How strong does a chook shed need to be?

[Moondog55]

So I need to do this soon.
Watching gardening Australia on the ABC a while back I was intrigued by the use of a mesh floor with poo traps underneath and want to build something like that.
But I want it to be free standing and movable.
MetalCorp have strong gal mesh 50*50*4mm at $66- a sheet 1200 * 2000mm so that is the size I want to build to house a dozen or more hens.
As usual money is tight and getting tighter so I want to use as little structural timber as I can and use some of my leftover steel battens to hold the steel sheet cladding and the roof.
I'm hoping I can just use 70*35 H3 for the basic studs and rafters
Advice requested and thanking you all in advance

[Uncle Bob]

Wouldn't need to be too strong, but you wouldn't want it to blow away either.

[ErrolFlynn]

It needs to be strong enough to keep a fox from getting in.

[Moondog55]

It needs to be strong enough to keep a fox from getting in.

Yes I had thought about that, I guess I also need to think about rat proofing and insulation

[Moondog55]

High high can foxes jump?
Over the last month I have been fencing off the yard behind the shed for vegetable garden and chook run. Next doors refuse to fix the fence so I'll be doing something from our side to 3 metres tall and soon I'll be buying a roll of chicken wire to do the upper part of the timber fence etc
Everytime I go to Bunnings I try and get a few of the H3 packers that come under the plinth board packs; I want to use those as part of the chook shed if I can.
Edit
Also I will do a 300mm wide and deep barrier under the chicken safety area to stop the foxes digging under

[ErrolFlynn]

High high can foxes jump?

Not sure, but they are enterprising creatures.

I had chooks once. I used angle iron to make a frame for the coop. About a third of it was enclosed - their bedroom. The roof hinged up for access. The other two-thirds was enclosed in chicken wire. It had no floor so that it could be moved and the chooks could get fresh grass whenever the thing was moved. It had a door at the end so that they could be allowed to walk around the garden. They knew where they lived and they always went to bed at sunset. Kind of funny to see it happening.

After a time, I felt the enclosure was too restrictive. Sometimes on lazy mornings, they wouldn't get let out till late, which wasn't so nice. So, I had a fence put up that surrounded a suitably sized area. The sort of steel 'pailings' you often see around the perimeter of schools. That was on two sides and chicken wire on the other two sides. Probably around but not quite 2 meters high. I had them make the fence panels with a particularly narrow opening to prevent anything from getting in or out.

We generally always shut the door of their pen at the end of the day, but sometimes we forgot. Anyway, they were inside the fenced area. Should be safe. And they generally were. Until one morning we went down there to let them out and the place was a mess. Dead chooks everywhere. The gate was still shut. There were no holes dug under the fence. I doubt a fox could have squeezed through between the pailing. Must have climbed the chicken wire. Maybe climbed a tree and leapt to get in, and then to get out maybe got on top of the coop and leapt to the fence to escape. No idea.

Never had any more after that experience.

[Moondog55]

Then maybe I'll do an angled floppy top too. I was going to try and get a 3m mesh fence all around but it starts to get very expensive.
I will make sure that the coop is fox proof though.

[Moondog55]

I guess the shed itself needs a roof strong enough to support the grandkids if they decide to climb up there and jump around so maybe I should also look at some guttering and a small water butt on a short stand, I happen to have a blue drum with a tap hole in the bottom

[Neil]

How strong does a chook shed need to be?

My first thought was "How big are the bloody chooks?" If emu size very strong otherwise as previously mentioned fox proof + dog, cat and possum proof depending on where you live and the surrounds... Good if you can keep snakes and goannas out as well.

Had cooks for many years. Shed doesn't need to be massive just big enough to house perches and nesting boxes with room for scratching around, watering points and hanging feeder and lots of hay/straw/wood shavings for floor and bedding... clean out regularly and use for mulch or composting.

Forget moving it around make it a permanent fixture and build a pen around it 6 -7 ft high with chicken wire attached to wooden uprights and secured well at the bottom. Forget about the rats and mice you've got no hope of stopping then especially as you have invited them in with food they like. Hanging feeder is about the best thing to deter them, but not fool proof as their clever little blighters.

Could go further but I'm over chooks after 45 years of them in the distant past.

Cheers - Neil

[r3nov8or]

...
My first thought was "How big are the bloody chooks?" ...

Screenshot_20241208_124546.jpg

[ErrolFlynn]

Forget about the rats and mice you've got no hope of stopping then especially as you have invited them in with food they like.

Oh yeah. I forgot about that when I kept chooks. Now I've read that there is likely to be a rat within 20 meters of everyone, everywhere. (Or is it 10 meters, I can't recall.) So, that's a fact of life. But do you want to add to the population?

I used to buy pellets for the chooks. Kept it in a plastic rubbish bin in the garage. Rats and mice have sharp teeth. There were so many rat or mice holes in that bin that it wasn't any good for anything any longer. I soon learnt to keep it in a steel rubbish bin. Not sure if you can still buy them. But there are other issues.

I had kept a lot of books in the garage. In an old sideboard that happened to be next to the chook feed (in a metal bin). Mostly note books from when I was studying. Not the sort of thing I'd look at regularly, but not the sort of thing I'd want to throw away. When it came time to move and pack up my stuff, naturally I went to get all my old notes and books only to find a lot of them had been eaten, and droppings everywhere. I just didn't want to touch them because of the mess and stink. Most of them got chucked I'm sad to say. Are you sure you want chooks?

I was watching telly one evening. The TV was in front of the window. it was evening and the curtains were closed. I was shocked when my eye caught some movement. One of those little blighters (ie. mouse) had come out of an opening between the brickwork and timber window frame, went trotting across the top of the curtains and disappeared into some other tiny little hole at the other end. It must have felt quite at home. It didn't seem scared. Just going about its business. Are you really, really, sure you want to keep chooks? My mouse and rat problem in the hosue wasn't evident before I started keeping chooks.

[Neil]

Have to agree with Erroll. Chooks for us in the country meant rats and mice everywhere in plague proportions although horse feed didn't help.

However, a wee mouse did cure my young daughter of going barefoot around the 120 year old house/homestead.

She got up from the lounge and went into the kitchen to raid the fridge without turning the kitchen light on.

A bloodcurdling scream came from the kitchen, I rushed in to see what had happened and nearly died of laughter. She had stood on a mouse with her bare foot and popped its head off shooting its insides out through the vacated head hole like squeezing a tube of toothpaste.

Probably wasn't funny... well not to her but for me hell yeah. It was hilarious and we've dined out on that and other mouse, rat, white ant, possum, echidna, goose, horse and dead sheep stories on numerous occasions.

Must admit did cure her of bare feet around the house to this day she still wears slippers at all times in the house and she's 30+ years older now.
The dead sheep story is a favorite of mine and many of our friends, sad but side splittingly hilarious.

Cheers

[ErrolFlynn]

Oh Neil, I don't know what to think of that. My jaw dropped open. How old was she at the time? Poor soul.

[Neil]

About 13 from memory.

That's not even the goodest jaw dropping story. The dead sheep/ram is a absolutely hilarious, jaw dropping, mind blowing, doozie.

[ErrolFlynn]

I think you have an audience, Neil.