ceiling of woven wire fencing completely over the top of your chicken area and make the place impregnable from all 4 sides, the top and the floor. I most favor a 2 ft wide wire skirt around the fence vs a buried wire fence beneath the entire area to keep out the diggers.

Good luck.

Kelly in Moxee

This message was edited Jul 21, 2008 7:54 AM

we have thought about doing it but it is only at night that the foxes are the problem and at night they get locked in the coop which is off the ground so rats cant get in and it has big sturdy doors at the front so they go in there every night and i let them out every mourning

Josh,

If you're locking them up at night ... that is enough. Seems like fox there behave like the coyotes here (except for fence climbing). I could lock up the poultry at night here in the hen house (a wire skirting +1 more door) with a modest amount of construction. Until I see evidence of raccoons moving in the direction of the hen house ... I'm not gonna worry about the poultry flock or take any action. We've had no poultry deaths since I began locking up the 0-2 month old poultry with their mothers inside portable nest boxes that are placed in spots around the yard. The bigger birds are up off the ground 4-12 ft and safe .... or so it seems. I'm down to just 2 duck eggs being incubated by a duck ... one more week. Last year during the cold months ..... October thru March we lost 1 Game Fowl bird a month to cats. The survivors moved from the trees to the rafters of a shed ....12 ft off the ground and now they're out of reach of predators..

Kelly in Moxee

Could you use styrofoam panels inside to insulate from the heat? I saw some very inexpensive wall or window fans ($12-29) at Bed, Bath & Beyond that might somehow be incorporated. I don't know anything about poultry security, just found your post interesting. I love reading about the ways people problem solve on DG.

Pamgarden,

I used to live in Charlottesville ... like 35 yrs ago ... visited Monticello a few times. I also lived in Staunton ... loved Augusta County ... the old Staunton Military Academy ... used to hear Taps at 9 pm every night ... lived in a home right across the street from the school. I really really like the NE corner of NC .... Currituck, Hyde, Dare, Pasquotank, Camden Counties. Loved the Great Dismal Swamp with all the critters.

Styrofoam panels are a terrfic commodity. I use them to ship equipment inside crates as padding for my business.

For insulating purposes ... they are great too. In a Chicken Coop .... the styrofoam would HAVE TO be covered by another board ... like Abitto board or OSB or plywood. Chickens love to eat styrofoam ... so do guineas. Exposed styrofoam would disappear fairly quickly over time due to being picked at by the poultry.

Kelly in Moxee

we have styrofoam board on the ceiling. i told DH to cover it, but he said they wouldn't know it was styrofoam [they can only reach it when roosting at night] because of the silve paper covering.... so far he is right...

TF,

They'll peck at it. As soon as they get 1 kernel of styrofoam from your ceiling ... its like a dam breaking. Kelly in Moxee

like i said , so far.... he is FAR too busy to keep an eye on a dam about to burst LOL...

Kelly foxes arent gona get in my coop it is made of very slid wood foxes are no were near strong enogh to do damage i cant even get in if it was locked

Kelly, I'm fairly new to this area about half way between C'ville and Waynesboro. I've been to Staunton. It may not have changed too much in the 35 years since you saw it, at least the downtown area. It reminds me of the hometowns of movies from the early 60's. I had to laugh about the chickens pecking the styrofoam. I know they are very curious and persistent. TamaraFaye, you made me laugh too...DH FAR too busy to notice a dam about the burst. Sounds like most DH's to me.

Pamgarden, You're in gardening heaven (and bug hell). I think you may be out toward Louisa County perhaps or DuPont or Scottsville on the James River? I liked the area you're residing. I actually attended church in Waynesboro. Staunton ... you hit the nail on the head. Don't you just love Mary Baldwin College ... the campus? ... so quaint and the town looks so retro as if it was designed in the 1950's. I was up in Dayton and Harrisonburg too. I loved the really old buildings at James Madison University campus made of locally quarried stone. Last week I was showing my daughter photographs (on the www) of JMU library and admin buildings ... the distinctive stone facings and columns are priceless. Kelly in Moxee

thanks Pam, at least he is on top of MOST of his projects LOL... i would LOVE to live where you are. i want to farm like Salantin does, but it will take a long time to clear the fire hazards of yuucca mesquite and lowlying bermuda in order to have true prairie grass. i have one patch of it so far...

tamara how ong do u reckon it will take to get your goal??







josh

3-6 years? depends mostly on DH, and a ton of circumstances totally out of our control...

Kelly, So this is bug hell? OMG, I thought I got away from that when I left Orlando, FL. But you are right, there are a lot here, different varieties. I need some chickens or guinea hens to help. We have wood and deer ticks and more beetles than I knew existed. I reached in to pull some yellowing leaves off a morning glory the other day and got stung by something. It didn't feel like a bee sting. I'm a suburban girl. Foxes, cayotes, and deer were not a regular part of my gardening previously. I'm getting used to it.

TamaraFaye, isn't it funny how we think we'd like to live somewhere other than where we are? My sister moved to Oregon. It was one of my dream places because of the gardening opportunities. I've not been there, but have been to Washington and California, both of which I loved. I haven't been to Texas, other than the Dallas Airport, but I think of it as being somewhat like FL in soil conditions, but your 6B sounds more like Austin area.