After 3 weeks, we are finally done! Most of it was recycled materials (ie: the siding was from a house being torn down) from friends, habitat for humanity, etc. Anywhere we could find it. In all honesty, I would guess that we still spent close to $400 for HW cloth, lumber, paint, etc. Over budget, but I think still within reasonable realms. We like our small backyard to be a bit of a retreat, so it had to be cheery and attractive. The run is around 90 square feet, the coop is 4x5x4. I made the coop, my hubby made the run (really more of an aviary). The small run area under the coop has hardware cloth on the bottom, under about 3 inches of sand. 2 sides of it unlock, the front one flips down, the one inside the run props up. My husband is rigging the one inside the run so that it can be unlatched and pulled up from outside of the run. There are 2 big windows on the coop, the doors to it are cabinet doors from habitat, they have hardware cloth inside. The doors in to clean the coop are also old large cabinet doors, as is the flip lid to the nest boxes. All doors have padlocks that use the same key type, which are hung with chain from the locks themselves. Inside the run is river sand. The run has hardware cloth throughout, except on the high roof, which is chicken wire (a little over 5 feet up). The hardware cloth is buried as far as he could get it, about 5 inches. Dogs will not be an issue (very fenced in yard), but we do have raccoons. Do I need to use some extra cloth and make an apron around it? We have no weasles, just coons and possums. The roof of the coop will have plastic paneling over it, there is no rain in sight so I think we have a bit of time for that (hopefully in the next couple of weeks). The project took 3 weeks of very long days....
front of coop
front of run
Inside
This was my first real building project, it was fun to do & is pretty sturdy. There are some crooked things on it, but overall I think it turned out nice. Tonight will be their first night in it, we are running the brooder light into it for them. They have been in the run for the past 2 days and are loving every minute of it.
Thanks,
Angie
front of coop
front of run
Inside
This was my first real building project, it was fun to do & is pretty sturdy. There are some crooked things on it, but overall I think it turned out nice. Tonight will be their first night in it, we are running the brooder light into it for them. They have been in the run for the past 2 days and are loving every minute of it.
Thanks,
Angie
