[bucketman]

The new coup will be here thursday. But before I put it up should I do any thing to it. Is there like some sort of spray paint? that you can put on to discurage pests in the future. Am putting of getting chucks till the new year. As the whole family are going away at xmas so dont want to leave them with babysitters. So could leave the coup in the garage till then any ideas
thanks
rob

[OhLaLa]

If it's a standard natural wooden type you could give it a coat of creosote substitute. This will help prolong the life of the wood. With regard to mites, if they are going to move in, they will probably do it when you have the birds.

If you can, build the house onto a sturdy frame structure of some kind to lift it off the ground. The birds will enjoy the shelter from the elements and it will deter rats from making their home underneath (and who will most likely move in way before any mite decides to).   

Best wishes.

[pikilily]

YEP - Definately spend the time designing and building a frasme/way to raise the coop!! My first coop was raised, but not enough. The rats moved in and by burrowing raised the soil level by 6". the cats couldnt get in and i had a hell of a trouble getting rid of the rats. They chewed their way into the coop several times...

We moved the whole coop to a new field last year and I also raised it up to 18" above ground level. - No Rats now!! the chooks can dustbath underneath it, too. i am much happier knowing that there are no rats there.
Emma T