Conversion of "3 sides totally open" aviary to a "good for chickens" coop.

[paneubert]

Will your framing take the tension?

The deck framing yes. For sure. The top of the coop/bottom of the human deck is something like an 8 by 12 inch pressure treated beam. The bolts/screws would rip out of the wood wayyyyyyy before the framing failed. The other end of the cables being secured to my exterior fence. Hopefully the fence can take it. I have not measured it out, but plan to eye bolt (probably eye screw) into the 4 by 4 fence posts. They are concreted into the ground, so hopefully will not shift at all. Also anticipate needing to run a couple extra lengths of cable, which will need to be secured somewhere midway between the fence 4 by 4s. This will be a little trickier since I do not have a top rail on the fence to screw into. I will most likely need to secure some lengths of 2 by 4 as a sort of "mast" that reaches the intended height, then secure the cable to that. This is where there might be some issues with tension.

Total distance from deck/coop to fence is about 23 feet. I am not planning on putting a ton of tension on the wire since the netting is really light weight. The cabling is less for weight support and more for just keeping the netting from sagging unattractively in the middle of the 23 foot span. Plan it to tension the wire just enough so that it has no sag itself. Maybe a slight "twang" to it, if you know what I mean. When finished, the netting should slope down overall since the deck framing is higher than the fence, and my run also has a natural slope down towards the fenceline.

All this goes along with my mantra regarding the chicken run of "This isn't to keep predators out, but to keep the chickens in". Well.....I hope it at least dissuades hawks from making an attempt. If they do, I will probably have to go free them somehow since they are going to tangle up badly. But it is not going to stop a raccoon or possum. They could chew right thru the netting.

Don't think I am going to be able to work on it this weekend. But I have MLK day off, and that is also my birthday. So I can probably convince my wife that I need some time to work on the coop/run later this month.

 

[paneubert]

The tree in the middle of my run also has not been factored in to my plan yet. Haha. So I have that as either a plus or a minus when it comes to running the netting. I anticipate using it for some netting support as well. Either by laying the netting across some of its branches that are at an appropriate height, or at the very least tacking the netting to the trunk as I pass the trunk on my way to the fenceline. Use it like a tent pole.

 

[paneubert]

Well....the bald eagles keep taunting me from the tall trees. Haha. Perfect view for them to survey their surroundings and spot prey. They have always been around, but never so vocal. It is like they are telling me to hurry up with the delivery of their afternoon snacks. Just reassures me that putting a net to on the run is wise.....

 

[paneubert]

Managed to paint my daughters room a hideous pink, and still have a little time for the chickens.

Constructed the poop board frame and roost bar. Used 2 by 4 studs since they are cheap. You can't see it from this photo, but I also screwed in some short pieces of 2 by 4 extending a few inches down the sides and back so that this frame can't shift around on the table top. So that it doesn't slide backwards, I have a couple short screws just inside the front frame running down into the desk top. This means I can still lift the entire rectangle vertically off the desk if I ever need to repair or replace. Or if I want to do a deep clean.

Roost bar is a 2 by 4. Bottom of roost bar is about 10 inches off desk top surface. Top of roost bar is right at a foot tall. Within about half an inch or so.

Under the desk you can see I put in two beams. Those support a thin sheet of wood that I cut to size. Makes my giant nest box. May divide the box down the road. Not sure. Not planning to even put the "floor" in the nest until closer to egg laying time/age. I don't want them sleeping in the nest. They can't sleep in there if it doesn't even have a floor! Haha.

Here are some progress pictures. This is before I put the front lip on the nest box.

Put a 1 by 6 lip on the front to keep nesting materials in. Bottom of 1 by 6 is about even with bottom of 2 by 4. So lip is about 4.5 inches high.

Not sure how or if I want to add a perch in front of the nest box lip. I might just see how they handle it as it is. Maybe a small ramp. but I don't want to take up more floor/walking space with another ramp.

Added a 1 by 6 by 6 foot ramp, but have not put cleats on it yet. It is screwed into the frame of the poop board at the top, and currently resting on a cinder block on the low end. Not a harsh angle. There is a giant boulder below the end of the ramp. Planning to screw in some 1 by 1 square wood cleats next time I get a chance. I have a ton of scrap lengths of deck railing verticals (1 by 1 square) left over that I am going to cut down to size for the cleats. Also planning to most likely wire the bottom of the ramp to one of the cinder blocks so that it can't shift or fall off. We will see.

I have WAY to many bags of dry leaves being stored for Spring......it feels like it takes just as much time to move them all out of the coop so I can work in there as it takes for the work/construction I end up doing in the coop. Then I have to load them all back in when I am done for the day. I decided to dump 2 bags on the floor of the coop, just to lighten the load a bit. Haha. They expanded/fluffed a lot! Put some of the remaining bags back in the coop for storage and rain protection. But left some outside since it is not supposed to rain for another few days. Just need to get off my butt and store the remaining bags before the rain hits......

 

[paneubert]

Other items of note. Auto chicken door is under the ramp. Does not obstruct the door at all. Ramp is about 6 inches away from the hardware cloth wall. The roost bar is well within the wind shield created by the roofing panels I installed from floor to ceiling. I am considering covering a little more of the long wall, mostly the area above the chicken door. By doing that, there will be even less draft when the chicken door is closed at night since it would essentially be an additional foot and a half to 2 feet of floor to ceiling solid wall.

 

[paneubert]

Posted this in the "Chip Drop" thread, but have to stick it here as well.

So.........my wife is not happy with me. Haha. I get a call from my neighbor saying there is a tree being chipped down the road and the company wants to know if the neighbor wants any chips. They say no, but call me to see if I want them. I say "sure, a tree sounds like a good/manageable amount of chips. I could use some chips. Tell them to dump it where the small gravel pile and tarp are." I then see the following on my doorbell camera.....

Sorry, don't think it will embed the video, but here is the link. Promise it isn't a virus or anything.

https://ring.com/share/6646809031294572842

 

[aart]

I replied there:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/getchipdrop-com.1283286/page-6#post-20861263

 

[paneubert]

I was trying to find that video from a while back where our clearly "drugged up" friend from Guatemala was showing us his composting/deep litter system. Could not find the thread on here where we were all commenting on the video, but managed to use some creative search terms on YouTube and found it. Going to post it here so I know where to find it in the future! Always a fun watch.

 

[aart]

Stoned as that guy may have been...the info is pretty good, shows how mush work it really is wish there was more about harvesting the compost when 'done'.

 

[paneubert]

Mulch, mulch, and more mulch!

Starting to wheelbarrow it in. Couple loads can be seen in the far right side of the run. Existing thick layer of wet leaves from when the tree dropped them in the fall, plus some I added. Really wet, but not slimey.

Filled in. You can see how deep I went by looking at how deep that big log is buried. Averages about 4-6 inches deep.

Added in the Christmas tree and a huge root ball that we found in the wood mulch pile. The arborist company clearly was trying to dump more than just some chips on us. We also found a broken rake in the pile. Rusting metal tines and gross wood handle and all...

Here is a shot of the little chicken tee-pee I made around the big cherry tree. Nice place for them to go have their chicken meetings. Did not mulch in there, so it is a pretty deep hiding hole. Until they scratch a ton of mulch down into there.

Overall shot looking in from the front yard gate side.

Still need to run the wire for the run roof. Then need to lay the netting over the wire framework. May try for that tomorrow if the rain holds off. Would love to get that done.