My outlaw chicken coop and run

susancoyotesfan

In the Brooder
11 Years
May 25, 2008
16
0
22
Mayer Arizona
FINALLY I AM DONE!! Well, sort of, I still have more work to do inside building them a roost and insulating when the weather gets colder.

The coop is a converted rabbit hutch that the woman I bought it from was using as a pigeon roost; I let it sit in the sun for a week then scrubbed with bleach and soapy water twice. Then, two coats of Kilz and two coats of red paint (the paints were oops & $1 each). Coop is 39" deep by 43" wide, and tall enough for two sets of roosts if I do them at right angles. Only one nesting box, because at this point I only have 4 hens and I will probably need to work on DH if I find I want/need more. The floor is wire, and I left it that way, and I cut off the legs of the hutch because it was too tall with them - it's resting on 2 x 4's right now, which gives clearance from the ground and lets the people door on the inside of the run open as well. It started being all wire, but I cut recycled plywood to fit, painted it, and shimmed it into the sides with nails. I did leave ventilation space on all sides, the roof has an overhang that allows it and will still give them protection.
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The run gave me fits, I wanted originally to make this portable...which just wasn't going to work no matter how I rigged it...so, I am still going to build a chicken tractor for the days DH and/or I am home, so they can get some better forage, but this will be their 'permanent' home. The base is 2 x 4's, the corner posts, top bars, and the bar where the feeder is hung are all 2 x 2's. Some of them are recycled. It's 52" tall, so that I can get in without crawling.
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The chicks are Mary Ann, Ginger, Lovey, and Tawny; they are all Rhode Island Reds -- DH and I wanted New Hampshire Reds but no one around here sells them, and after I did more research I realized it's because the RIR's do better here in the heat.
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I have really enjoyed looking at all the coop/run pictures so many of you have posted, and you gave me hope that I could figure this out in the depths of my frustration
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How cute! My first tractor (moveable coop) was supposed to be moveable too. NOT!!! My second one is moveable but really ugly, so I'm going to take it apart. I only use screws-so it's not too hard.
 
Because my HOA technically doesn't allow chickens
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but I heard a rooster last night, and I know there are at least two other people raising hens here. Not to mention the cow in someone's front yard.
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I think the control freaks who went around with a notebook and paper taking notes and trying to make the fire dept. weedwack 'violators' yards are all either dead or moved away; my neighbors are fine with my chickens as long as they get some eggs now and then.
 
HOA drive me nutz! I refused to look at soooo many houses because of that. I'm not paying a fee for someone to tell me what to do on my land or in my house! LO
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However.... I have someone who may or may not be giving me ducks because they're HOA found out and they have to go now thanks to her neighbors! hehehehe
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Lovely coop by the way... the colors are awesome... and those girls will be so very happy there!
 
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Agreed! If I'm paying tens or hundreds of thousands for my home and land, and I AM going to be paying for it for the next 30 years.... there's no way in you know where that I am going to allow someone to tell me what I can and can't do with it. When they start paying my mortgage they might get a say so in the ordeal.....

I will not even look at a house in, nor around an area that has an HOA.....
 
Very pretty girls and nice coop. Did you or are you going to run hardwire cloth under and out from the run to stop diggers? That would be my only worry.

Great job!
 
*sigh*
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I read this right as we were going out the door to go camping with friends, it was planned months ago but is at a site only about 5 miles away as the crow flies, so I came home every morning and evening to let them out/put them in.

While we were gone I let DH talk me out of putting up any sort of extra protection for the chicks, he said that cats don't dig and the coyotes won't come into the yard. Well, he was SORT of right...

$53 later and an emergency animal hospital visit later, I have a chick back in my dance room with an amputated left middle toe/claw and a water bottle full of tetracycline. Seems that although cats don't dig, they DO reach through chicken wire if they're small, feral, and hungry. I went out and put up a second layer of chicken wire on the outside of the run offset from the inside wire, and buried it into the ground, and put big rocks on top of where I buried it. Problem solved, hopefully.

DH and I both feel terrible, but Lovey seems OK so far -- she's eating and drinking well, and seems as happy as ever although she is still limping a little. She will be able to go back out with the other three next Friday after her recheck at the vet's office. She's even more horribly spoiled than she was.
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