Desperate for sloped run ideas!!!

[dvcrztb]

My slope was only a 6 in difference, but maybe you could do your in stages. Do each section as a seperate unit with a stair step along the side going up. Make each section so you can easily work in it. We used concrete (cinder) blocks and gravel to get the peremeter as level as possible. The blocks come in several different sizes and that helped getting our 8 x 20 foot peremeter. On top of the blocks, we laid 48 inch wide, 1/4 hardware cloth the length of the run and to make up the missing midle inches, we laid a 24 inch width of it over the middle all the way down the 20 ft. Then we laid 2 inch high block toppers on top to hold in the mesh securely. We laid a bead of contracter adhesive that comes in a tube that you need the gun applicator for. We used 2 tubes of it and laid the 2 x 4 lengths of wood on the adhesive. Hopefully nothing will get through. By making the base with the blocks level, we could do the rest of the framing easily. We made the highest point 7 1/2 ft and the back 6 1/2 ft along the 20 ft length so we have no problem standing in the run.

 

[dvcrztb]

 

[SF411chicks]

dvcrztb
Thank you for the ideas! I do think I will go with the stair step, also the cinder blocks are a great idea. I hadn't thought of that, but that would make leveling the sections easier. Did you use the bead of contractor adhesive, on top of the blocks and under the frame wood? Is that a special adhesive?

Your set up looks so nice. You must have very happy chickens

Thanks again!

 

[dvcrztb]

I am still waiting for someone to help put the hardware cloth up. Thursday my friend's brother is coming to look at the job. My sections are 48 inches on center, and the front is almost 8 ft tall. That makes the hardware cloth too big and unruly for a one person job. It gets screwed on with washers and has to be straight. Yes, the bead of contractors adhesive is between the flat block that closes off the cinder block holes and the 2 x 4 laid on top as the base for the framing. It is in a tube and goes on with a caulking gun.

With the 6 inches of sand in the run, a lot of it is getting kicked out by the dog, who will be very unhappy when his sand pit goes to the chickens and he is locked out. I am thinking of affixing a 1 x 6 board along the inside perimeter to keep the sand in.

It makes leveling the cinder blocks a lot easier if you dig a bit deeper and lay gravel down. I took a shovel and dragged it along the length of each side to help level. That is the hardest part of the whole thing, except waiting to get the hardware cloth on. lol
Be sure to also cover the top as predators will climb up and try to get it. I have laid the hardware cloth under the run and it will go around and on top, under the roofing wood. Don't get the thin corregated roofing. I did and am thinking it was twice as much work to install because it required cross beams and already one screw popped when I was painting underneath. Bottom line is you get what you pay for. This was about 8.00 a section and white opaque.

 

[Eggette]

I hope your chicks get well. I have a few who aren't doing well at the moment too due to the wet weather. I'm praying they get well, one is one of my favorite little EE's.

I am sad to say that I lost my little Easter Egg chick, but the rest are better now and doing fine.

 

[elizmartin]

elizmartin,
Thanks for the idea. Do you think the twine works just as well without the cd's? With the twin about 2 ft apart that keeps the hawks out?

I do, i just add them because they are available to me used from work. I have areas that have all kinds of shiny streamers and some that are just the string….works the same…..My latest problem is that i have starlings over for lunch and they can get through the chain link, so will have to figure some other kind of netting too.

 

[elizmartin]

Was looking through various hatcheries online and noticed that Cackle had a predator page describing each usual type and their abilities….Something i had not known was that an owl can and will fly thru a 1 foot hole…day or night for a meal.

 

[SF411chicks]

The girls were making a lot of racket yesterday, went out to check and did not see anything until it flew up into the neighbor tree. It was a red tail. He was down checking it out the girls, looking for a way in??? luckily he did not find one. There has also been a stray cat hanging around. I never thought this would be so nerve wracking, so many predators.

 

[dvcrztb]

Yes to the bead of contractor cement. Be careful which way you place the blocks. I did solid sides facing out, holes facing up. Put a paver on top of that and then the bead of adhesive cement and then the 2x4s. Be very sure everything is level and squared. We missed on the squared part by a bit and the contractor I had help me with the framing was cursing a blue streak. lol

 

[dvcrztb]

I also laid the 1/4 galvanized hardware cloth across the opening and resting on the 2x4s so nothing can dig from underneath. I used 48 inch sections for the framing as well.