just finished our chicken run! very happy!

[realsis]

I made the mistake of buying a pre made coop and run, when it arrived I swear it was a miniture version of what I saw in the book. I'm going to try to make the coop work by adding another nesting box to the other wall, but its really small. There run was equally as small.totally ridicoulas! So what we did was frame in the small coop to the new run which is 6 foot in height, 8 foot in length, 8 foot in width. We covered the roof with chicken wire and it has a door in front. The sides are wire also. I'm very happy with it!. We put extra wire skirting around it for preditors. Im really hoping my tiny coop will work out as i cant afford to do much more now.but i wanted to share with you all that the run is finished!! I'm so excited! Now i need to add chickens! I bought 3 silkie chicks but they are getting DNA sex tested before shipping because I can't have roos where I live. So please pray for hens for me!! I'll find out this week sometime by email. Please wish me luck!! I'm praying for girls or i have to do this process again! It could get expensive and I'm not wealthy so I'm praying for girls! But i wanted to share that the run is now 9ocomplete!! Its moving along! Now if i only had my silkie hens!! Fingers crossed!

 

[RonC]

Depending on what part of Cali you live in their coop may be just needed for them to sleep in. Three silkies won't need alot of room to roost. Most recommend a minimum of 4 sq ft per bird for normal sized chickens. Mine have 2.5 sq ft in the coop but never stay inside once the sun comes up. One nest box for 3-4 chickens is normal. Sounds like your run is big enough for three of them to be happy.