crowdofmyself
Songster
I picked up nine masonry ladders today (https://www.homedepot.com/p/Grip-Rite-8-in-Ladder-Mesh-Block-GRLBMG08/203590053), which look kind of like this when set up as hoops:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/281756520422309513/
The ladders were cheaper than PVC pipe plus the requisite affixing hardware/wood PVC requires. The wire is 8-gauge and heavy-duty, but it's easier to bend a hoop out of them than with PVC pipe. Yeah, they'll probably rust out eventually, but I figured I'd try them and see what I could do to get me into safe chickens before I go through several years of learning curve/cost on building the chicken mansion....
By sticking the end pieces of these ladders into the ground about 4 feet apart, they make a perfect-height hoop for butting up to my small Snaplock coop on stand so the door will open and there is room for the auto door opener. I plan to completely enclose the sides of the coop stand and affix the first hoop of the run to the coop so nothing can get in anywhere. I'm trying to modularize/monetize my run-building efforts so I'm less overwhelmed and able to work on it all a little at a time as time and money allows, to be ready for chicks next spring.
By affixing to one edge of the ladder with zip ties a length of hardware cloth sufficient to cover one hoop with enough overhang on each end for a 12" ground skirt, then using a strong/long tent stake (I have tons of them lying around) to hold down the hoop and the skirt, I think I can begin to calculate how to add up the square footage per bird that I'll need for the total run. I can't decide if it would be more cost-effective to go with 36" or 48" wide hardware cloth, although I expect the 36" would be structurally stronger (more hoops, more zip ties, more stakes--what do you think?). I'd put in one module, then put up a second module, overlapping the open edge of the hardware cloth about 3 inches or more onto the next hoop, then tie the two modules together with zip ties; etc. I'll have to build some kind of end cap/door on the end, of course, but I think I can figure that out.
One thing this will allow me to do is know that if I decide I don't like this approach at all, I'll still have the materials that I can deconstruct and use differently down the road. I'll have evenly cut hardware cloth, anyway. I'll also have hoops that I can use in my raised beds if I decide they aren't going to work for the chickens.
I am laboring under the assumption that this approach should provide a safe space for my chickens. It's hard for ME to pull up a firmly staked ladder, and that's without the hardware cloth and grass grown up through it. I will have three or four chickens, so I will do a run that is long enough to give them plenty of square footage. The coop itself is predator proof already, and it will be accessible by me from outside the run so the run will not have to be a walk-in height. It'll be higher than those chicken moats that are only as tall as the chickens, though. I'll be able to put food and water under the coop and have access to it via a door and also provide spots to dust-bathe (hoops on the other side from the run), I think. I'll let them free-range for an hour before bedtime, but I'll have to lock up the evil little chihuahua-mix dogs...
Do you think I can make this work? I've been literally paralyzed with fear over getting these darned chickens because I can't afford a cadillac, and I have to overcome that fear somehow. I've got a 10x10 gazebo frame I was planning to use as a run with the coop inside of it, but after some of the comments on this forum, now I'm too scared to try to use it. But if the hoops don't work, the hardware cloth can still be used for the gazebo because it will be cut right for it.
Do you see something I'm missing on the workability of this idea?
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/281756520422309513/
The ladders were cheaper than PVC pipe plus the requisite affixing hardware/wood PVC requires. The wire is 8-gauge and heavy-duty, but it's easier to bend a hoop out of them than with PVC pipe. Yeah, they'll probably rust out eventually, but I figured I'd try them and see what I could do to get me into safe chickens before I go through several years of learning curve/cost on building the chicken mansion....
By sticking the end pieces of these ladders into the ground about 4 feet apart, they make a perfect-height hoop for butting up to my small Snaplock coop on stand so the door will open and there is room for the auto door opener. I plan to completely enclose the sides of the coop stand and affix the first hoop of the run to the coop so nothing can get in anywhere. I'm trying to modularize/monetize my run-building efforts so I'm less overwhelmed and able to work on it all a little at a time as time and money allows, to be ready for chicks next spring.
By affixing to one edge of the ladder with zip ties a length of hardware cloth sufficient to cover one hoop with enough overhang on each end for a 12" ground skirt, then using a strong/long tent stake (I have tons of them lying around) to hold down the hoop and the skirt, I think I can begin to calculate how to add up the square footage per bird that I'll need for the total run. I can't decide if it would be more cost-effective to go with 36" or 48" wide hardware cloth, although I expect the 36" would be structurally stronger (more hoops, more zip ties, more stakes--what do you think?). I'd put in one module, then put up a second module, overlapping the open edge of the hardware cloth about 3 inches or more onto the next hoop, then tie the two modules together with zip ties; etc. I'll have to build some kind of end cap/door on the end, of course, but I think I can figure that out.
One thing this will allow me to do is know that if I decide I don't like this approach at all, I'll still have the materials that I can deconstruct and use differently down the road. I'll have evenly cut hardware cloth, anyway. I'll also have hoops that I can use in my raised beds if I decide they aren't going to work for the chickens.
I am laboring under the assumption that this approach should provide a safe space for my chickens. It's hard for ME to pull up a firmly staked ladder, and that's without the hardware cloth and grass grown up through it. I will have three or four chickens, so I will do a run that is long enough to give them plenty of square footage. The coop itself is predator proof already, and it will be accessible by me from outside the run so the run will not have to be a walk-in height. It'll be higher than those chicken moats that are only as tall as the chickens, though. I'll be able to put food and water under the coop and have access to it via a door and also provide spots to dust-bathe (hoops on the other side from the run), I think. I'll let them free-range for an hour before bedtime, but I'll have to lock up the evil little chihuahua-mix dogs...
Do you think I can make this work? I've been literally paralyzed with fear over getting these darned chickens because I can't afford a cadillac, and I have to overcome that fear somehow. I've got a 10x10 gazebo frame I was planning to use as a run with the coop inside of it, but after some of the comments on this forum, now I'm too scared to try to use it. But if the hoops don't work, the hardware cloth can still be used for the gazebo because it will be cut right for it.
Do you see something I'm missing on the workability of this idea?
I'm really losing it here trying to think this all out. I also have eight 2x4 gridwall panels that I could press into service with zip ties to do a day run to keep my little dogs out. (These panels are very heavy duty, but with 3" square openings, so I know they won't be completely predator-proof.)
