Posts tagged with ‘Predators’

 

 

Make It Your Own: Colin and Faye’s Australian Garden Coop

Saturday, February 4th, 2012

Colin and Faye in Mirboo North, Australia, used The Garden Coop chicken coop plans to build this backyard chook house.

Colin and Faye sent in this inspiring story along with pictures of their beautiful, rustic Garden Coop build and tips for other chicken coop builders in Australia. The rest of this post comes from them. . . .

Our Garden Coop build

We have finished our chicken coop and our six eight-week-old chickens took up residence last Saturday. Thank you for such easy-to-understand plans. For my husband Colin and I, this was our first venture in building anything, and we are very pleased with the outcome.

Giving the chicken coop a rustic Australian look

Corrugated metal siding on chicken coopWe used corrugated iron on the left and back walls of the hen house. We had it left over from making some garden beds, and along with the second-hand fence palings on the other two walls, it makes our coop very rustic and Australian looking.

We put the ladder on the side wall and added a door so that our chickens are safely locked away from the many foxes around here at night.

Some tips for fellow Australian coop builders

Inside view of Australian Garden Coop chicken coop

  • With the timber, the 90 x 38 mm boards converted to 90 x 35 mm available here. That may be helpful for others here in Australia to keep in mind. Other measurements in the plans were just right.
  • We were able to get the SunTuf polycarbonate roofing here as well.
  • At first I could not work out what “hardware cloth” was, but then realized it was wire mesh. The size of the wire mesh is the same here in Australia.
  • It was not hard to work out equivalents or substitutes, so thank you for the metric conversion.

A great DIY project, at any age

Attractive chook pen chicken house in Australia from chicken coop plansThis has been a terrific project for us, we are in our early sixties. I have learnt so many new skills, and I am so proud of my husband who has Parkinson’s disease, with what he was able to accomplish.

Now we have the pleasure of watching our chickens, which is so relaxing, and look forward to when they start to lay!

—Faye and Colin, Mirboo North, Australia

Thanks to Faye and Colin for sharing their story, tips, and coop pictures! Like what they’ve done? Leave a quick comment to let us know. And feel free to subscribe to Coop Thoughts to get first notice of the latest posts by email. It’s free, ad-free, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Tags: Australia, Hardware Cloth, Materials, Metric, Predators, The Garden Coop
Posted in Coop Aesthetics, Make It Your Own | 2 Comments »

Make It Your Own: Cindy’s “Hen Hilton,” Southern Rhode Island

Monday, December 26th, 2011

Garden Coop chicken coop decorated for Christmas

Cindy in Rhode Island sent us this picture of her Garden Coop build, all decked out for the holidays. The rest of this post comes directly from her: (more…)

Tags: Hardware Cloth, Henhouse, Location, Predators, Seasons, The Garden Coop
Posted in Make It Your Own | 4 Comments »

Make It Your Own: Joy’s Maryland Garden Coop

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011

Joy built this backyard coop herself following chicken coop plans from TheGardenCoop.com

Joy used The Garden Coop plans to build a backyard chicken coop at her Maryland home. She adapted the design by moving the henhouse to the right, moving the ladder entry to the side of the henhouse, adding insulated external nest boxes, and using foam closure strips with the polycarbonate roofing panels (these strips also come in wood). Below are a few of the pictures Joy sent in, along with her notes on how the construction went. The rest of this post comes from her. . . (more…)

Tags: Nest Boxes, Predators, The Garden Coop, Winter
Posted in Make It Your Own | 1 Comment »

Winter Chicken Coop Care, Part 3: Outfit your chicken coop for the winter.

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

This is the third in a four-part series on getting your chickens and coop ready for the winter.

Now we turn to the coop itself. In mild climates, chickens need only basic protection from the elements year round. If your coop keeps your hens dry and away from drafts, chances are you don’t need to make any special changes to it for the winter. If you expect temperatures to dip below freezing for a sustained time, you may want to take some added precautions to winterize your chicken coop: (more…)

Tags: Location, Materials, Predators, Seasons, Solar, Winter
Posted in Health and Safety | 2 Comments »

Urban foxes in Melbourne, Australia (and how to protect your chickens)

Thursday, April 29th, 2010

Apparently, people, there is a growing problem with urban foxes in the major cities of Australia. I learned about this from a customer who wrote for ways to keep his flock secure from these foxes in a mobile chicken coop like The Garden Ark.

