chicken coop question

outgrowing my current chicken coop which is closed in with no out door run. they run free only when i manually let them out.

i plan on building a new enclosed chicken coop, with an attached, fenced in run. my question is, does the attached fenced in run have to have cover? or could i just fence it in say 4-5 feet high, enclose it all it with chicken wire, and just run a string of barb wire on the top for predators to get in?? im not worried about the chickens flying out as i know theyll fly back in. as far as hawks go, the coop and run will be pretty well covered with some big oaks

I built our 6x8 coop on an old wagon axle with the floor at wagon deck height and removable chicken wire sides that enclose the ground underneath the coop. The chickens go down on the ground during the day and at night they come back up through a hatch in the floor and roost and I close the hatch to keep out predators. This way the coop can be moved every couple of days onto fresh ground. The coop ceiling is only about 3' high, but the chickens don't need much headroom and because the floor is up so high it is pretty easy to reach in and clean the coop and feed them and such. I can take photos if you'd like to see how it works. In the winter we put them in a small coop with insulation to keep them warm and bigger windows for more light.
Zach

My chicken pin has a fence around it and I have a few runs of old baling twine running across for the roof or trees so as to help keep hawks etc. out. I have yet I have any problems with hawks. I do also have an electric fence wire going around the upper area of the fence to help keep coons etc out and that also works well so far that is

I tried to cover my run with some fruit tree net someone gave me, first ice storm hit,, it all come down, so now I just let the chickens free range, never had a problem with the hawks, but the fox got a few hens last summer. I left the hens in for awhile, than saw the fox laying beside the road, got hit by a car trying to come over for a meal!

New England Farmer, my set up is similar to what you are proposing. I do let mine out of the pen to free range but they have lots of room in the pen as well. We shut them up in the coop at night. As for flying out of the pen, you trim the wings on one side and that keeps them from flying out of the pen. Big oaks will NOT keep the hawks at bay as we have have had them try to dive straight down from the branches. We also have owls in the trees at night waiting for mice. A chicken wire roof is nice but if you can not stand up straight in the pen it will get old fast. A good watch dog in the yard helps keep the predators away whether the chickens are free ranging or in the pen.

My coop has the wire buried three feet down at the perimeter and the top covered. Do it right the first time and you will never have to mess with it again.

I also put stone in the last six inches when I filled in the trenches (on both sides). Chickens won't dig down by the fence and neither will the predators. At least it would slow them down a bit.

If you build it with a fence 4-5 feet and you plan on them flying in and out why waste money on a fence? The fence will have to be 6 feet high to keep them in . The pen doesn't need a cover we've had chickens for many years and never lost one to a hawk. When was the last time you heard of anyone losing a chicken to hawks? If you let small chicks outside, maybe. I've seen Mennonite pens with just one electric wire about 7" above the ground. Once the chickens get bit, they stay away. They're not very smart they think the electricity goes all the way to the sky

Our chickens free range from sun up to sun down and are only in the coop to eat/sleep/ and lay.

As for hawks we lost one to a hawk this summer (came home to the hawk eating it in the yard as it couldn't carry the chicken away) and got home just in time to scare off another hawk that had a chicken in its talons on a separate occasion. We had to keep her caged up for about 2 weeks as she had large open wounds on her neck, but we kept them clean and now she is healthy as ever.

The idea of a fence 4-5 high was to keep coons and weasels out. if you're telling me that chickens wont fly 6 feet ill look into putting that up.

..hawks def go after chickens

I like a small covered outside run next to the coop so chickens have access to it while I'm away more than 24 hours. I open the run door so they can free range when I'm around the place.
The hot wire idea some have suggested is worth installing on runs/coops eventhough they are totly inclosed. Varmits might visit a few times before breaking in. House cats are piticurlary bad about pestering and scaring penned birds. A dose or two of shock will keep them away in the furture and reduces risk should you be late closeing up or forget to alltogeather. If there is sufficent interest,I will post my home made self securing and releasing coop I used when I kept quail for training pointers.

coons and opposum will climb the fence no matter how tall. And coons WILL chew a hole in chicken wire, I know becuz I shot one in the act. A hot wire is the only thing that keeps varmits at bay.

Yep hot wire works well plus if you goof and hit it you sure know it is on or at least the one I have around the chickens sure will wake up up if you hit it and that is even threw my jacket

Daughter got into having a few chickens. She has a small moveable coop and a short moveable net fence which is electrified. Coop and fence is moved to fresh grass occasionally. She also has a couple of guineas. She had six guinea chicks(called Keets) originally but a black snake got some. She put the snake on the wrong side of a Tarus Judge, which I posted about earlier. The 2 guineas are now grown. A hawk dived into the small fenced in area but missed killing a chicken. The 2 guineas attacked the hawk and ran it off. On occasion some animal has tried to get at the chickens, I think without success.

A small permanent coop was built. She and hubby put in posts and I installed a fence of 5 foot dog pen wire, with a few inches at the bottom turned out flat and buried. A top of dog pen wire was put on top of the pen. I built a gate of wire and red cedar and we put concrete under it. No chickens have been lost from that set up. No bite marks on that wire.

We had chickens for serious gastronomical purposes when I was a boy. They free ranged during the day and were put in a coop at night. Never lost one to a hawk, but people shot hawks then and hunted foxes and coons. Occasionally we caught a possum that had gotten in the chicken house. I don't remember eating any possum but once, and that was enough for me. The way to carry a possum, incidentally, is by the tail. If the possum tries to climb up his tale to bite you, just shake him down.

Dogs, raccoons, hawks, and sometimes possums are enemies of chickens in this area. Snakes will steal eggs and eat baby chicks.

KEH

on mine,i had it open on top and under a tree for shade. i found that a hawk would just sit in the tree and wait for them to come out.i covered mine with a single layer of chicken wire and stopped my problems. to me it makes little sense to fence them without a cover. your just making it harder for your chickens to avoid predators when you do. because they have nowhere to run. mostly mine are fully free range,and i only keep them put up in bad weather.