New to chickens I purchased a little pre-fab coop designed for four chickens. It seemed too small so I added another coop and joined the two together. It still seemed too small although I suppose there was plenty of room for my 4 laying hens.
So I made an A-Frame structure covered with very strong mesh designed to give strength to concrete. Over that, I covered it with hardware cloth. The whole thing is supported by 4x4" timbers with about 20 inches of hardware cloth out and covered in earth. I covered the hardware cloth edges with 1" x 6" wood and on top of that put in a line of electric wire. The raccoons were very curious but a couple of good zaps seems to have sent then in search of other food.
The run was built directly over the store bought coops.
I noticed there are mice in the run. Not sure how they are getting in. I will line the edges with cement and I hope that will deter the digging.
Inside I put in a chicken cam. Here is a time lapse of 4 hours in 2 minutes. The girls seem happy.
https://video.nest.com/clip/ac59a76494654ada9a56ef133959c481.mp4
Regards
So I made an A-Frame structure covered with very strong mesh designed to give strength to concrete. Over that, I covered it with hardware cloth. The whole thing is supported by 4x4" timbers with about 20 inches of hardware cloth out and covered in earth. I covered the hardware cloth edges with 1" x 6" wood and on top of that put in a line of electric wire. The raccoons were very curious but a couple of good zaps seems to have sent then in search of other food.
The run was built directly over the store bought coops.
I noticed there are mice in the run. Not sure how they are getting in. I will line the edges with cement and I hope that will deter the digging.
Inside I put in a chicken cam. Here is a time lapse of 4 hours in 2 minutes. The girls seem happy.
https://video.nest.com/clip/ac59a76494654ada9a56ef133959c481.mp4
Regards
