Large, Secure Coop Ready for Full Time Residency

George and Faith’s property perches on the edge of an expansive city park like a pioneer homestead on the Western frontier, and while their flock of three chickens certainly enjoyed the shade from this urban forest, the hawks and raccoons that lived there were more problematic.

Ultimately it was daring daytime raids by birds of prey that snuffed out their first foray into backyard chicken keeping, leaving Faith and George determined to try again from a different angle.

They had fallen in love with all of the perks of keeping backyard chickens, and found the Garden Ark mobile coop to be more than secure while the hens were closed up inside at night.

Faith & George's 10'x14' Garden Coop from Microfarm Organic Gardens on Vimeo.

The proximity to the nearby tract of woods made daytime foraging perilous, though , and George and Faith wanted a secure coop and covered run that was also large enough for a smallish flock of 3-5 hens to live in all the time.

Our solution was an expanded version of the Garden Coop that measured 10’x14’ around the perimeter. Like the Garden Coop, the entire run area is covered with tinted polycarbonate roof panels, which help keep the hens warm and dry in winter months and cool during the summer.

The entire structure is framed with Western Red Cedar, and wrapped in 1/2” galvanized hardware cloth. To thwart nocturnal digging predators like raccoons and rats, hardware cloth was also buried a foot deep around the entire perimeter of the coop.

The roost box is wrapped with T1-11 exterior siding stained with a non-toxic transparent stain from Timber Pro UV.

George and Faith understandably wanted to harvest rainwater from the coop’s 192 square foot roof, so we installed an aluminum gutter and downspout, and connected a rain barrel that they had on hand.

The next box of baby chicks won’t arrive for several more weeks, so for now their new coop stands empty. But though it’s hard to forget the tragic end to their first flock, George and Faith are excited about the next chapter in their urban chicken adventure, and even  more confident in their larger new coop.