I call it bear proof because mine was the only one this bear didn't get into. Guy up the street lost his whole flock. I did lose 2 on the first night but after that the bear couldn't cope
So originally it was built on 24" centers. Clad in osb, typer, miranti and used steel roofing. 25° roof facing the wrong way but that's the windward side and I obviously wanted the vents at the peak
Wood is all rough cut hemlock. (Hemlock tree is similar in rot resistance to cedar)
The ground level ended up flooding the first spring and I had to throw in a couple bales of straw because the snow and ice dammed it in. I ended up throwing a yard of dirt in there and it should be fine as it's well above grade now
There is a 2' section of hardware mesh along the perimeter underground covered in heavy flag stones to prevent predators digging in. Unfortunately it's all buried so you'll have to take my word for it
The locks are mostly barrels which I'm going to change. They're an absolute PITA as they freeze in winter and sometimes don't line up perfectly. The egg doors aren't bad but the man door is always moving in the frost. I ground rhe ends to pilot in better and replaced the knobs but it still sucks
The handles are installed with 2 screws in predrilled holes so that they can't be used by a bear to open them, they will rip out of the holes. And the locks are all installed with #10 screws for added strength
Extra roofing steel was added as armor to protect weak spots. Whatever the bear found I reinforced in a way it couldn't get his claws behind
The vents around back turned out to be a huge weak point and were replaced and covered with wood louvers, which were promptly ripped off the next night. Then with metal to force his paw onto the nails and make it unpleasant to keep trying. Inside was also reinforced so that he can't tear down the wall again
A motion light was added, which did absolutely nothing except serve as an alarm so they were moved to the shed. Well, it was, then I added the other
Mind you this was stuff I already had so total cost of upgrades and armor is $20 in nails, that's it.
During this time I set up this mess of skids and steel around back to force it to come in from the open which was an effective deterrent. I ended up putting some temporary fencing around the front too and after a week of this I watched it come by one night, take a look and just walk away
The small run at the side is more for herding them back in. I can direct them to the door and they basically wait in the corner until I open the door. This is because they free range entirely and getting them in was a pain
There is power going to the coop for the water which is necessary as it can get down to -30 (both c and f). I was sick of running 80' of extension cord to do work back there so I added an external outlet aswell
You may be wondering now if power tools frighten them. Well after cutting trough that roofing steel with a Sawzall and running the chainsaw back there I can assure you they do not give a damn and were actually kinda curious
The inside chicken door is a simple braided wire through eye bolts. No stupid automatic doors. The hinge has a spring assist to help keep it closed. That's it.
They have 2 food options aswell as grit and calcium. There's only 1 water in winter for obvious reasons and they're fine with it. We still let them out in winter but they don't go very far
I plan on adding a run in spring as we did have 1 fox attack and near the end of the year the coyotes started coming around so I'd like another layer of protection
Oh and that roll up blue tarp is to protect from the wind in winter and I installed weather stripping on the inside and the door hinges are covered with rubber to keep moisture out of the joints
I dont have any plans, didn't start with any. Its an 8x4 floor for the coop and 8x8 footprint overall. The coop is 5"tall ( think) inside at the highest. And the nested run is a similar dimension plus the area under the coop
Other changes: I'd like to install a skylight. In the mean time I'll be adding an led light wired to the mains on a timer to give some extra light inside during winter (again all materials I already have on hand)
Overall cost....idk there's 6 sheets of beaver puke and those were bloody expensive at the time. Rough cut 2x4x8s were 5$. The hardware mesh was the most expensive. I think I might have paid 1k$ if that
Lessons to be learned: barrel locks suck. Always overbuild. You can save money in alot of places, chickens don't care about looks. Also, forget plans. Most people posting plans are showing off some extravagant sheet overbuilt in the wrong places. Build it to your liking. Build it to be functional. I added some paint and whatnot so it was less of an eyesore but is it necessary? No. You'll be more disappointed if you spend all that time and money following the instructions of some city slicker and finding out later it doesn't work for you
I had a few simple criteria. Protection was #1, and it paid off. Utility was a close second. Simplicity comes with utility. And all 3 were affordable. Last year I had 4 pullets start laying in February. It's now January ive got a dozen birds everyone's still laying
