My husband is building a coop for our baby chicks, and he wants to have 1" x1" wire on the bottom for their poop to fall through. Trouble is, he can't find it anywhere, except for one place online that only sells it in hundred foot rolls.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
What do you use for the bottom of your coop?
Thanks!
Chicken coop wire
Have you considered rabbit wire? The spacing is closer but I think it'll still be easy to clean.
Sue ☺
What is rabbit wire? Thanks
We were told to buy hardware clothe, which is wire they say . Wonder if that would work. My hardware store has it in stock, hubby is gone to get it now .
actually, if you mean BABY chicks, their feet will fall right through the 1" wire. you need half inch hardware cloth for the bottom. keets, baby guineas, are so small, they need quarter inch...
and if you want it snake proof, you should have hardware cloth all the way around the brooder cage. the pen you could do 1 inch. we bought some at Pride Home Center. i bet home depot, lowe's, true value, ace, and farm stores all would have it, as it is commonly used for gardening purposes as well.
btw, a hundered feet of it would go faster than you think. or you could sell your leftovers on craigslist...
and we have lots of threads here with all kinds of coop ideas! help yourself...
tf
it should be 1/4" hardware cloth which is wireing. u can get it at lowes and home depo, stores like that. we get them at lowes for a roll of like 3ft x 20ft it is about $12-15. it comes in different sizes and lengths. it is usually kept in the outside garden section where fenceing, dog kennel and chicken wire is. mabe lumber yards or stores would have it also.
silkie
Our chickens are 2 months old. They're getting pretty big. My DH read somewhere he should put 1x1" wire on the bottom so their poop can fall through, and make the coop easier to clean.
We have 6 chickens from chicks he bought at Tractor Supply. Unfortunately 3 seem to be roosters and one is a Sultan. We were hoping for hens to lay eggs for us.
Thanks for all your suggestions.
Home Depot and Lowes often times have smaller rolls. Ag supply stores usually only carry the large ones. Also, go on Craigslist.org in your area, and ask to buy a small amount from someone. Anyone who has used any for a coop, cage etc (including me!) will have some sitting around going to waste, and will be happy to sell it to you. Seems like you never use the whole roll......
sure, at that age they won't fall through. but then if you want to use it again for new chicks, you'll have to put something over it is all...
congrats on your new pets!
Thanks, we are very excited about them. We just love watching them, and they grow so fast! They look different every day.
Right now they are kept in an extra-large dog crate in our greenhouse at night, during the day they go into a dog kennel (6x12). Once the coop (or the chicken house) is done, we hope to keep them outside all the time, and once they get used to going in their coop, we hope to open the kennel door and let them free range in our yard.
I'm learning a lot from this forum, thanks!
sound like an excellent plan. to prevent other birds from eating up their food, be sure to keep their feeder and waterer in the coop or even in the house. even with small wires, we still get a few small birds in there scavenging. before we put wire roof on, birds were eating more than the chickens!
hope you enjoy your chickens!
are your chickens out in the yard yet?
Hi, nope, they are still in the 6x12 dog kennel. The coop is done and in the kennel, and the last two nights they've gone in by themselves when it gets dark.
We had an "incident" on the 22nd, with one of the bantams flying out the top and being chased by our dogs. We then "lost" him in the woods, and looked for him for 2 hours, until I got our beagle to try and track him- and we found him, right under a tree which was the last place we saw him. He was hiding in some weeds. Lost a few tail feathers, but he is OK, I was afraid the shock would kill him!
Anyhow, the free-ranging is on hold for now.
they do like to fly!
scary, but some chickens can actually survive it. maybe he will tell the others to stay close to home, or this thing with big ears and a cold nose will come flush you out LOL
You should have seen me tramping through the woods, every time I heard a bird chirp I'd go off in another direction. And he was right next to our driveway.
well, my hens and chicks won't be free ranging, till i find a few snakes and shoot them! lost 5 chicks today...
Oh my gosh. Snakes are good for vermin but not for eating chicks! Poor little things. Sorry about that.
tried locking them up. DH didnt' upt hardware cloth on the gates, so they just popped right through.... he is gone ot work, I am about to get the baby up so i can go out a pu tsomething on the gates to keep them in today.
i wonder if a roadrunner would get hungry and resort to eating chicks?
whatever it is carries them off pretty fast!
Tamara, how old were those chick? I am trying to picture what could have taken them so quickly and not leave any signs. Were they bantam or full size?
