Dog kennel for chicken run??

[gracejr]

Would something like this work for a chicken run? http://www.petsafe.net/products/fen...n-link-kennels/diy-kennel-10-w-x-10-d-x-6-h-1 Found one on CL, but not sure if it will work or not. Thoughts? Eventually they'll be getting something bigger, but I need a small-ish run for the time being.

 

[Kaitie09]

I used one of those for my meatie pen. The only problem is you have to figure out a way to make the door predator proof. If you search the forums, there is a thread devoted to dog kennel runs somewhere.

 

[gracejr]

Searching now. I was just excited in finding that and had to post. lol

Proofing it should be interesting, if we go that route. Not sure what to do about that skinny door there.

Do you think it'd be cheaper to build a run from scratch, or modify the kennel? Then kennel on CL was listed at $100. I'm assuming the kennel would be easier, but if there is a huge cost savings, then I'll go from scratch.

 

[Kaitie09]

I got mine on CL for $75, so it was really cheap. Plus, it was only a daytime pen, so the only thing I did was add bird netting to keep the chicks from running out.

Modifying the kennel would probably be easier. There are a lot of interesting things people came up with. A lot of people take the kennels and frame it in wood to make it look better too. I've always wanted to do that and then paint the kennel black to disappear into our woods.

 

[gracejr]

Yeah, chickens will all be locked up in the coop at night, so this will only be used during the day. For day use, should I still put something over the top? I'm worried about snow collapsing it in the winter...

Bird netting - As a roof, or down low near the ground? Since I wouldn't use it at night, would I still need to put hardware cloth along the bottom 2-3 feet, buried and all that? We don't have much in the way of predators here, other than the neighbors cat. Used to have raccoons, but haven't seen them around for at least a year now.

Painting it black - great idea! I'm not a huge fan of the way chainlink looks, so hiding it would be nice. Would the link work as a trellis also? I was thinking about starting some runner beans and sunflowers around the outside of the pen.

Are all chain link panel fences like this compatible with each other? So I could expand it as I find panels cheap on CL or such? I have no idea yet how I'm going to do the big run when it comes time!

 

[Kaitie09]

I believe they are compatable with each other. As for the top, you could get tin from Home Depot or build a roof. We had a tarp over the meaties pen and it collapsed when it rained too much. Definitally check out other dog kennel threads. Since we only had our birds for 8 weeks, we did not put much thought into making it pretty or predator proofing it.