We’ve made some great progress on the chicken coop exterior. All of the siding is finished, and painted- plus we also got all of the hardware cloth installed on the run, so that it is now completely enclosed. If you missed my post all about how we built this coop- you can find it here. I am looking forward to adding some flowers and lanscaping around it in the weeks to come.
I love the way the cedar turned out. I still need to seal it with a clear stain (the same oil based stain we used on our exterior!) but it makes me happy each time I see it. I haven’t settled on a door color yet- but I am leaning towards something very light in a sage green, light blue or soft green/blue/grey. Did I mention I haven’t made up my mind yet! ha.
After all the rain we had this week I am really glad we decided to cover the run with a roof- not just hardware cloth! It allows the chickens to have a nice outdoor space that is relatively protected. We still need to cut a small door from the coop to the run, so that they can easily access the run. For now we just carry them over there each day, and they go back inside at night.
I did a lot of research about how to make this run secure. It is pretty easy to keep chickens in- but can be more of a challenge to keep predators (like cats, dogs, foxes, coyotes etc) out! We didn’t use chicken wire- we used hardware cloth- which is a tighter weave and stronger gauge metal. From my reading you don’t really want to use chicken wire as it isn’t very strong when it comes to deterring predators. We also buried a hardware cloth apron around the perimeter of the run.
Matt built a simple gate- and we have a gate latch that keeps it locked- as well as a carabiner so that the toddler doesn’t let the chickens out!
We are so close to having this project completed- and the greenhouse is well on it’s way to being complete too! I am soaking up every minute of “not winter”(which I am calling this season- because some days it isn’t really spring or summer. lol. that’s Alberta for ya!!) We will soon turn out attention to the inside of the coop- building nesting boxes and getting their roosts set up.
Hope you have a happy weekend,
-Miss Ash
Such a fancy hen house!!
Thank you!