Thanks,
GG
full size, Jersey Giants. hatched the15th... whatever it is, it's fast and sneaky enough that the guineas ducks and geese don't have time to alarma and the roos don't have time to jump in, and the hens don't even have a chance to freak. gee, let a PBR get within two feet of those chicks and you see striped feathers flying everywhere LOL... and it's obviously not big or brave enough to go for a larger chicken. i have chicks out there from earlier hatching, and still getting a correct head count.
i have 29 more that need to be let out to free range, but not till this varmint's carcass is MINE!
no worry, shells in my pocket and gun open and waiting by the front door. time to go give them some cool water and do another head count. i's been 100 degrees out there since 1 PM when DH came home. can't work on a roof in this temp and windy too! so they will just do mornings till the chicmney is done...
tf
I would like to have some chickens some day!
It's aliens.
bonnemadame, watch out, we are contagious!
catscan, blow it out your foghorn LOL
Sorry to hear that Tamara. All of these tragedies have me thinking seriously.
I am still trying to plan my coops, one here at the house and one at the lot where the roosters will live. I called Gebo's today and they said they have 2X2 inch hardware cloth, at 36 inches wide and 10 feet long for $25. That doesn't seem that great to me. I'll keep looking. At the horse lot there are rats and snakes as well as opossum and skunks. Thankfully, the donkey is keeping all the weeds down and that should help. It's a very unsafe area out there so I want to make it as strong as possible and covered as well as I can.
Yesterday was a scorcher here huh? My poor chickens were panting so hard, I felt sorry for them and finally sprayed them with water. I don't know if they liked that or not but I wasn't sure what else to do. I've noticed they don't like sun and apparently my silkies don't take heat well either. Today is supposed to again be over 100 degrees.
Happy hunting for your predator. There are a lot of big rattlesnakes around Lake Meredith. I remember when they dug that area out with bulldozers and built the dam. Hundreds of snakes were moving into Sanford.
I just remembered something else. Isn't it illegal to kill a rattlesnake now at the lake?
Karen
tf any weasels out your way?
MollyD
No, not that I know of.
Karen
only two legged ones that resemble humans!
not illegal to kill any snake here! but i usually don't bother snakes...
i think it's these really large mice...
Karen, i wasn't around when they built the dam, but my Granny bought this porperty just before then, we are near a main road to the lake, but not near the lake.
dont' spend money you don't have to. pampa has their own freecycle.org, or go to the amarillo one. post a need or watch for offers on wood and wire fencing... you can build out of pallets, bed frames, use concrete wire, etc.
then the only thing you spend money on is the 1/4 inch hardware cloth for the lower part. keeps small chicks IN and large predators OUT.
mine free range. was gonna lock them up today, but they like going out in the puddles and the shade, they would just pant and die if left in this heat...
saw an ol fella @ th PO today, asked what i was up to, i said keeping my chickens from dying in this heat. suggested i sit and fant hem all day, he was always a good joker!
smile, we are still alive!
tf
LOL. I can just see you sitting there, passing out tiny iced teas and fanning the chickens. LOL
Sorry to hear about your chicks disappearing,tf. Hope you catch the culprit soon.
Whew! It sounds like you've all been scorching down there. Seems like we are going from March-like weather to summer temps. Been a strange spring! Today is rainy in the upper 50's; Saturday and Sunday is supposed to reach 90 inland. We're about 10 minutes from the ocean so we usually get a sea-breeze kicking up. Cold wind this time of year, warm wind in the fall.
little sprigs of mint in the tea!!
Hi Everyone,
I am almost finished with my first coop, and I used 1 inch square galvanized wire to keep the chickens in and everything else out (I was worried that chicken wire wouldn't be strong enough, and wire with larger holes not secure enough). I got a 100ft roll at Orchard Supply Hardware (it was a lot cheaper per foot then getting just the 50-60 ft I needed, but you can buy it by the foot and I figure I can sell the rest when I am sure I don't need anymore).
In case anyone is interested, I didn't use fencing staples because I wanted to be able to take the wire down if neccessary without damaging the wood. I used galvanized screws with 11/4" washers and that seems to hold the wire in place really well in addition to looking attractive and not damaging the wood.
One last thing....I don't have a bunch of experience, but I have read that you should be carefull about putting large chicken breeds (like Jersey Giants) on wire even when they are young, as their weight is such that the wire can damage their feet. One of my chickens is a Jersey, so I split the base of their henhouse in such a way that the half under their perch is wire over a droppings pit, and the other half is deep litter. That way they don't have to walk on the wire, but the worst of the droppings end up in the pit.
