And now...the run....

TerryH

Crowing
6 Years
Mar 12, 2016
1,163
589
251
NW Arkansas
My Coop
My Coop
Evening all. Thought I'd start a new thread for the run construction. The coop thread has gotten pretty big. :D

Here's that thread if anyone needs to catch up...


https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1088771/cheryls-hen-house


Here's the rough plan for the run and the chicken yard.




The run will be 9' wide, 26' long. Front side is 8' tall, rear is 7' tall. Predator protection is layered. 4' of 1/2" hardware cloth on the lower portion and the remainder of the sides above the HC will be covered with regular poultry wire. 2x4 welded wire will then cover both the chicken wire and HC on the entire sides. Both the 36" front human door and the 48" rear human door will be double layered as well. 1/2" HC covered by 2x4 welded wire sandwiched between the 2- 3/4" treated wood door frames that comprise each door. We have some used 1x2 welded wire that I'll be using for a 24" apron all around the run. We're planning on using the deep litter method in the run. We'll begin that with several inches of ground trees from a local tree service. We'll see how that works out and adjust from there.


I decided that the fence was more than I cared to take on so I hired a fence guy for that. He did a great job! Here's the finished product.







Here's the 9' long fence that will become the west end of the run with angled gate back to the storage building for access.





I had the fence guys set the rest of the posts for the run while they were here.


We began today with beginning the framing on the front. 2x6's top and bottom with doubled 2x4 uprights in between the 4x4 posts set 2' deep in concrete.

Edit: The horizontal members are all attached to the 4x4's with pocket hole joinery. Those joints are further reinforced and supported with notched vertical 2x4's.





Here's the front structure done.





The rear mirrors the front except for the 48" door vs the 36" door in the front.




We had planned to leave 10' of the run un-roofed but I decided to go ahead and roof the entire thing. Yet another trip to the big box for more materials coming right up. The roof rafters are 10' treated 2x4's on 16" centers. Every other rafter is 2 - 2x4's sistered together. Here's where I stopped for the day.


Rear...





Front...








Usual Sunday things tomorrow but I'm very thankful for the Monday holiday!!! Hope to get it pretty much done then!!
 
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very impressive... you do not do things half way, that's for sure.. but why not 1/2 HC all the way up instead of chicken wire? you must not have weasels/mink/ etc 


Thanks. Researching and over building is a disease.

Have neither mink nor weasels in my area as far as I can tell. The game and fish commission numbers show zero weasels harvested state wide and very few mink. Haven't heard of either here for many years. Neighbors have flocks that have free ranged for years and totally unprotected with no losses. Maybe they are just fortunate. My main daytime concerns here are stray dogs, possums and hawks. The chickens will be secured in the coop at night. I guess the bottom line is like most everyone else, I just picked a predator protection spot that I was happy with and ran with it.
 
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Stole some time tonight to get the remainder of the rafters up and the strong ties on after both churches, going to Lowes, mowing the yard at my Mom's house and having a kid we fostered over for his 21st birthday. Yes, it was a full day. :D I also got all the roof strapping and blocking cut and ready to go on first thing in the morning. Getting close now!!



Here's our birthday boy with the babies eating out of his hand. :)



My denial over our Blue laced red Wyandotte being a cockerel came to an end today when he was crowing in the coop this morning. :rolleyes: Called my buddy to tell him to come and get him. Down to 8 now.
 
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