Illinois...

[WhyDoILikeChickens]

Well,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I have good news for you. The laws have been changed in Land Of Lincoln. My BFF sent me this info about canoes.
View attachment 2146031
For my last canoe trip down the Fox river, I had to purchase stickers good for whole year at $6 per canoe. Did not need to be registered like old style way before. Went to Dick's Sporting Goods Store, and it was just cash and carry for stickers. The stickers had only the year on them. Good for any canoe.
Now that is no longer necessary according to the changes in the Illinois Law.
I know that the beautiful stretch of the Fox is right in your area. Have you ever canoed the section from Yorkville dam to Ayers Landing???
Here are some pix.
View attachment 2146068View attachment 2146069View attachment 2146070

That is the best news you've ever given me. I haven't gone there yet. I'll have to look into a trip.

 

[gimmie birdies]

I took a dance class at 5 or so, they had us tap dancing to rubber ducky.

 

[SnootyHen]

I know we're all over the state but I am hoping someone knows of a company or small business that builds coops and runs. I am in Tinley Park (south suburbs). The company I ordered mine through on April 8th first sent me the run parts to assemble last week saying the coop would be shipped separately. The largest parts of the run fencing were damaged in shipping and I am still waiting to hear when they are sending replacement parts. But this morning I was advised the coop is backordered by the manufacturer and will be another 4-6 weeks. I ordered it 6 weeks ago but they don't place the order until the run is ready, I guess, so they just tried to order my coop last week instead of the beginning of April when they were still available. Aggghhh!!!! My chickiddies are getting WAY too big for their little indoor coop and need to move outside like yesterday. I don't even know what the company is going to offer in terms of a resolution but I want to have a back-up plan in case I have the option to just cancel for a full refund. Me building it is unfortunately not an option. My husband is a city boy so I am the handyman around here. I have 3 boys that love to help with these things but we just don't have the tools to do something decent. And I would worry that our inexperience would potentially put the ladies in danger if we didn't build it securely enough.

Any ideas?

 

[Justso]

I know we're all over the state but I am hoping someone knows of a company or small business that builds coops and runs. I am in Tinley Park (south suburbs). The company I ordered mine through on April 8th first sent me the run parts to assemble last week saying the coop would be shipped separately. The largest parts of the run fencing were damaged in shipping and I am still waiting to hear when they are sending replacement parts. But this morning I was advised the coop is backordered by the manufacturer and will be another 4-6 weeks. I ordered it 6 weeks ago but they don't place the order until the run is ready, I guess, so they just tried to order my coop last week instead of the beginning of April when they were still available. Aggghhh!!!! My chickiddies are getting WAY too big for their little indoor coop and need to move outside like yesterday. I don't even know what the company is going to offer in terms of a resolution but I want to have a back-up plan in case I have the option to just cancel for a full refund. Me building it is unfortunately not an option. My husband is a city boy so I am the handyman around here. I have 3 boys that love to help with these things but we just don't have the tools to do something decent. And I would worry that our inexperience would potentially put the ladies in danger if we didn't build it securely enough.

Any ideas?

My heart goes out to you. I built my own run and it is a lot of work. Also, I'm not sure if there's a straight board on whole thing.
Anyway, my suggestion is to go but quick to the coop and run section byc, and find something you think would be suitable size and style. Then any handyman worth his weight would be able to build it, probably pretty quickly. The key is to have a good style to start with that they can work from. Now we just need to find us a good handyman...
Very sorry I don't have a name for you, but I hope somebody will step up with someone and I'll be watching

 

[Molpet]

I know we're all over the state but I am hoping someone knows of a company or small business that builds coops and runs. I am in Tinley Park (south suburbs). The company I ordered mine through on April 8th first sent me the run parts to assemble last week saying the coop would be shipped separately. The largest parts of the run fencing were damaged in shipping and I am still waiting to hear when they are sending replacement parts. But this morning I was advised the coop is backordered by the manufacturer and will be another 4-6 weeks. I ordered it 6 weeks ago but they don't place the order until the run is ready, I guess, so they just tried to order my coop last week instead of the beginning of April when they were still available. Aggghhh!!!! My chickiddies are getting WAY too big for their little indoor coop and need to move outside like yesterday. I don't even know what the company is going to offer in terms of a resolution but I want to have a back-up plan in case I have the option to just cancel for a full refund. Me building it is unfortunately not an option. My husband is a city boy so I am the handyman around here. I have 3 boys that love to help with these things but we just don't have the tools to do something decent. And I would worry that our inexperience would potentially put the ladies in danger if we didn't build it securely enough.

Any ideas?

if it's in the budget, get a shed {face it south] and add ventilation and a pop door high enough so 8" of bedding won't get kicked out... if you get tired of chickens you can use it for storage.

 

[SnootyHen]

if it's in the budget, get a shed {face it south] and add ventilation and a pop door high enough so 8" of bedding won't get kicked out... if you get tired of chickens you can use it for storage.

I have a shed already for garden stuff and kind of considered just transforming it but we'll need a run too since I have dogs and there's hawks and coyotes and everything that wants to eat chickens here, too. Also, technically, we have some restrictions on size for chicken coops in my town although not many people follow them. I don't want to go way over the top and give the neighbors a reason to poke their noses in if you know what I mean.

The coop/run I paid for wasn't cheap either! I'm sure I can have one built for less but I just don't have the ability to do it myself. I have a yard/handyman that helps me with some projects and he has chickens too. He offered to let me use the plans for his but this is his busiest season and it would probably be a month before he could build me something himself. Maybe longer.

 

[Malthus]

I have a shed already for garden stuff and kind of considered just transforming it but we'll need a run too since I have dogs and there's hawks and coyotes and everything that wants to eat chickens here, too. Also, technically, we have some restrictions on size for chicken coops in my town although not many people follow them. I don't want to go way over the top and give the neighbors a reason to poke their noses in if you know what I mean.

The coop/run I paid for wasn't cheap either! I'm sure I can have one built for less but I just don't have the ability to do it myself. I have a yard/handyman that helps me with some projects and he has chickens too. He offered to let me use the plans for his but this is his busiest season and it would probably be a month before he could build me something himself. Maybe longer.

Have you checked out Chicago chicken enthusiast. They used to have a list of coop builders on there.
https://sites.google.com/site/chicagochickenenthusi/

 

[SnootyHen]

Have you checked out Chicago chicken enthusiast. They used to have a list of coop builders on there.
https://sites.google.com/site/chicagochickenenthusi/

Thanks!! I will check it out!

 

[Faraday40]

Have you ever canoed the section from Yorkville dam to Ayers Landing???
Here are some pix.
View attachment 2146068View attachment 2146069View attachment 2146070

Beautiful. I remember going on a canoe trip there with friends as a teen.

Sadly DH has a fear of water and cannot swim, so no water based vacation time in our family.

 

[Faraday40]

@SnootyHen

We made a temp movable run to hold chicks during the day and then bring them into the garage at night to sleep in the brooder.

It's basically a second hand play yard with something on top for rain & hawk protection. It wouldn't work for night time predators. It really helps keep down the cleaning needs. Just move to fresh grass each day. It can also be set up in minutes and stored when not needed.