Guy building me a chicken run-questions

[Seaecho]

I had a guy come out today to give me an estimate for a chicken run (and hook it up to my existing 2x6' coop, for four bantam hens. I don't know builders' terms, so please excuse that.

I'd first asked him on the phone about a 12x24 run, and after some figuring he said it would cost around $2200. Well, he came out, and after talking, we figured a 6x12 run would be a lot less expensive. What he wants to do is put the boards in concrete, and put a 4x6 along the bottom on all sides to keep animals (and my American Bulldog) from digging under. He will be using horse fence, and when I asked for hardwood cloth along the bottom, he acted as if no one had ever asked for this before. (he does construction for a living, and has done countless chicken runs). He said the chickens wouldn't stick their heads through. He was talking about putting bird netting or chicken wire on the top, which is fine. Walk-in door, 6 feet high. Does this sound right to you? He didn't give me a price for a 6x12, but said he'd go home, figure it out, and call me back. He said he thought the 4x6 boards would do as good or better of a job than a skirt around the bottom. What do you think? Is the concrete overkill? And how does the rest of it sound? I want to be sure my chickens will be safe.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Hard to say what's a "fair price" given the variety of materials, labor costs in an area, etc. I paid about $2500 for a 20x27 chain link enclosure split into 2 runs with 3 doors, posts sunk in concrete, etc. So that's a little comparable to what you originally asked for. I put in a hardware cloth skirt afterwards, that cost me $100 in materials.

The way the skirt is supposed to work is digging animals would start digging at the base of the fence, hit wire, back up a little, dig again, hit more wire, and then give up, as they don't know how far back the wire goes. I'm having a hard time visualizing what your fence guy wants to put in but if it's anything similar it should work. Or if you think you want to do a hardware cloth skirt, then see how much less it'll cost without the extra boards and maybe that's something you can do yourself.

 

[The Phantom]

It's cheaper to build your own.
I built a 16'x24' run for my hens
including netting that covered a 15' pine tree for around $1,000. And a 12'x12' and 8' high for my pheasants for about $250. The chicken one I have is 7 years old and has no issues. Only the tree, I have to trim. I can send you the designs and materials that I use if you would like. It is pretty much 4 foot panels, so if I ever move I just unscrew it.

 

[lazy gardener]

Hubby and I built a 500 s.f. run for way less money. We set posts in concrete, attached 2 x 6 around the base. 2 x 4 around the top to tie it all together and provide sturdy attachment for the chicken wire. (hdw. cloth out of our price range) 6' tall, skirt buried below sod level around the perimeter. It is really not difficult to build a run.

If I were you, I'd seek an other estimate. 4 x 6 around the base is IMO overkill. BTW, there is no such thing as hardwood cloth. What you wanted was hardware cloth. And no, your builder was feeding you a line of poppy cock, when he said the 4 x 6 would work as well as a skirt. He was seeing dollar signs dancing in front of his eyes the whole time he was trying to sell his job.

 

[sannabelle]

To add on to the above replies- no, the chickens may not stick their heads out of the horse fencing, but raccoons will stick their hands IN and kill your chickens. Not to mention weasels and snakes, possums....you get the idea!

 

[sannabelle]

To add on to the above replies- no, the chickens may not stick their heads out of the horse fencing, but raccoons will stick their hands IN and kill your chickens. Not to mention weasels and snakes, possums....you get the idea!

 

[Chickassan]

I'd get many more estimates if i were you.

 

[Seaecho]

Okay, I KNEW I was saying it wrong! Hardware cloth, and I think I said it wrong to him too. He said he could build a skirt around it if I wanted. And the estimate he gave was for a 24x12. The one we ended up agreeing to build is the 6x12, and he hasn't given me a price on that yet. Thanks, lazy. I will tell him I want the skirt and 2x6 under the base. I just don't feel my chickens will be safe enough without the skirting! From all the casualties I've heard about here, I want to be SURE. We don't have weasels, possums, etc. around here. Our dogs would kill them if we did. They already killed a coyote not long ago. Just the same, I'm sure the hardware cloth would be too expensive for us too, and it'll have to be chicken wire. This is helping me out a lot, as I don't know what I'm doing!

Another thing is hooking it up to the coop. We need an expert for that, as I'm afraid we might do something wrong, and have the dog get inside. (One of those very prey driven dogs). So we really do need a professional's help, not even taking into the fact that we're in our sixties (hubby is almost 70) and just can't do what we used to! It was hard enough finding him for an estimate. Seems no one wants to build a chicken run. No one in the newspaper is listed (builder) or Craigslist and things of that nature.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Just the same, I'm sure the hardware cloth would be too expensive for us too, and it'll have to be chicken wire.

Do NOT use chicken wire, no matter the cost savings. Most chicken wire is only good enough to keep chickens in and won't keep anything out. Larger predators (i.e a dog) can tear right through it, and smaller predators/pests can crawl right through it.

 

[Latestarter]

Buy basic 2"x4" welded wire fencing to use as the skirt. It's only there to help prevent dig ins and no digging animal is going to back up 2' to go under it. I used the 4' height stuff and bent it in 1/2 so I had a 2' skirt up and 2' skirt out. Another section of 4' welded wire above that gives you a 6' fence around the run. you can then place a lower border of 2' high welded wire (EDIT: hardware cloth, NOT welded wire which is already there) around the base for added strength down in the normal sized animal "biting zone". A 6x12 run is more than adequate for 4 bantam chickens. Even for large fowl the run minimum is suggested at 10 sqft/bird so you'd have enough room to add several more birds to that sized run. bird netting or chicken wire over the top to prevent hawk attacks would be fine. Chicken wire is ONLY acceptable to keep chickens (rabbits) from going someplace you don't want them. Useless as protection from attacks.

I'd use PT 4"x4"x8' posts at the 4 corners and in the middle of the 12' sides and concrete for the posts if you have loose soil. Some 2"x4" studs for the door frame and the same fencing to build the door with... some zip ties to connect the various fencing materials together and fencing staples to hold the fencing to the structure (not staple gun staples... poultry staples) You could really put it together over a weekend at a cost much less than 4-500 dollars.