B.Y.C. Dorking Club!

[pysankigirl]

nice efficient design! like your CAD work, too...what program did you use to draft it up with?

 

[ki4got]

nice efficient design! like your CAD work, too...what program did you use to draft it up with?

sketch up... works well, easy to use, and best of all, free.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Very sweet set-up plans! This type of four-pen set-up is what we recommend folks do per breed if you want to have a cosed flock with enough viable genetic diversity and yet not have to bring in new blood which will invert your strain. Four pens of matrilinear clan breeding. It's what we do with each of our breeds.

 

[ki4got]

Very sweet set-up plans! This type of four-pen set-up is what we recommend folks do per breed if you want to have a cosed flock with enough viable genetic diversity and yet not have to bring in new blood which will invert your strain. Four pens of matrilinear clan breeding. It's what we do with each of our breeds.

actually, each house is divided down the middle, so there's a total of 8 pens... i'm figuring 4-5 for the dorkings, since i only have 5 roos (but not sure how the new guy will turn out, he's still very young IMO), the rest for the cochins.

 

[pysankigirl]

I am trying to visualize size and there aren't any dimensions showing....how big is, say, one of the runs?

 

[ki4got]

I am trying to visualize size and there aren't any dimensions showing....how big is, say, one of the runs?

each run is 6x8, the houses are going to be 5x4

 

[3riverschick]

my biggest goal right now, is to get a spot cleared and leveled enough that i can get my breeding pen setup built... it'll have 8 individual pens large enough for 4-5 LF birds each. that way i can rotate roos with hens as needed, plus have room for my cochins and blrw (if the blrw will ever start laying?)

this is a rough draft of my pen setup i have planned...
overall space required would be about 30' square... fortunately our winters aren't harsh, so raised coops do ok and help keep the birds drier.
each house would be divided, and the space underneath accessible to the birds as well for shelter if it's raining. thinking i may run a tarp down the center of the pen group too. I've got tarps on 2 other pens right now and they stay nice and dry for the birds even in a downpour.

The nice thing about this set-up is that it can all be set on top the ground.
No in-ground pilings needed. In our part of the county, that means no building permit needed since they are "temporary structures".
I make fence panels to use as indicated above. Use 2x4 construction, 6 feet high, so I can walk in the run. So disgusting to try and clean a run when you can't stand upright.
Also check local regs. Some allow fences no higher than 6ft. . So one has to allow for width of top and bottom panel boards when cutting verticals to length.
I use fence staples to secure the chicken wire to the 2x4 frame. If extra strength is needed, screw 1x4's over the strips of staples. If I use 2x4 inch welded wire( as in my dog runs) , I don't need supports in the corners of the fence panels because the welded wire is stiffer. With chicken wire, I cut diagonal 2x4 supports and screw them across all the inside corners of the panels. It looks pretty too.
I use 4x4's at all junctions where the panels meet. Screw the panels into the 4x4's with carriage bolts. (screws aren't strong enough). Works great.
My 18 yr. old dog run (36' x 24' , and made with 2x4 welded wire in the panels) never had an issue until last year when a 60 ft. pine fell diagonally across it. The tree was removed, the affected corner panels set back upright, and a strengthening boards nailed across just the top of the downed corner panels (no need for a brace across the corner to strengthen the "L" intersection). . The smashed gate rebuilt , and the runs are fine again. No panels needed to be rebuilt because the 4x4 corner post allowed them to simply "lay down " instead of being smashed.
Go to Lowe's (or a like store) and buy the smooth sided translucent vinyl carpet protector runner. Fasten it over and around the three wire sides below the raised coop. It makes a great weather-break , yet still lets the light through. Another reason for this is the size of the wire panels fencing the underpart of the coop. See how small they are? The bigger panels have some give to them which make it harder for a predator to rip them. But the smaller panels are strung tighter. We had a young opposum get in our poultry yard one night. I lock all my birds up in the coop at night so they were safe. Saw where the varmint entered. It was a smaller, more tightly drawn wire panel (8 inches wide) where the coop joined the run. He was able to rip the chicken wire bacause the wire was drawn tighter. We nailed plywood across any panels that small and have not had a repeat. The vinyl carpet runner makes a smooth surface, hard to get a grip on.
Be careful of the wood you buy. Some of the "treated lumber" is seasoned with an arsenic solution which can leach out into the ground over time. So either buy unseasoned lumber or arsenic-free treated lumber.
Also, make one of the walls under the coop (the one facing the prevailing wind) solid so you can put a door in that side. Put strong hunges and a solid slide bolt /lock on it. Like the other doors in the structure, this is a place where predators can engage their claws around the edges to try and get in. This way you can access under the coop, without having to climb under the coop from inside the run. This is helpful if you need to access the roost under the run or shoo chickens back out into the run, deal with feed, grit, etc. .
Best Regards,
Karen
Waterford English Sussex
western PA, USA

 

[ki4got]

Quote: thanks... i'm planning on making this somewhat modular as well. primarily though because i don't have a level spot to put it, so i can do one section, then stairstep the next if needed...

fence height isn't an issue here... i'm on 26 acres in the middle of no-*bleeping*-where with a driveway that's over half mile long. pretty much our only restriction is no radio towers/antennas over 75 feet tall. that's fine, the tower's only 50' plus the antennas (about 60 all told). hubby and i are both hams, so radio stuff is important too. 8)

 

[ki4got]

oh. got a couple quick pics today at lunch. LOVE LOVE LOVE my new camera... with the zoom lens, talk about 'reach out and touch someone' 8)

merlin insisted i show him off too.


Thing2 napping


the 'wimps' who didn't want to get their feet muddy (i guess)...

 

[Rockashelle]

Love the new camera, its like we're in the yard with you!

Ps - beautiful birds and Merlin's aweful cute too.