Chicken yard finished... for now ;) **more Pics Added- details**

[MissPrissy]

Great job! I, too, am a user of PVC for projects.

I always give at least week of lock down when moved from one place to another.

 

[skatcatla]

That looks awesome! Congratulations!

 

[arlee453]

Miss Prissy, I swear we must have been separated at birth.... you weren't born in Alexandria VA in 1969 were you??

If you use the PVC idea, I"ll feel better about 'borrowing' your incubator ideas! LOL!!

 

[EvanEDH]

Hey arlee453,

This is my first post.

I will start building my first chicken coop and run within the next year. The coop will be 34 by 34 and I am going to let my chickens “free range”; however, their run will be 70 by 70. I will place a cover over the run similar to what you have done and I was wondering how you did it so cheap. You said the deer netting cost around 60 dollars . . . I was looking in the Murray McMurray Hatchery catalog and their top netting is priced higher. Just a 25’ width by 50’ length was $239.55.

I guess my main question would be what is best for top netting? I want something that is not so costly but strong at the same time.

Thanks.

 

[arlee453]

I used deer netting, not the poultry/bird netting you're describing you saw on McMurrays.

I got it for less than $15 a roll - I think it was about $12 if I remember correctly. It came in rolls 7 feet by 100ft. I bought 3 rolls for this project and used a little bit from an old roll I had already around the house.

The netting is pretty strong - I can JUST barely rip it with my hands if I really put my strength into it - stronger than I thought it would be.

It's strong enough to keep the chickens in. It would not be strong enough to keep a really determined predator OUT. My girls go up into their more or less predator-proof coop at night, and the dogs are on patrol during the day, so keeping the chickens in their part of the yard was the goal of my covering, not predator-proofing. Although, I'm sure the netting would deter a hawk, and slow down other critters.

You may have to experiment with various thickness and lengths of PVC pipe to see what works best for the span you want to cover. I think I really just about maxed out the width (20-25 ft) of the span for 3 pieces of PVC joined together. I think if your yard was much wider, you may have to put in a center support to help stabilize the PVC and control the curve.

Hope that helps!

 

[MissPrissy]

Quote:
Aiken, SC, 1966!

I used pvc hooped over and covered with chicken wire to make arbours for my peas to grow on.

 

[nccatnip]

I love it, Arlee. Next time you feel creative, stop on by and help me out. I am not too far from you!!!!
Seriously, I think you may have helped me solve my problem with my winter run. Whenever I get that started.

 

[EvanEDH]

Thanks . . . that helps alot. The main reason I am putting top netting over the run is for hawks; however, I did not know that a land predator would be able to go up a 6 foot tall fence and then work through a net.

 

[arlee453]

Quote:
I tell you what, I would never have thought that predators are so much of a problem with chickens in the backyard setting. Some of the stories on here about resourceful and intelligent critters have me paranoid!

I know we have foxes, coons, and possums around here, so I'm definately more predator-aware than I thought I would need to be when I decided to get these chickens in the backyard.

I found myself worrying tonight - first night in the new coop and they haven't found the roosts yet. I thought to myself as I was walking back inside, "hope a possum doesn't amble along and bite their toes tonight..."

 

[aran]

arlee thats really clever...take some close ups of how you connected the plastic arcs to the fence I am interested in doing that myself.