Buff Hooligans, about your coop/run

[halo]

Seachick, Im thinking that having the hardware cloth all the way up would prevent (shudder....) snakes from getting into the run.

Your set up is gorgeous as well!

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Hi, it's Buff H. here - I'm not on the computer on weekends, so I always miss two full days of action here (major bummer). Skatcatla, I'm sorry for not seeing your post.

For the link to my personal page, since the clickable link didn't work, try clicking on "website" link under my avatar. That will take you directly to my coop page.

Gritsar, I downloaded more coop pics to a CD so I could post them on the forum, but I brought the wrong CD in to work with me today! So tomorrow, I promise.

Halo, about building the run, my DH used 2 x 4 pressure treated wood. He made the bottom frame right on the ground first, then screwed the vertical wood beams to the ground frame using big conventional screws.

Then we dug a 12" deep trench around the bottom frame, unrolled a LONG roll of hardware cloth from the trench on one side over the width of run then down the other side into that side's trench. Then we quickly filled the wired trench sections with soil so the wire would stay down. So each "bay" is made up of one long piece of hardware cloth. That way we wouldn't to try to connect any pieces of hardware cloth to each other.

Notice that there are no upper horizontal beams. The hardware cloth is so stiff that it holds the bend we put into it when we turned its direction to cover the frame.

To attach the hardware cloth to the wood beams, DH used long big screws, but put round metal washers in there. (I wish I knew the correct terminology!) He did that because otherwise, the screws wouldn't really hold down the empty spaces that hardware cloth has. The washers overlapped the hardware cloth, thus holding it down.

I have to give my co-worker a ride to the tire repair place now, so I can't continue. More tomorrow. Thanks guys!

 

[halo]

Ah, I get it. Took me a few minutes to figure out what you were talking about....once I figured it out, it made sense. I wonder how wide I could make a run using the hardware cloth the way you did, without putting a board across the top. Lots of great ideas here.

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Halo, yeah, I'm pretty bad at describing three dimensional stuff.

Our run is 5 feet by 12 feet. So the long side is divded into four sections. The roll of hardware cloth was 25' by 3 feet. So each of the four sections was 3 feet wide. Here's a picture showing the run from a direct side view, illustrating what I just tried to describe:

This photo shows how we did the end of the run:

For that we had to cut the hardware cloth - OUCH OUCH OUCH. We had to wear heavy gloves.

More tomorrow.

 

[halo]

How high is the run? Do I see a little people door on the other side of the run? Im wondering if I could use hardware cloth on the sides of the run the way you did, and dig it under the way you did, then put some kind of light netting on the top instead of hardware cloth. I love these ideas.

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Halo, I have the pictures I promised!

To answer your question, the run height was determined by wherever the roof ended. It's about 4" high. I always bump my head on the frame when I'm inside playing with the girls or cleaning up. We were going to top the run with hawk netting at first, but then I got paranoid about raccoons climbing up the hardware cloth and being able to drop through the netting... So we just enclosed it entirely with hardware cloth.

I went out in the rain last night after work and got more detailed pictures.

Here's a shot showing the seams, screws/washers and a little bit of the people door (the only reason it's made from a smaller grid hardware cloth is because we ran out of the other stuff):

Here's another of the seams showing how we just bent the hardware cloth rather than attach it to a horizontal frame:

Here's a detail of where the roof ends and the run and the frame for the people door begins. You can see the silver "drip edge" my DH added:

This is one of the two ventilation screens we put in:

This is the interior view of the ventilation thing. We put hardware cloth over it because we were sure raccoons could bend the exterior part. The ceiling is plywood and the sides are barnboard that someone wanted to get rid of. Underneath the ceiling and walls is "rigid insulation" boards. The girls look kinda dopeybecause they had already been tucked in for the night:

This an interior view of the chicken door with the window above it. In this pic, the chicken door is closed in by the hinged gangplank which covers both the window and chicken door when it's in its "up" position.

This is the interior. The nextbox is an old desk drawer, and the food & water bowls are below it. We only have one perch, a 2x3 board with the wide side up.

This is after we tore off the existing siding and roofing and before we moved it to its current site:

This is a shot taken in the midst of tearing off the old nasty wood and replacing it with shiny new wood:

Here's a late autumn day view from inside the run:

In the midst of summer:

Well, that's all the photos I have. I hope they are helpful to you. If it's any comfort, my DH is not a carpenter, builder or anything. During the project, he would work on a part, then not be happy with the level of perfection. Then he would just keep repeating to himself "it's just a chicken coop, it's just a chicken coop"!


Edited to add details

 

[greginshasta]

Buff Hooligans - what is the height of the run?

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Greginshasta, the run is about 4' high. The end of the roofline determined the height of the run. It would be a lot more convenient for me if it were higher, but then we would have had to figure out how to attach the run to the slanted roof, and it wouldn't have been as "logical" looking.

 

[halo]

Oh wow!!!! I really REALLY appreciate all these pictures...you just don't know how much! Now I think I can actually get a real feel for what I need to do. Im thinking now of using the netting over the top since my run will be a bit wider than yours is, and I will be closing my house up each night, so Im not as worried about raccoons...they'll have to break in the house, which I don't think they'll be able to do. I so appreciate you taking the time to take these pictures. And your girls are just gorgeous. And I love your daylilies, too!

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Thanks so much Halo. You pointed out the depth of my predator paranoia when you mentioned that you were going to shut your girls in the vermin-proof coop every night. We do that too, and I should have remembered that intention before we bothered with the hardware cloth over the top!

Also, I recall that the rolls of hardware cloth were definite 25 feet long, but NOT 3 feet wide (as I mistakenly said in a previous post). We had to lay out a long length on our deck and cut it to 3 feet wide with heavy wire cutting scissors.

Good luck with your project. And remember, if you get discouraged, try my hubby's mantra - "it's just a chicken coop, it's just a chicken coop".