I am new to chicken keeping but I knew what I needed and then tried to incorporate what I "wanted" ! I decided to attach it to our two stall horse barn so they can free range in the pasture when I'm home. Protection from predators was very important so I have tried to make sure every inch has double coverage of some sort . I extended the hardware cloth approx. 1 ft beyond the run and then covered it with large rocks, dirt and then logs from some felled trees. The vents leading to the outside have hardware cloth on the inside wall as well as the outside wall. I have venting above the door, on the door, on the back wall and the eves are all vents, not to mention the window. We were able to panel both the outside and the inside with left over ship lap and tongue and groove from when our cabin was built. The coop is 9' x 8' and the run is 10' x 13' with a smaller "side yard" that is 8' x 4' which I plan to gate off and plant mint and other chicken edible plants. I am pretty proud of myself, this is my very first try at building something all on my own!


This first pic shows where I will put the nest boxes when they are done (right wall)


48" roost bars and then the top one is 8'


view from pasture


I felt my chickens needed a view so I positioned the roosting bars so they could look out the window


Their front door


another outside view

run entrance
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