In this ninth installment of the Krewe of Coops, we showcase six examples of coops built using The Garden Coop backyard chicken coop plans. Enjoy! (more…)
Posts tagged with ‘Predators’
“Krewe of Coops” Virtual Chicken Coop Tour No. 9 — Six Delightful Garden Coops
Sunday, October 14th, 2018Make It Your Own: Rebecca’s Basic Coop and Run
Tuesday, September 30th, 2014
Rebecca from just outside Philadelphia sent in a couple pictures of her new Basic Coop stand-alone chicken coop and attached run. I’m impressed by the height modification she made, her choice of siding and color, and the way she thought through the whole process to build a coop that would suit her needs. What’s even more impressive is that this is one of her first-ever building projects. The rest of the post comes directly from her. . . (more…)
How to predator proof the open floor of The Garden Ark mobile chicken coop
Monday, August 4th, 2014
I’ve been working for some time on a solution to predator-proof the open floor of The Garden Ark mobile chicken tractor. The challenge has been finding a way to secure the floor without closing it off completely or permanently. After all, you need the open floor for mobility, cleaning, and access to grazing. After much trial, I finally came up with an elegant solution (essentially a version of one of these turned upside down) then put it to the test. It works perfectly, and now I’m excited to share it. (more…)
Make It Your Own: Karen’s Maine Garden Ark
Tuesday, May 7th, 2013
Karen and her family in Maine used our chicken coop plans to put together this Garden Ark for their backyard flock. She made a few modifications to suit her needs — using wider lumber for the skids, adding handles, and securing the bottom for complete predator protection. (more…)
Make It Your Own: Colin and Faye’s Australian Garden Coop
Saturday, February 4th, 2012
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. (more…)
Make It Your Own: Cindy’s “Hen Hilton,” Southern Rhode Island
Monday, December 26th, 2011
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…)
Make It Your Own: Joy’s Maryland Garden Coop
Tuesday, June 21st, 2011
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…)
Winter Chicken Coop Care, Part 3: Outfit your chicken coop for the winter.
Wednesday, November 17th, 2010This 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…)
Urban foxes in Melbourne, Australia (and how to protect your chickens)
Thursday, April 29th, 2010Apparently, 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. . .
Guest article at The Urban Garden Project
Thursday, March 18th, 2010I’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!
Make It Your Own: Mike and Dara’s Garden Coop
Thursday, November 26th, 2009
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:
Will hardware cloth rust if I bury it?
Thursday, October 29th, 2009Because 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.
What’s the best kind of chicken wire and fencing?
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009Fencing 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. Once bent into shape, hardware cloth holds its shape well. Avoid using staples from a hand-powered staple gun. They rust easily, and if/when they slip out, they will get pecked at. Galvanized staples shot from a pneumatic staple gun, on the other hand, work great.
See our online Buyer’s Guide for more specific recommendations on hardware cloth, wire snips, and air-powered staplers for your chicken coop project.
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…)
