Tag Archives: chicken fencing

The New Chicken Coop Is Completed – Building Security For Our Chickens

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The new coop - a much larger and hopefully more secure home for our girls

The new coop – a much larger and hopefully more secure home for our girls

The new chicks are getting big! They are ready for their new home.

The new chicks are getting big! They are ready for their new home.

1/2" x 1/2" heavy gauge wire mesh covers each of the three windows. It is stapled and then backed with an additional nailed board.

1/2″ x 1/2″ heavy gauge wire mesh covers each of the three windows. It is stapled and then backed with an additional nailed board.

The coop was framed in 2 x4's - on top of a concrete block foundation secured with concrete and bolts

The coop was framed in 2 x4′s – on top of a concrete block foundation secured with concrete and bolts

The entire coop is covered in 1/2 strand board to keep out unwanted intruders

The entire coop is covered in 1/2 strand board to keep out unwanted intruders

A secured and covered run will be attached to the back - with 1/2" wire mesh used to secure the flooring and sides

A secured and covered run will be attached to the back – with 1/2″ wire mesh used to secure the flooring and sides

Finally!  The new coop is  complete. With just a few small finishing touches to make this week – it will be ready to house our chickens for years to come.  It’s just in time too – as our 18 little new chicks are more than ready to move out of the temporary pen in the garage!

We designed the new coop to mimic a traditional mid-western farm coop – and to match the barn.  We also kept with our re-use and re-purpose theme, utilizing recycled materials throughout.

Just like our barn – the lower sides are made from reclaimed barn metal roofing. The board and batten top siding are made from picket fence boards.  We were also able to re-use a lot of old fencing and wiring – and even the coop’s roof is reclaimed metal left over from a project.

We built the coop’s door to match the design of the barn – making it from simple 2 x 6 framing boards attached to a 1/2″ plywood back.  We curved the top 2 x 6 to mimic the big doors – and then filled in with picket boards to create the finished look.

The coop measures 12′ x 10′ – and 8′ high in front, sloping to 6′ 6″ at the rear. The added space will give lots of room for the girls – and even more for us when collecting eggs and cleaning it out!

If you follow along, you know that in the last 6 weeks, we’ve had some intruders into our old coop that unfortunately killed some of our older chickens.

It was a tough pill to swallow – especially since we’ve never had any problems in the two and a half years we’ve had them. We’re now almost positive the culprit was a mink.  So in addition to proofing the new coop for raccoons, coyotes and opossum – we used tightly spaced, heavy gauge wire mesh throughout to keep out mink and weasels.

Security For The New Coop:

A secure coop starts with a secure base – for ours we used a footer made from 18″ concrete blocks placed on a 6″ packed limestone base.  We then filled the blocks with concrete and embedded 1/2″ x 9″ bolts to attach and bolt through the 2 x 8″ foundation boards.

We built additional security into the floor – laying down a double layer of chicken wire along with a layer of wire mesh on top of the packed limestone floor.  We then secured it up and over the inside edge of the foundation and top sill board with heavy-duty staples.  We then added 3″ inches of packed limestone and 4″ of packed topsoil on top to create the finished floor.

Now – even if a raccoon, opossum or mink tries to tunnel under the 8″ concrete block and 6″ packed limestone base – they would still have to dig through the 3 layers of tight wire mesh and 4″ of packed earth to get into in the coop.

The shell of the coop is made from 2 x 4 studs – covered completely in 1/2″ strand board along with a breathable moisture barrier.

We made the door from some 2 x 6's, fence picket boards, and a 1/2" sheet of plywood

We made the door from 2 x 6′s, fence picket boards, and a 1/2″ sheet of plywood

We installed tight, heavy gauge 1/2 x 1/2 inch wire mesh in the windows on each side of the coop to provide for good air flow – and then added a final 3rd large mesh covered window over the top door for additional ventilation.  All three windows can then be covered with plexiglass frames for the winter.  The door is attached with 3 heavy-duty strap hinges and double slide bolts to prevent anything and everything from being able to pry it open.

