Economical/"easy" run build

[TheMrsBird]

I just bought a new (to me) hen house & will need some help modifying that soon, but I'm looking for thoughts on economical semi-permanent/permanent run builds. Ideally with minimal labor/time to put in since I'll need to clean the new henhouse & modify it a bit...and my new chicks will soon be outgrowing their current digs-darn chicken math with the help of lucky hatch & survival rates are multiplying my flock this year!

Anyways-biggest/most urgent for me-the run.

 

[All Ball]

You might be able to find used materials via Craigslist, or start small and expand by adding materials over time...

 

[Krugerrand]

Cattle panel hoop coops are among the cheapest and fastest. Lots of examples on the site.

 

[Krugerrand]

I linked to some of my favorites in this thread
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-and-a-rooster-in-a-dog-kennel.1470408/page-5

 

[black_cat]

With the price of wood right now, it may be easiest to go with a large dog run or large dog run style chicken run that you could just plonk a coop into. Otherwise, hoop coops are very fast and easy if you'd like to build.

 

[TheMrsBird]

With the price of wood right now, it may be easiest to go with a large dog run or large dog run style chicken run that you could just plonk a coop into. Otherwise, hoop coops are very fast and easy if you'd like to build.

Fortunately/unfortunately I have a loooong history of half finished (or barely begun) projects, so an abandoned playground build has me drowning in lumber.

But maybe the cattle panels would be easier in the long run for me? I don't know...

 

[cmom]

I used chicken wire and electric wires around the outside of my coops and pens with good heavy duty netting covering my pens and concrete under the gates all due to losses from predators in the past. I put it all up by myself and I'm not a young person. I admit that it was over many years one coop at a time.

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC.

Quick, easy, cheap, and predator-proof do not come in the same package.

T-posts and chicken wire are about as quick and as cheap as you can get but dogs and raccoons would go right through it. 2x4 wire is stronger but not as cheap -- and still is best lined at the bottom with hardware cloth. How easy either is depends on your facility with a post driver.

Electric poultry netting is quick, easy, and predator-proof, but not cheap. It also needs some kind of inner curtain liner to keep chicks inside until they get too big to go through the netting.

Chainlink dog kennel panels are easy and proof against large predators but, again, need hardware cloth and they don't come cheap.

Where, in general, are you located? What kind of predators do you have to deal with? How hard is your ground?

Where is your chicken run going to be located? Do looks matter?

 

[Krugerrand]

I should have linked to this article on hoop coops. Tons of good info here. If you go a hoop-coop route, be sure to read these for how-to tips even if you do not go for that particular style.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/top-10-hoop-coop-ideas.76490/

My favorite is not in that list, it's from Blooie's Motel Chix. It's probably the easiest and least expensive. Just squeeze the panel between some steel T-Posts. That's the approach I took. As an added benefit, it's somewhat flexible for less than level land.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/motel-chix.67240/

@res and @mowin have wood fronts on theirs that make them look really nice.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/hoop-coop-brooder-with-roll-up-sides.75720/
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/build-started.1294451/post-21133896

If you like the tractor approach and want detailed instructions check out this:
http://www2.ca.uky.edu/agcomm/pubs/ASC/ASC189/ASC189.pdf

And of course, I always link to @21hens-incharge 's approach to covering the run. I found some of those clips on Amazon and they're working very nicely.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...rdware-cloth-need-to-go.1395404/post-22909255

 

[21hens-incharge]

I am actually decommissioning that run this year. It has served me very well but I am down sizing.

This spring a record snow...It was a super heavy snow. In this pic I had cleared the top a few times pushing snow off to the sides. What you see in front of the door had not been touched.
Cattle panels are very strong in the 8' wide arch. Official snow fall was 32".
This run was clear and dry inside. I had to feed and water in the coop for a week while we dug out other essential paths/vehicles.
By far this was the least expensive and fastest to build run we have ever had.