16 X 16 Run

[ameliadanielle]

Ok, I am building impaired. Without strict instructions and predrilled holes there is no way I'll be able to build anything. I can't find any plans anywhere for a 16ft X 16ft run. I know we need a big space, and we have the yard space to do it with no problem. Especially now that we have 12 chickens instead of 8.

What is the best way for me to do this? My idea is a wooden frame, screened in with wire mesh on all sides and the top. I'd like it to be over 6ft tall, so my husband can walk inside with no problem. Would it be easier to build four separate 8X8 frames, attach them, then screen the outside?

Or I was also thinking, just put in posts like I'm building a fence. Use hardware cloth around the bottom. Just frame the top, and use chicken netting above the hardware cloth and for the top. Half of it open screen top, the other half a plywood roof.

What do people do when they start building runs of that size? I want it to be sturdy enough to last. I don't think buying that many 2X4s to frame it out would be very cost effective. Wednesday we're going to mark off the section of the yard that we are going to use. So I'll have an exact measurement of the space. I'm guessing we have about 3 weeks before it's warm enough and the chicks are feathered enough that they can be moved outside. But once we start building, it should be finished in a couple of days. At the very least, we do half on one Sunday and the rest on the following Sunday.

 

[BonRae67]

The post and fence idea is great. It will be sturdy and last. Is there a coop for them to get into as well? You could also cover the run with hawk netting.

 

[JackE]

For the cost of all the wood, plus hardware cloth, ect. You could set up an enclosed run that would be waaaay easier to set up, larger than 16X16' if you wanted, and probably less $$$. Electrified poultry netting.

http://www.premier1supplies.com/fencing.php?species_id=6


To install, all you have to do is unfold the fence, and step it in. Hook up the charger, and you are done. Nothing on four legs is getting past it. I've had my fence set up going on 4yrs, and have not had a loss. I consider it one of the best things I have done for my birds.

 

[ameliadanielle]

I was going to build their coops inside the run, up off the ground underneath the roofed portion for shade. We have to worry more about heat here than cold. I was going to build two coops, but now it's looking like 3. I also have to make sure we have some roosts out in the open under the shade too. I've seen chickens choose to roost out in the open in the summer when it isn't raining instead of going into a coop because it's cooler.

I'm not going to need electricity around it. The only reason I'm doing an enclosed run is to keep them from flying over our privacy fence and getting out of the yard, and to keep hawks and owls away from them. We have a great Pyrenees in the back yard that is always on duty. Nothing comes in that back yard. We have 1/3 of an acre behind a 6ft privacy fence. With the only predators being owls and hawks around here, it has to have a top, and it has to be tall enough we can walk around in it because the coops and everything will be inside the run.

 

[ameliadanielle]

If something gets into our backyard and past the guard dog, it deserves a chicken... and probably a beer. Lol.

 

[Kmath]

The post and fence idea is great. It will be sturdy and last. Is there a coop for them to get into as well? You could also cover the run with hawk netting.

Will that keep racoons out?

 

[ameliadanielle]

Will that keep racoons out?

The only viable predators are hawks and owls. The run is going inside a 6ft privacy fence, 1/3 of an acre containing a Great Pyrenees. No trees, bushes or anything at all on the outside or inside of the fence. The fence has proved dig proof for pigs. So a predator would need to scale a 6ft fence, get to the run and find a way in before the dog gets them. If that happens, I will personally cook that raccoon a chicken omelette.

 

[Kmath]

The only viable predators are hawks and owls. The run is going inside a 6ft privacy fence, 1/3 of an acre containing a Great Pyrenees. No trees, bushes or anything at all on the outside or inside of the fence. The fence has proved dig proof for pigs. So a predator would need to scale a 6ft fence, get to the run and find a way in before the dog gets them. If that happens, I will personally cook that raccoon a chicken omelette.  

You would be surprised. I have 3 dogs and I had 2 the last time I met the raccoon. The racoons attacked my husky malamute. Didn't even care. He was challenging him. It isn't that hard for a raccoon to sneak past the dog.

 

[ameliadanielle]

Have

You would be surprised. I have 3 dogs and I had 2 the last time I met the raccoon. The racoons attacked my husky malamute. Didn't even care. He was challenging him. It isn't that hard for a raccoon to sneak past the dog.

You had a raccoon that snuck past 3 livestock guardian dogs?

 

[BonRae67]

Will that keep racoons out?

I put welded wire rabbit fence along the bottom then chicken wire over that. I am hoping it will keep racoons out.