I just paid $2.89 per 2X4 at Home Depot! The chicken coop and run just about broke me!! ARGH!! I did the same...I made the panel, screwed in welded wire then put them together. I left 6 inches of wire on the bottoms and dug a trench all around and buried it then put cement over that! I then ran small chick wire for top cause me birds are wonderful litlle flyers!
I woke up this morning to the "oh I know what that is" smell of skunk! My dog and I went flying into the night of my backyard with flashlight and broom in toe. Come to find out a skunk got hit right in front of my house.
It's too bad you don't live closer--mine will start to lay in a couple months, and I have plenty of little boys who will be all to happy to fertilize these eggs. I even have an incubator (we're going to order a new thermostat, this one, er, isn't so accurate.) I have the hatching bug, but I really don't have room for any more birds in my buildings this winter!