Hope this has been of help
So originally it was built on 24" centers. Clad in osb, typer, miranti and used steel roofing. 25° roof facing the wrong way but that's the windward side and I obviously wanted the vents at the peak
Wood is all rough cut hemlock. (Hemlock tree is similar in rot resistance to cedar)
The ground level ended up flooding the first spring and I had to throw in a couple bales of straw because the snow and ice dammed it in. I ended up throwing a yard of dirt in there and it should be fine as it's well above grade now
There is a 2' section of hardware mesh along the perimeter underground covered in heavy flag stones to prevent predators digging in. Unfortunately it's all buried so you'll have to take my word for it
The locks are mostly barrels which I'm going to change. They're an absolute PITA as they freeze in winter and sometimes don't line up perfectly. The egg doors aren't bad but the man door is always moving in the frost. I ground rhe ends to pilot in better and replaced the knobs but it still sucks
The handles are installed with 2 screws in predrilled holes so that they can't be used by a bear to open them, they will rip out of the holes. And the locks are all installed with #10 screws for added strength
Extra roofing steel was added as armor to protect weak spots. Whatever the bear found I reinforced in a way it couldn't get his claws behind
The vents around back turned out to be a huge weak point and were replaced and covered with wood louvers, which were promptly ripped off the next night. Then with metal to force his paw onto the nails and make it unpleasant to keep trying. Inside was also reinforced so that he can't tear down the wall again
A motion light was added, which did absolutely nothing except serve as an alarm so they were moved to the shed. Well, it was, then I added the other
Mind you this was stuff I already had so total cost of upgrades and armor is $20 in nails, that's it.
During this time I set up this mess of skids and steel around back to force it to come in from the open which was an effective deterrent. I ended up putting some temporary fencing around the front too and after a week of this I watched it come by one night, take a look and just walk away
The small run at the side is more for herding them back in. I can direct them to the door and they basically wait in the corner until I open the door. This is because they free range entirely and getting them in was a pain
There is power going to the coop for the water which is necessary as it can get down to -30 (both c and f). I was sick of running 80' of extension cord to do work back there so I added an external outlet aswell
You may be wondering now if power tools frighten them. Well after cutting trough that roofing steel with a Sawzall and running the chainsaw back there I can assure you they do not give a damn and were actually kinda curious
The inside chicken door is a simple braided wire through eye bolts. No stupid automatic doors. The hinge has a spring assist to help keep it closed. That's it.
They have 2 food options aswell as grit and calcium. There's only 1 water in winter for obvious reasons and they're fine with it. We still let them out in winter but they don't go very far
I plan on adding a run in spring as we did have 1 fox attack and near the end of the year the coyotes started coming around so I'd like another layer of protection
Oh and that roll up blue tarp is to protect from the wind in winter and I installed weather stripping on the inside and the door hinges are covered with rubber to keep moisture out of the joints
I dont have any plans, didn't start with any. Its an 8x4 floor for the coop and 8x8 footprint overall. The coop is 5"tall ( think) inside at the highest. And the nested run is a similar dimension plus the area under the coop
Other changes: I'd like to install a skylight. In the mean time I'll be adding an led light wired to the mains on a timer to give some extra light inside during winter (again all materials I already have on hand)
Overall cost....idk there's 6 sheets of beaver puke and those were bloody expensive at the time. Rough cut 2x4x8s were 5$. The hardware mesh was the most expensive. I think I might have paid 1k$ if that
Lessons to be learned: barrel locks suck. Always overbuild. You can save money in alot of places, chickens don't care about looks. Also, forget plans. Most people posting plans are showing off some extravagant sheet overbuilt in the wrong places. Build it to your liking. Build it to be functional. I added some paint and whatnot so it was less of an eyesore but is it necessary? No. You'll be more disappointed if you spend all that time and money following the instructions of some city slicker and finding out later it doesn't work for you
I had a few simple criteria. Protection was #1, and it paid off. Utility was a close second. Simplicity comes with utility. And all 3 were affordable. Last year I had 4 pullets start laying in February. It's now January ive got a dozen birds everyone's still laying
Hope this has been of help
