Hello all, just got 5 Plymouth Barred Rock Hens. I was trying to get 4 week old chicks, but it didn't work out so I got these from a friend of a friend.
It's been fun setting up a coop and run with my son. We bought an old 4x8x8 bob house for $50 off craigslist and went to town on it. We stripped the inside, took out one larger window and made 4 nesting boxes on the outside wall, my son took the door off and turned it upside down and we made a trap door where the window used to be for when they are ready for free ranging. We cut a hole in the side and put a trap door on a string so we can open it and let them out into a fenced in run. The most fun my son had was cutting some trees down and making roosting poles out of them. Everything inside the bob house and materials were used from scraps or re-purposed from the original interior of the bob house. The only thing we purchased was a couple rolls of chicken wire.
The run we made out of an old car port canopy frame. We took it and assembled an approximately 10X12 section and used the chicken wire for the sides and up to an old plastic coated net that we had. The black net is on the top of the run, hopefully it gives them some shade and protects them from flying predators.
We got them about dark last night and they immediately took to their new house. It was funny to see all 5 of them get up on the lower roost pole almost immediately.
We let them relax overnight and this morning I finished securing the net and chicken wire together. We fed them some bread and they seemed to be calming down and getting used to us, they were eating out of our hands and letting us pet them a little.
I opened the trap door and they came popping out of the coop and seem to love the new enclosure. One keeps going back inside and getting into the nesting boxes and has tried every one out, scratching a hole into the shavings, then going outside, then back inside. I'm thinking she is ready to gift us with our first egg.
Here are some pictures of the run.
Now the hard part is figuring out names.
It's been fun setting up a coop and run with my son. We bought an old 4x8x8 bob house for $50 off craigslist and went to town on it. We stripped the inside, took out one larger window and made 4 nesting boxes on the outside wall, my son took the door off and turned it upside down and we made a trap door where the window used to be for when they are ready for free ranging. We cut a hole in the side and put a trap door on a string so we can open it and let them out into a fenced in run. The most fun my son had was cutting some trees down and making roosting poles out of them. Everything inside the bob house and materials were used from scraps or re-purposed from the original interior of the bob house. The only thing we purchased was a couple rolls of chicken wire.
The run we made out of an old car port canopy frame. We took it and assembled an approximately 10X12 section and used the chicken wire for the sides and up to an old plastic coated net that we had. The black net is on the top of the run, hopefully it gives them some shade and protects them from flying predators.
We got them about dark last night and they immediately took to their new house. It was funny to see all 5 of them get up on the lower roost pole almost immediately.
We let them relax overnight and this morning I finished securing the net and chicken wire together. We fed them some bread and they seemed to be calming down and getting used to us, they were eating out of our hands and letting us pet them a little.
I opened the trap door and they came popping out of the coop and seem to love the new enclosure. One keeps going back inside and getting into the nesting boxes and has tried every one out, scratching a hole into the shavings, then going outside, then back inside. I'm thinking she is ready to gift us with our first egg.
Here are some pictures of the run.
Now the hard part is figuring out names.
