another newbie (with pic)

[soonerdog]

I see a wooded area at the back of your soon to be finished coop. The wooded area spells.....W I L D C R I T T E R S near by!!! I do hope that you prepare your coop with a heavy gauge wire. Regular poultry netting alone probably want be enough. Better building in the beginning will save a heart ache later. BTW your coop is looking great! WELCOME to BYC!

 

[mizauntcathy'shenhouse]

Welcome....you will enjoy it here!

 

[birdbrain2]

I see a wooded area at the back of your soon to be finished coop. The wooded area spells.....W I L D C R I T T E R S near by!!! I do hope that you prepare your coop with a heavy gauge wire. Regular poultry netting alone probably want be enough. Better building in the beginning will save a heart ache later.

i plan on using 1/2" or 1/4" welded wire. i noticed poultry fencing is not that good at protecting from from raccoon reaching threw. not to mention they rust and break quick, learned that from using it with garden. i have pretty much all kinds of predators owls, dogs, coyotes, hawks, opossums, neighbors

, skunks and snakes. so fencing will go in the ground and rocks along the side. i do plan on free ranging when i can supervise. i decided early to build first to see how much money and space i could afford for my hens. i knew if i did it the other way something could go wrong and i might not be able to afford to build at all or big enough and that would be bad.
i did get real lucky though, at this point i have $0 invested in this. all wood has been donated by neighbors and family. i doubt i will get any eggs for myself for a while.​