Das Hühnerhaus

[Alabama Jack]

I also think your chunnel looks good - quite a clever way of putting it together.  It always makes me laugh though when I see the huge effort peeps have gone to with their coop & run and in the pics, the chickens are OUTSIDE.    We do the same. : )

I bet you are sick of all the exposed earth.  It will be worth it & a lot less work maintaining it in the long run.  My run is roofed & tall enough for me to walk in - built for my comfort while doing chores, not the chickens.

We can't resist letting them out! Had them in the main yard today.

 

[Achap-henrow]

what I use.....nice wide even pull

 

[Alabama Jack]

Nice Achap! That's definitely a lesson learned for me, that I wish I'd used when I first started this project.

We had spring fever today, so we built two raised gardens. Cedar 2x4's and cedar fence pickets and weed stopper cloth. I left the 2x4's long for putting twine across to support tomatoes and and cucumbers on the back. One outside the chicken area and one inside.

Outside. You can see the coop in the background. Bought five 55 gallon drums as well for $15 each on Craigslist. Going to install gutters on my garage and on the coop and rig up a watering system for the garden.



Inside the chicken yard. Lettuce, cabbage, sunflowers, and strawberries. We might steal a thing or two for us, but mostly for the chickens.


The cherry blossoms are here. Chickens love them!

 

[Alabama Jack]

Took the "bramble" and cut up the larger pieces to make a chunglegym. Had a little bit of help. It was actually all his design!





Crepe Myrtle is a little slippery for the birds, but it should roughen up, once it dries/dies. They spent the whole afternoon snoozing underneath it.




Close enough to done, that I decided to use my scrap to build a few stools and a table. Still need to complete: corrugated plastic roofing of the run, gutters, rain barrels.

 

[aart]

... chunglegym...

 

[cwrite]

Love the chunglegym. The first thing I thought when I saw your bed so close to the house was termites, and then wrong climate. Those blossoms are so beautiful, and clearly tasty too.

 

[Alabama Jack]

Got my rain barrel set-up half way done. Just need to install the gutters on my detached garage and paint the barrels to match the fence.





Hens in the yard (all 12, but I doubt you can pick them out) and coop in the background.

 

[aart]

Cool barrel stand.....you gonna pipe the barrels together?

 

[Alabama Jack]

Cool barrel stand.....you gonna pipe the barrels together?

Definitely, just need to buy the PVC. Still haven't got it totally figured out. I do have the gutter to barrel issue figured out. Bought a kit from "rain brothers" that is super slick.

 

[Alabama Jack]

Got the water barrel's done. Pretty cool way of doing it, in my opinion. Only one hole cut into the barrels. It turns out that 2" PVC screws into one of the barrel plugs. They are different thread pitches, so you have to use the one that does not have a threaded center. Also, the other plugs threads fit 3/4" PVC thread, so you just have to cut out the center and screw in. All the overflow just goes down the downspout and no worries about mosquitoes breeding. Check out "rain brothers rain barrel" on youtube.



Here's where you have to drill one hole into the barrel (and one into the downspout). The rain brother kit comes with the hole saws you need. I know I sound like I'm pitching for these guys, but I'm just a happy customer. No connection...


And here's a pic of the coop with the spring foliage coming in. Still need to landscape and clean a little more...




Also need to add gutters to the coop and pipe in another rain barrel.