Economical Bulletproof Chicken Run

[budkingston]

I designed and made this chicken run out of electrical conduit. Steel. It’s now 14 years old and though I had gotten away from chickens, with the recent uncertainty, I decided to get back in the roost and resuscitate my old digs. I have made an amateur, at best, video on my cell phone. It could be considered boring but may provide alternative ways of looking at construction methods.

https://www.bitchute.com/video/gtsFRMFDMq2F/

I’ll post other videos, upon request, of my coop and tractor, assuming you’re not bored easily by my monotone voice and lack of exciting content.

 

[nikkers390]

It's so heartening to see people think outside the box. I love it!

 

[aart]

Metal framing can be good, I used it for my run.
Chicken wire, however, is not predator proof.
Didn't watch your whole video, I'd rather see a few pics.

 

[nikkers390]

Chicken wire can deter predators depending on where you live and what the predators are.
If you are in an urban area, in a fenced yard, predators should be relatively few, maybe a cat, maybe the occasional coon or opossum. A row of hardware cloth would not hurt because these critters have clever paws that can slip through hex wire.
If one lives rural, chicken wire would definitely fail to prevent losses.
Our predators include feral dogs, coyotes, bobcats (the absolute worst here)
The occasional fox, raccoons and opossums.
Our pens are either chain link or welded wire, reinforced with chicken wire and covered with 1/2" hardware cloth and wire skirting. Our pens are roofed with steel panels and welded wire over the open section of the pen.
People build to suit their needs. Not everyone has the same conditions.
Thank you budkingston.
I, for one, appreciate a person who is willing to share their ideas and actually take time to video their accomplishments.

 

[budkingston]

I live in the city, as discussed in the title of the video. If I lived outside the city, I would use chicken wire and hardware cloth as well as cinder blocks in the ground to prevent tunneling.

Key word was economical. You can really overbuild something like this and while you won’t lose to a predator, your eggs are now upwards of $4/dozen over a period of years. I’ll just buy at Fry’s for 99 cents a dozen and save my time.

I have feral cats but the chickens chase them around when I let the free range. That is a sight to see!