This works as a coop

[KDMcM]

This is my 1.2 x 2.4m carcass about 2m tall.



With a 1.2 x 1.2m OSB 3 box above, with a pitched felt roof.



Mostly made from exterior grade 2x3 timbers. The floor of the box is removeable (I reckon that's the bit which will decay) and the back opens to allow access for cleaning and harvesting eggs.



How happy do you suppose my Warren, Speckeldy and Rhode Rock will be in there? Could I squeeze a 4th hen in?

 

[Marigold]

Hi KDMcM, and welcome to the Forum.
I’m not clear whether the coop and small run in your photo is the complete space available for your hens, or whether it’s actually sitting within a larger run? We do strongly recommend a minimum of 2sq. metres of run space per hen, especially within smaller runs where some of the space will be occupied by feeders, drinkers, dustbath etc, and there would be less room for a hen to move around and hide if being bullied by a more dominant bird. If the coop you illustrate is the total floor space available to them, then it’s a bit of a squash for two birds, let alone three, and four would really not be a good idea. And of course there needs to be room for you to get into the run to do the poo picking and catch your hens if necessary, which is difficult in a very small space without panicking them.
Are the sides covered in weldmesh, or have you used chicken wire? Chicken wire will keep the birds in, but if you know there are foxes around, it’s not going to keep them safe from attack, I’m afraid. Foxes will bite through chicken wire, or as it’s so easily bent, they’ll tunnel under and into the quite lightweight run. Just because you haven’t seen them recently doesn’t mean they will leave you alone for long, especially in the Spring when they will have cubs to feed. I’d advise adding a layer of 1/2” weldmesh to the sides, top and floor, which will also help to exclude wild birds and rodents from the run.
Have a read of some of the sad stories in the Pests and Predators section at the bottom of the Index page.Foxes are strong and hungry predators, and could kill all your defenceless chickens in a few minutes, if they could gain entry through inadequate wire.
The construction of the coop looks solid, but you may find you get problems next summer with redmite, which love to breed under roofing felt and in any uneven cracks in wood such as the type of composite sheets you’ve used for the sides. It would be good at least to seal the wood with several coats of paint, to try to avoid the redmite getting in to the uneven surfaces.
Lastly, I wonder if you’ve thought of adding a nice deep layer of bedding, such as Aubiose (shredded hemp) over the run floor? With three hens in a small space, it will become muddy and foul very quickly if you can’t pick up the droppings every day, and this is easy to do if the floor has a layer of absorbent bedding to coat the poo and make removal easy and fast. You can use this on the floor of the coop and in the nest boxes as well, to help keep them and the eggs clean.
I expect you’ve heard that we are in the middle of a bad bird flu outbreak at the moment? We are all supposed to keep our flocks under cover, so if you could extend the roofing felt to cover the rest of the run, that would be worth doing because it would prevent wild birds from pooing through the mesh and contaminating the run floor with their possibly infected droppings. Also of course it would help to keep the run floor a bit dryer.

Your hens look very nice birds - have they started to lay yet? I wonder what colour eggs you will be getting? Do let us know how you get on.

 

[KDMcM]

Thanks for getting back. I hope to have happy birds, which use up my household veg waste!
The coop in the photos is just where they retire to at dusk. They have the total run of a 10x10m garden during the day. In the evening, I herd them into a 3x3m enclosure (4ft fence) just at the entrance to the coop.
The sides (and floor) are chicken wire, but the chickens are in the wooden enclosure for the night. I suspected the foxes might've just gone for winter and, although we've never seen them in the day, we are petrified that hey might come. I know they (foxes) have the capacity to leap my 6ft gardens fences.
I've used wood chippings in the coop and it certainly prevents the poo sticking to the floor and makes it easy to clean. I've nothing on the floor of the run, but am keeping an eye on it for becoming foul. We also keep rabbits and bed them with hay. Is that a good liner for the floor of the coop?
The hens are about 6 months old. One has been laying for about 2 months and the other two started about 2-3 weeks ago.
I was considering covering the outer (3x3) run with a tarp, but I didn't see the point; they hardly spend any time in there. They prefer roaming the garden. I'm going to add that tarp and just keep them under cover for a bit. They'll hate it.
The Rhode Rock (the more mature layer) lays an egg similar in size and colour to a shop-bought egg. the Warren gives a more pale egg about the same size. The Speckeldy is the least prolific layer and her eggs can be about the same hue as Rocky, but with tiny spots on top! She dropped an enormous one this morning, which doesn't fit into my eggbox!
Will keep you posted!

 

[Marigold]

That’s good, it sounds as if they have lovely facilities and lots of space for free ranging. I’d still be concerned about security, though, when they’re out in the big run. If you’ve been reading the stories in Pests and Predators, you’ll know that some of us have found out the hard way that foxes often attack in daylight hours and even when humans are out in the garden with the birds. It’s devastating when that happens. Maybe you could consider electric fence when they’re not shut in the coop itself?

Hay isn’t very suitable in the coop because it gives off dust and pollen particles which can cause bronchial inflammation, especially if the coop is closed at night and ventilation is reduced. Also, it’s much more difficult to poo pick than Aubiose, it’s not absorbent and the long strands get messy. Ideally, if the run is properly foxproofed you never need to shut the pophole, as full ventilation is really important, especially in the winter when the birds spend up to 15 hours a night in there. If you have to shut it up at night, you need to make sufficient ventilation holes or slits and cover them with weldmesh to prevent entry by predators.

Also remember that we are in the middle of a severe bird flu outbreak, and legally all our hens have to be kept under cover to avoid contact with the wild birds that spread it. If there’s an outbreak in one of our garden flocks, the neighbouring flocks will also be culled, so it’s up to us to keep strict biosecurity for the coming months, probably until the end of the migration season next March. This seems to come up every winter now, so it’s worth thinking hard about our setups so that, even if the flock is somewhat more confined, they nevertheless have sufficient space during the shorter days of winter, and numbers are low enough for them to stay happy and healthy.