Turkey Coop

Turkeyrangler

Songster
9 Years
May 9, 2010
533
8
131
By Lake Superior
Here's an old play house that I'm converting to a coop for 5 (for now) turkeys. Almost have the coop secured and will work on the run this weekend. It's 8X12, Front window will be inside the run and I'll be using Plexiglas on the shutter windows, the side shutter windows will be covered with plywood, but can still be opened during the day. I closed off the back window because there is little light coming in from that direction and I think most predators will come from that direction. All windows have hardware clothe as well as the door and will also have fine screen placed on the inside because mosquitoes are really bad here in the summer. I put in a new floor and covered the entire floor under the plywood with hardware clothe. The run will be completely enclosed with no chicken wire, just welded fencing 6-7 feet high and over the top. Hardware clothe a few feet up the side and run out a couple feet all around the bottom to prevent predators from digging under. I'm putting in cement block buried under the gate to the run as well to prevent digging. The only predators that could get in are weasels(maybe) and a determined bear. I live in Northern Minnesota and we have every predator you can think of except grizzlies and polar bear. I have personally saw a wolverine here when I had a DNR employee with me. I'm thinking of electric fencing as well. Am I missing anything?? All suggestions would be appreciated.

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I was thinking of doing just that. At first I was thinking to cover all the holes with hardware clothe and pieces of plywood but I have some 1/4 inch and I think I have just enough to cover the walls. Any ideas for building a run on uneven ground. I'm thinking that steel post would work better than trying to build with wood. I'm thinking too many gaps here and there. But If someone has pics of how to build with wood on uneven ground I would love to see them. I only have about 1 1/2 foot of elevation difference to deal with(both up and down). All the wood built runs I've seen on here were on level ground.
 
Woo hoo, that's going to be a *great* coop!

I would really suggest wood (p/t 4x4s) for your run posts, and it is not difficult to do on unlevel ground. You have several options. If the ground is LEVEL but just sloped (er, that didn't come out right -- I mean, if the slope is a constant straight line, not up-down-up-down, you know?) then you can just run the wire fencing at an angle matching the ground. It will cross the posts crooked, and you may have to trim the ends, but it WORKS fine. Or with some types of fencing you can pull at the mesh enough to 'skew' it so that it will match the slope while keeping the upright wires vertical -- so each mesh becomes a slight parallelogram rather than rectangle.

If the ground is uppy-downy-dippy and uneven, what you need to do is pick a level to install the fencing at, and then either bend it out or bury it at the spots where the ground is too high, or fill in at the dips. If you fill in at the dips, the easiest thing is often to shovel fill dirt in, tamp well, then run a digproof apron over top of the fill. But other options exist too.

Good luck, have fun, cool coop,

Pat
 
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Thanks Pat,

I really only have one spot where it is up and down for about 8 feet. The rest is a gentle slope. I'm going with the wood and I will have to bury about 4 feet of fencing is all. Only need to go down about 4-5 inches I think. As an added bonus I applied for a Bear tag this year. I'm pretty sure I will get one. We have a 400 # plus boar running around here that really needs to go. No matter how well I build this coop and run he will get in if he wants to. When they get that big they are not afraid of anything. The smaller bears my dogs will keep at bay. I'm hunting them with a bow because I'm an adrenalin junky. Bear ribs on the grill...YUMMY.
 
Here are a couple pic of the progress that I made today. Besides the run I have put in the roosts and have all the hardware to secure the windows and door. Also, here are a couple pics of the 6-7 week old poults. They are getting big.


Got this much completed on the run today.
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Poults in brooder

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Sorry for the quality of the pics, I got lazy and took the pics with my phone
 

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