Pictures of my brand new chicken tunnel!

[farmgirlroots]

I'm curious to know how you secured it to the ground? Stakes? Does it lead to your henhouse door or do you have to transport them by hand to the coop?

 

[chynasparks]

I love your tunnel. I saw something like it. They called it a Chunnel. Yours has so much more terrain to walk through. Looks pretty. I would like to do something like this but it seems a fence is providing security. Our yard doesn't have fence. Are you adding things in the tunnel?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Your chicken run looks like it is Grand Central Station for sure!!

Here is another one I remember reading about:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/772337/chicken-run

 

[LOLchick]

Thanks for all the input and comments. While it is a great idea, I can't take credit for that. It all started when I accidentally came across this picture on the web. IMy head started spinning and my eyes rolled around in their sockets with excitement. I just love the way these chickens race through that tunnel. Too funny. There must be some expectation of goodies on the other end. Mine does that too.




These are the 3 websites I mainly used to get info. One tells you exactly how they did it.

http://walkandnotfaint89.blogspot.com/2012/10/chicken-tunnel-chunnel.html

http://zucchinimom.blogspot.com/2012/06/introducing-our-chunnel-chicken-tunnel.html

http://homesteadredhead.com/2013/03/16/behold-a-chunnel/

To answer some questions......My tunnels are connected to an opening in the outside run, that is connected to the coop. That's actually how the whole thing started. I wanted the chickens to get to the other side of the house without me having to carry them one by one before work in my work outfit.

The opening is open all the time. They can come and go as they please. My run and tunnel is not predator proof as such. The coop part where they sleep at night is. I figured they used to free range out in the yard all day long so if there was something around that wanted to get them, they would have been gone by now. The main reason they can't free range anymore is because 2 of them started flying over the fence into the neighbors yard. She didn't mind, but my 2 other neighbors both have dogs, so for their own safety, (the chickens, not the dogs - though Daisy can probably kill anything with her stare

) they had to be fenced in. I still let the free range for some grass time from 5pm till bedtime.
I don't think you need a fence to make it secure. I can move it to run through the middle of the yard if I wanted to. (hmmm......there's an idea. Lots of grass.....). The tunnels are held down with a few stakes. Probably should put in a few more.
And no, they weren't cautious at all. They were watching me the whole time I was installing it. Had a piece of cardboard in front of the opening. When I took it away, they hopped right into the tunnel to explore. Here's part of the run and the 'hole in the wall".

 

[chynasparks]

Yah, that's the Chunnel I mentioned. It looks great but yours looks like it had different landscape for them. I want them to be able to get out but not free range.

 

[eyotig25]

so neat...would love to try this but some r not so thrilled with the idea maybe with some persistence I might be able to do this

 

[chynasparks]

I'm curious, who wouldn't want you to do a tunnel. Seems a great way to keep a chicken off of the neighbors car.

 

[eyotig25]

my mother in law is not so excited about the chickens as we r....she is NOT a bird of any kind fan and to add to the coop and run that we have to her would be a waste of time and money.....We love our chickies, as my three year old calls them, and I want them to have enough space....I am a sucker for a cute little chick and bought four more then we were supposed to have so our new coop is at it max capacity and the run is almost done...I would let them free range but the neighbor has a dog and the chickens have traveled down the road on more then one occasion....this would alleviate some of the problem I think....it is such a simple yet effective use of space....I will be persistent ;-) and hopefully I will prevail

 

[XtremeRooster]

That is really neat! I have way too much potential where I am at for burrowing predators too. I would have to put some type of wire on the ground also which would make moving it a pain.

 

[LOLchick]

It's not hard to do. And not too crazy expensive. I build ours with some help from my 15 year old daughter in 1 day. She helped to cut the pieces. The rest I did myself. I used the green vinyl covered wire 4 x 50 foot. The roll was $64. I think the ones that are not vinyl covered are cheaper but I knew DH was not gonna help so I thought it would be easier to work with. Also the green blend in a bit more. I cut it in 5 foot pieces. I put the self edges to the ground (so tunnel is 4 foot diameter.) I used the cut ends to connect 2 pieces together to form the tunnel. I had some old garden stakes and just bought one extra packet for around $2.50. I think it helps to take a bit of the boredom out of the chickens day if they can't free range. Hope this can help a bit with the persuasion. Good luck!