To hear what I proposed pertaining to predator proofing his portable poultry pen, please press play. . .

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

(runs 4:18)

Or read on. . .

(more…)

Tags: Audio, Australia, Foxes, Hardware Cloth, Predators, The Garden Ark, The Garden Coop
Posted in Coop Construction, Coop Thoughts Audio, Health and Safety | 1 Comment »

Guest article at The Urban Garden Project

Thursday, March 18th, 2010

I’ve got a guest article up at The Urban Garden Project offering seven tips for building a garden-friendly backyard chicken coop. Check it out, then click around The Urban Garden Project site for more tips on backyard gardening, square foot gardening, chickens, and more.

Thanks, Ben, for inviting me to post!

Tags: Cleaning, Fencing, Guest Post, Materials, Mobility, Neighbors, Pests, Predators, The Urban Garden Project, TimberPro UV, Wood
Posted in Coop Construction, Gardening | No Comments »

Make It Your Own: Mike and Dara’s Garden Coop

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

Portland Chicken Coop Family Portrait

I got a nice message the other day from Mike and Dara P. of Portland who built their backyard chicken coop using The Garden Coop plans.

Their coop works beautifully in their city backyard and fits well into their neighborhood. It also makes a great backdrop for their family holiday card!

In the note they sent, they shared tips from their experience building The Garden Coop as well as some of the ways that they customized the design to work for their situation. Here are some excerpts:

(more…)

Tags: Cleaning, Hardware Cloth, Neighbors, Portland, Predators, Seasons, The Garden Coop
Posted in Coop Construction, Coop Plans, Make It Your Own | 2 Comments »

Will hardware cloth rust if I bury it?

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

Because pests and predators will often try to tunnel under a barrier to get to the chicken goodness on the other side, some coop designs, including The Garden Coop, call for burying the hardware cloth down about a foot or more on all sides. You might think the wire would rust faster down there because of the moisture, yet because it’s exposed to less oxygen in the ground, it actually tends to last even longer. I’ve read of hardware cloth being unearthed intact after 30 years in the ground. So this shouldn’t be a concern.

Tags: Hardware Cloth, Pests, Predators, The Garden Coop
Posted in Coop Construction | 1 Comment »

What’s the best kind of chicken wire and fencing?

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

Fencing of some kind is essential around your coop and/or chicken yard to keep your chickens in and to keep pests and predators out. Pests (mice, rats, snakes, etc.) want your chickens’ dinner. Predators (dogs, raccoons, foxes, hawks, etc.) want your chickens for dinner. There are a several kinds of wire and fencing, and I’ll talk about a handful of them here:

Galvanized hardware cloth. This is the best material for enclosing a chicken coop or enclosed run. In particular, you want 1/2″ galvanized hardware cloth (usually 19 gauge). Smaller openings could be too brittle, and larger openings will not deter against rats or snakes. Hardware cloth comes in 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-foot rolls—with 3′ and 4′ being the most common—and in roll lengths anywhere from 5, 25, 50 to 100 feet. The mesh is made by weaving or welding steel wires together, then hot-dipping it in zinc (galvanizing it) to protect it from rust. It’s a stiff product, but you can bend it by hand, cut it fairly easily with a pair of wire snips, and attach it to your frame or posts with 3/4″ galvanized poultry fencing staples (Avoid using staples from a staple gun. They can rust easily, and if/when they slip out, they will get pecked at.) Once bent into shape, hardware cloth holds its shape well.

Chicken wire. Maybe because of its name, this is what most people think to use first on their coops. It’s made of thin wire woven together to create hexagonal openings. It’s relatively cheap but rusts quickly. And while it will keep your chickens in, it won’t keep the raccoons out. . . . (more…)

Tags: Fencing, Hardware Cloth, Pests, Predators
Posted in Coop Construction, Health and Safety | 9 Comments »