This is my night chicken guardian, Alice, 8 years old mix Beagle/Jack Russell. Her house is behind the egg box. She has an electric fence, so this is the area where she only sleeps and eats, during the day she runs around the yard, but usually stays close to the chicken run.
The human door still needs to be finish, right now I have a temporary door with just a net on it.
This is the "doggy door" , I used a mirror purchased from habitat for $4. I took the mirror out and painted the frame, then screw it to the fence.
They usually eat in group, more they are, more the net gets lower and they can reach to more grass.
OH NO.. you are from NC?? If my chickens hear about this place they will be packing up and moving to Albermarle! You have a beautiful set up! Lucky for me they are probably too lazy to march the 70 miles from Sanford.
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Actually the gravel was not to bad, my husband pick it up with his truck, so there was no delivery fee. I used 2.5 tons and it was $36/tone (we spent about $100 in gravel). I am a stay at home mom who use to have two jobs and a very busy life style. I'm one of those women who starts the morning with three cups of coffee and runs around all day. Now all that energy has to be used on something else
All this was done in the course of several months, so the price doesn't seem so bad. I added up recently to see how much I really spent so far on it, and I came up around $2,000 and that includes the coop and the egg box. I had some left over wood from building the house, and I also used some recycled wood. For instance, two of the fence panels in the back are old fences that I got for free from my mother in law. The bridge I made with wood I found on the side of the road. Some boards are the frame of an old water bed, really solid wood, painted, nailed together and it's so solid that my husband could drive his tractor over it. The covered area is covered with tarps attached to wood frame. That will be a future project to change to a solid roof.
Initially I started with one part of the run, then I bought few more chickens and I decided to extend that part. I used the "Surpriseeee!!!" method with my husband.
I called my husband at work and asked him "How do you use this chain saw?" By the time he got home from work I cut down several trees next to the initial run, cleaned up the area 25ftx25ft, dig the holes, and put the 4x4 posts in concrete (witch I brought home only three at the time in several trips from Lowes since that's all I could fit in my 4 door sedan), and when my husband got home all I said was " Honey could help me stretch this wire around this posts, pretty please?"
He looked and said "What is this?" and I said "Surpriseee honey, the run just got bigger!" I believe I heard a little bit of a growling, but because he didn't had to do any of the hard work, and we have plenty of yard to stretch, he got over it very quick. Next day I built the top frame, painted, and when my husband got home I asked him to help me stretch the vinyl net for the roof. I did most of the coop myself, but some cuts I had to get my husband to do (I cant do any angle cuts), so he did all the doors.
I believe my husband is afraid to go to work because he never knows what new "surprise" he will find when he gets home.
He still tries to convince me that I should take that pottery class that Ive always wanted (just so I can stay away from any construction projects before I take over the whole back yard) Now, if I would only had a pick up truck, I could do so much more ....