Swing set chicken run

Date sort Score sort
Einalem

Einalem

In the Brooder
Jan 24, 2017
13
2
16
Duvall, WA
400


400


I have seen so many really cool coop designs here and I wanted to share before and after pictures of our recently completed project. We got 8 baby chicks and built them a coop. We got the plans from the Home Depot website. We had an existing ancient swing set in our backyard so we enclosed it for their run, replaced the kid swings with chicken swings, added a door on the end, and voila! We love it.
 
We put hardware cloth around the legs of the coop to give them more room in the run, so it is a total of about 100 sf. The swing set area alone I think was about 80 sf or so. Lots of room for our 8.
 
Last edited:
The coop is 32 sf so I guess that would make the swing set area closer to 70. I'm pretty sure the total run area is 100. Anyway, we have one large nesting box that is blocked off right now as the hens are only 2 months old. I might add a divider to it, we will see how they do when the time comes. There are 2 roosting bars inside. I will take a picture later and post it. I'll try to find a link to the plans.
 
I love the idea. I joked with my hubby that if we had gotten a house with a swing set/playset already in place (some of the houses we'd looked at had them) that I would've turned that into the chicken area. It's a good way to recycle otherwise unused equipment and definitely makes for an interesting setup!
 
What an awesome idea! We have a much smaller version of a swing set at our house, but may borrow the idea for a brooder/chick playpen! I'm curious about the ground of the run, as it looks mostly made of dirt. Does anyone have an opinion or preference about dirt vs grass? We have moved the coop from one spot to another in the past year and wanted to move them back to their original spot, but it is just all dirt with only a few tiny sprouts returning after their summer spent on the area. Thoughts? My girls love the old area for dust bathing while they free range, but I wonder if they should be on grass or weeds more often.
 
Chickens will always prefer grass over dirt... they will also completely decimate it and tear it up if allowed. Last spring I started off with grass in about 90% of my run. Now there's no grass at all in there, and that's with only chickens. I'm trying to talk hubby into helping me cobble together a daytime tractor so the chickens can get a few hours on grass elsewhere on the property. I've also ordered a small garden bed strictly for the chickens to dirt bathe in (currently they're using my soon-to-be-planted garden beds), but that can go in their regular run.
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

Lapwom
Run extension & stopping free range
Replies
1
Views
282
rosemarythyme
rosemarythyme
C
Need help retrofitting a coop
Replies
6
Views
709
ChickensInVirginia
C
Mutha_Clucka
    • Love
    • Like
Chicken Swing
Replies
5
Views
821
Daisy2453
Daisy2453
B
    • Like
Coop run for free range hens?
4 5 6
Replies
53
Views
4K
RebelRo
R
Esrun
    • Like
Coop/run upgrade help
4 5 6
Replies
59
Views
4K
BDutch
BDutch

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom