Chicken Run questions & advice

[roerinaci]

I had received an Over ez large chicken coop for Christmas we are going to attach a fully enclosed run with roof panels to the coop . When we purchased the house the previous owner had a 4x45x33 dog run made with horse fencing attached to house. We would like to use this area as a second chicken run & are looking for ideas of how to enclose the top, we live in a rural area in northwest Florida .. we have hawks, racoons, fox, coyote etc.. this run area will only be used during the day while i'm working in my garden or doing yard chores.. The chicken coop run would be attached to the dog run area with a door in between to secure at night.. Would construction fencing work to cover the top work of the larger area ?? Or running rope zig zag across ?? Looking for ideas .. Thank You

 

[nuthatched]

Not a answer, unfortunately , but how big is the over easy coop and how many chickens does it say it can house? Over easy is know for really fudging the data on how many chickens you can have. There should be at least 4 square feet per chicken in the coop and 10 square feet per chicken in the run. You have plenty of room in the dog runs, but what did the previous owners reinforce the cattle panels with? What kind of screen/ fencing?

 

[3KillerBs]

A lot of people use bird netting to cover the tops of their pens.

If you show us photos of the dog run people would probably have suggestions for adapting it for chickens.

 

[azygous]

I was once in your position. I had just built a small coop 4' x 4' for two hens, and I wanted a small enclosed run, and I wanted to get it built fast. Pause here to stress the fact that the biggest mistake I have made building coops and runs have been thinking too small.

I was given heavy steel hog panels and it was easy to put them up. I used the same steel panels over the top of the sides to support plastic sheeting for the roof. You probably don't need to be concerned with snow load, but I should have taken snow and wind factors into consideration.You do have rain, however, and rain water can quickly do what snow does to plastic sheeting, puddling and then caving in. Wind one day tore the sheeting off the run roof and nearly gave my chickens heart attacks. Trying to control madly flapping plastic in a 50mph wind storm was a nightmare.

I tell this story to give you the idea that it pays to think carefully before you build a run. Consider all the weather extremes you may face because you will experience them sooner or later. Build strong. They may be just five pound chickens but a run that isn't strong could collapse on them and kill some.

Eventually, I budgeted for a new run and had it framed with strong lumber. I bought fiberglass panels to roof the run. They were easy to install, however, last summer, a severe hail storm punched golf ball size holes in the roof. I bet you get that kind of hail. One hail stone came through the roof and narrowly missed me and the chicken standing at my feet. It would have knocked me out and killed the chicken if it had hit either of us.

Think big. Think strong. Resist thinking cheap.

 

[roerinaci]

Not a answer, unfortunately , but how big is the over easy coop and how many chickens does it say it can house? Over easy is know for really fudging the data on how many chickens you can have. There should be at least 4 square feet per chicken in the coop and 10 square feet per chicken in the run. You have plenty of room in the dog runs, but what did the previous owners reinforce the cattle panels with? What kind of screen/ fencing?

The coop is 74 L x 60 W x 72 1/2 H it says 15 but that will depend of the size of the chickens you have .. They dog run has 4 inch post into the ground .. it is horse fencing attached it is very sturdy .. not cattle panels Hope this helps

 

[nuthatched]

The coop is 74 L x 60 W x 72 1/2 H it says 15 but that will depend of the size of the chickens you have .. They dog run has 4 inch post into the ground .. it is horse fencing attached it is very sturdy .. not cattle panels Hope this helps

Sorry, I forget there's a difference between horse fencing and panels, we use panels here because our dirt is %80 rock.
That's a good size for a run.
How big is the roosting area, I should have been specific, the actually coop.

 

[3KillerBs]

The coop is 74 L x 60 W x 72 1/2

Just a note out of the collective experience here at BYC: It's often a bad sign when a purchased chicken coop gives the measurements in inches.

Each standard size chicken needs 4 square feet in the coop and 10 square feet in the run.

 

[roerinaci]

A lot of people use bird netting to cover the tops of their pens. If you show us photos of the dog run people would probably have suggestions for adapting it for chickens. Sorry, I forget there's a difference between horse fencing and panels, we use panels here because our dirt is %80 rock. That's a good size for a run. How big is the roosting area, I should have been specific, the actually coop.

 

[roerinaci]

I've been trying to post some pics of the dog run & i'm having a problem not sure why.. the coop is 6L x 5W x6.2H .. there are 2 roosting bars on the back wall of the coop that are 6 ft long .. I'm only getting 6 chickens so space is not the issue.. I'm just looking for ideas on the dog run .. it will be an extra area for them to explore.. Thanks

 

[roerinaci]

A lot of people use bird netting to cover the tops of their pens.

If you show us photos of the dog run people would probably have suggestions for adapting it for chickens.

Good Idea on the bird netting