Myrrh
sounds great! i have giants to, but they don't spend long on wire, just as babies... the henhouse floor is concrete with litter. makes sense about their weight though, you were wise to split it like that, they ought to know if it hurts to walk on the wire!
if the chicken fairy visits you and you become a slave, you will have to build another coop, so hold onto that extra wire!
tf
If only! The chicken fairy already visited, but I hid behind the door and said no-one was home. I live 10 minutes outside of San Francisco, so I have to limit myself to three chickens.
Maybe someday...... When I lived on a horse farm in Leander TX no one was in a position to care how many animals we had, but I live in the big city now.
Oh well.......there are some other advantages I guess, though I can't seem to think of them just now. Thanks for the encouragment.
Myrrh
Hey myrrh--I am the Chicken Fairy's representative for Northern California and I am trying to place a gorgeous Marans pullet and a few Barnevelder pullets (cockerels are also available) so are you sure you are at your limit? Can you honestly say you don't have room for at least one more? Search your conscience........:0).
Oh my....I seem to have gotten myself into trouble already!
Can you tell me more about them? How old are they, are they friendly, why they need new homes? Also, my three are about 8weeks old. One Americauna, one Blue Andalusian, and one Black Jersey Giant. Can you just throw a new opullet into the mix? I have heard that sometimes that causes trouble, but maybe only when they are older.
My chicken experience is pretty limited, so I appologize for my ignorance. I had 4 Brahmas when I lived in Texas, but they just lived outside on their own. They foraged, ate the leftover grain from the goats, and lay their eggs in the the horses' stalls once the mares were let out for the day. I'd work the horses, and then come back to the barn for the makings of a post ride breakfast.
Myrrh
Well--I hatched these myself from eggs from VERY generous Dave's members. They are about 7 weeks old--so close in age. I think they always have to reestablish the pecking order when a new member enters--but they are just working it out now anyway. And none of mine are aggressive breeds.
Like you I am limited in what I can keep in town--one of my neighbors tried to total up the animals but I had the dogs in the car so I came out okay numberwise:0) ( Fortunately they liked the chickens). I already have some point of lays that I ordered as chicks from Meyer Hatchery. I have hatched (so far) several Jersey Giant/Black Australorp crosses--both pullets and roos--they are very friendly and beautiful. Two Marans pullets--the roo is stunning--but I can't keep roos:0(. And three Barnevelder roos and four Barnevelder pullets (these are only 2 weeks old--but they are from two different blood lines and I worked hard to get any--they are a bit hard to find). I want to keep at least one pullet of each--maybe more, but that still leaves me with some extras. And there are the roos! I can't stand the idea of the Marans becoming anyone's dinner. I also have at least three pure Jersey Giants and I can't keep those roos either. The pullets should all be excellent layers and friendly--I went for heavy dual purpose breeds that lay brown eggs and are docile. All raised in the house until recently. I just want good homes for them. I will deliver!
This goes for anyone in the Northern CA region who wants some very nice, very healthy chicks. DH keeps asking "HOW many are you planning to keep"? I need to show some willingness to divest:0)
Hmmmm,
Despite thinking better of it, my interest is piqued by the Marans pullet. What color is she? Of course, I will have to speak to my BF about it. When I very tentatively first brought up the prospect of having chickens in the city, I expected a chuckle at silly me from him, and an "I don't know about that." Instead he loved the idea, and has been instrumental in building the chicken palace....I mean coop. I'll talk to him about it.
Myrrh
Cuckoo--very dark because she is a pullet. The roosters are more a silvery barred grey. The pullets are almost charcoal with dark grey/blue barring. She is very sweet and not a dominant bird.
This message was edited Jun 12, 2008 6:20 PM
I spoke to my BF, and though he would gladly take another chicken, he is concerned about space. We did build the coop with three chickens in mind, so though there is room for more, some of the amenities are limited. For example, there is only one nesting box, and the perch is only 29" long. I think 4 can get by with one nesting box, but we would probably need to put in more perch space. What do you think?
Myrrh
We built, well Dave built, our coop for the 3 hens I said I wanted--when the first chicks turned into roos I ordered 6 pullets (smallest amount allowed) from Myers and they sent 7!. Fortunately (?) 2 are roos so I will be down to 5. The seven are doing fine in the coop--I did fence in some additional space for them to free range during the day--just metal stakes and chicken wire), but I don't think there would be a great difference between 3 and 4. The recommendation is 1 nest box for every 4 hens (Damerow's "Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens) so you are really under-henned:0). They do tend to crowd together on the perch at night and I don't think the 7 (currently) of them are taking more than four feet of 2X4 roost.
Let me know what you think!
This message was edited Jun 12, 2008 8:45 PM