Dog Run as Chicken Run... any precautions/recommendations?

[ElleTheresa]

Hi, I just bought and assembled a 10' x 6' dog run and I love it. I put a tarp over the top secured with curtain hooks. I like it because I can take it apart easily if we move and its easy to clean, plus it has a ready made door I think it was cheaper than what it would have cost to build it with wood.

 

[HerBee45]

Hello...new member here and as I write my other half and a friend are assembling a chain link dog run, 10' x 10' for recent chicken acquisitions. We started with three (one turned out to be a rooster so we took him to a petting farm where he is very happy..and so are we!) then, two days ago, added five more chickens. The dog kennel as a run seems ideal...we can go in to enjoy the chickens, clean much more easily and they have a more comfortable space. Only one thing...we will be putting a close mesh wire top on the run with a rolled cover for foul weather that we can drop down the sides. Also the same close wire mesh (think it's rabbit wire) around the perimeter walls, about three ft' high which hopefully will prevent intruders but I do notice the gate has a rather wide space where it would swing open (about2-3" wide) that's troubling, seems to me it would allow something to grab hold of a chicken if nothing else. Those of you who have such kennels for runs, I wonder if you can offer suggestions on how to fill those gaps since obviously entry into the run is one of the reasons we went this route and of course we can't run the protective base wire across the gate. Well...maybe..just realised we could on the inside and just step over it rather than walk through. Any suggestions you might have would be most welcome and appreciated. Thanks.

 

[txsadlergurl77]

10x10x6 chain link dog run, hubby made a wood pitched roof thats covered with heavy duty tarp, we ran predator proof wire fencing 2 feet up sides and overlapping at a curve along ground staked down and zip tied to chainlink
Plus a coop inside with tarps secured along 2 sides of dog run to weatherproof coop area
Helps to have a handy hubby

 

[HaloAmanda]

We had chain link kennels forall of our runs in the past. They worked great. We had tops covered with a mesh or net and correlated roof on sections for shade.

We covered the bottom half with smaller wire all the way around for 3 reasons; to keep the chickens from sticking heads thru,to keep some predators out, and to keep chicks from traveling between the pens. (At firstwire was only along outside perimeter then we had to add where runs connected as we had chicks visiting other runs lol.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Quote:

Hello...new member here and as I write my other half and a friend are assembling a chain link dog run, 10' x 10' for recent chicken acquisitions. We started with three (one turned out to be a rooster so we took him to a petting farm where he is very happy..and so are we!) then, two days ago, added five more chickens. The dog kennel as a run seems ideal...we can go in to enjoy the chickens, clean much more easily and they have a more comfortable space. Only one thing...we will be putting a close mesh wire top on the run with a rolled cover for foul weather that we can drop down the sides. Also the same close wire mesh (think it's rabbit wire) around the perimeter walls, about three ft' high which hopefully will prevent intruders but I do notice the gate has a rather wide space where it would swing open (about2-3" wide) that's troubling, seems to me it would allow something to grab hold of a chicken if nothing else. Those of you who have such kennels for runs, I wonder if you can offer suggestions on how to fill those gaps since obviously entry into the run is one of the reasons we went this route and of course we can't run the protective base wire across the gate. Well...maybe..just realised we could on the inside and just step over it rather than walk through. Any suggestions you might have would be most welcome and appreciated. Thanks.

My chicks squeezed through the gap between our chain link gate and fence one afternoon (though they "escaped" into an enclosed garden). After that I zip tied some leftover greenhouse wire shelving behind the door openings. So for now the gates can only swing open one way but yes we simply step over those to get in. Just keep them low enough that you won't struggle to get over it. Hardware cloth would also work, you can fold a taller piece in half or cut it down to make it low enough to step over.