We still have some work to complete this week. The entire run – including the floor – will be encased in 1/2″ x 1/2″ heavy gauge wire mesh to prevent intruders – and will give the girls access to the outdoors 24/7.  We’re also adding gutters and a rain collection system to the coop, and later this summer will attach two solar panels on the back to provide lights and a water warmer for winter.  Beyond that and applying a few coats of matching barn stain to the coop – the chicken coop project can be crossed off the list!

Hope everyone has a great Sunday! – Jim and Mary

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News From The Coop – The Hens are Happy!

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George stops for an early morning pose outside “The Coop”

Of all the things we do on the “farm” – the one that seems to receive the most attention from everyone are our chickens.

The chickens were the first ever true residents of the farm – heading out in the early Spring of 2011 at the tender age of 8 weeks to their newly built home we call “The Coop”.  We built The Coop on the cheap from recycled shipping crates and pallets.  We then added some protective measures like welded fence wire to the bottom to keep out raccoons – and cemented in fence wire to their attached outdoor fence run to keep the raccoons, coyote and other prey from digging under and getting to them.  We had heard so many horror stories from other friends and farmers who keep chickens – so we took a little extra care in securing the coop.  So far - we have been fortunate enough to keep all of ours accounted for.

One of our nine – Sherwin Williams

We have nine chickens (all hens) in all, led by Big Mamma – our 10 pound + hen who is to say the least a little “weight challenged”.  She happily shares “The Coop” with the other 8: Amelia, Comet, Curious George, Co-Pilot, Digger, Foghorn, Goldie and Sherwin Williams (named for her love of pecking at paint).

Amelia quickly found a way to “fly the coop” – climbing up on the flat roof and escaping to total freedom

The Chickens don’t have complete free range anymore thanks to some chicken wire – but they still have a large green space to roam and dust

Goldie finds a worm in the straw

The Girls in their laying boxes – the nine hens provide an average of 8 eggs a day for us

They produce on average about 8 to 9 eggs every single day.  We certainly don’t raise them as a revenue source – however the 5 to 6 dozen we get each week is more than enough to keep us in fresh farm eggs.  So we sell the extra’s for $2/dozen to an ever growing list of farm fresh egg lovers.  It’s been a win-win for us – as it covers all of our feed and straw costs – and there is usually enough money left over for a pizza or two.  It’s amazing how quick a simple posting on Facebook can clear out our holding fridge of extra eggs.

When we first started out at the farm – we gave the chickens the run of the place during the day.  However, as landscaping and the garden grew -so did their ability to destroy the mulch and beds.  So earlier this year, we opted to enclose a 250 foot area with temporary chicken wire fencing  that lets them roam during the day, and keeps our garden and landscape plants safe from their curiosity.  We move the fencing every 3 or 4 weeks to give them a new area to explore.  As the garden comes to a close later this summer – we will move the temporary fencing around it and let them go to town.  They do wonders with the garden area- consuming hundreds if not thousands of bugs, weeds and weed seeds – all the while leaving “natural” fertilizer behind to help improve the soil for next year.

We will be performing a little remodeling on “The Coop” in the coming months – all in the name of creating a match to the barn.  We will be adding a 30″ high corrugated knee wall to the coop, and a miniature version of one of our pergolas to their “back porch” area that will give them some extra shade -all done of course to match the barn :)

Chickens really are so very simple to keep and care for.  They require very little effort – and if you give them a safe home, water, feed and a little space to roam – they provide countless benefits to your home and garden.  Not even counting the incredible eggs they produce, they keep insect and bug populations at bay, and provide a great source of natural fertilizer for our garden and compost pile.

We plan on adding another 6 to 9 chicks to the flock next Spring – and hope in the coming years to keep our flock at right around 15 hens.  After raising them and having fresh eggs – I don’t think we can ever really imagine a time in our future that we won’t have chickens.

-Mary and Jim