Need help designing an irregular-shaped covered run

[aart]

I just discovered this amazing-looking back-saver that I can rent from Home Depot!!!
https://www.homedepot.com/tool-truck-rental/1-Man-Auger/M240H/index.html
Wohooo! I won't need to bust myself with a shovel and a hole digger!

Still takes a lot of muscle to run one of those things!
Please take video

 

[K0k0shka]

Still takes a lot of muscle to run one of those things!
Please take video

Oh it will be a workout either way. But hopefully not as brutal with the auger as it would be completely manually. I'm 5 feet tall so this will be fun I'll try to get it on video.

 

[AgnesGray]

Thanks! I would love to see your irregular-shaped design/build if you have pictures! I haven't completely given up on the idea of making it an irregular shape, though I admit it will make my life easier if I just do two rectangles instead... Seeing other irregular runs that have worked out would be very useful!

Are you happy with the auger? I'm trying to figure out whether it would be better to buy one as well. I'll have a lot of holes to dig for the chicken run, and in addition to that, we're building grapevine supports (the overhead kind) this spring as well, so that's a whole bunch more holes to be dug, and at the end of the day, it might end up cheaper to buy the auger...

For us, it worked out. We have some fencing in our future and it's been helpful for getting the hole started for trees and vines as well as all of the framing for the run. Our run is not done yet, but here is a recent-ish pic. Please excuse the mess! My husband has since started framing out the roof for the area that will be covered by the polycarbonate panels which we pick up tonight! Yay! So hopefully I will have some update pics soon.

 

[K0k0shka]

For us, it worked out. We have some fencing in our future and it's been helpful for getting the hole started for trees and vines as well as all of the framing for the run. Our run is not done yet, but here is a recent-ish pic. Please excuse the mess! My husband has since started framing out the roof for the area that will be covered by the polycarbonate panels which we pick up tonight! Yay! So hopefully I will have some update pics soon.

Looks good! Do you have a build thread? I would love to follow along.

 

[AgnesGray]

Looks good! Do you have a build thread? I would love to follow along.

Oh, thanks! I don't have one... have been terrible about taking pictures as we go. The plan has changed so many times, too, for one reason or another. Haha... I'm looking forward to seeing how yours goes!

 

[K0k0shka]

Oh, thanks! I don't have one... have been terrible about taking pictures as we go. The plan has changed so many times, too, for one reason or another. Haha... I'm looking forward to seeing how yours goes!

Thanks! I'll take pictures and post as I start actually building. I'll probably post to my original build thread though, to keep everything in one place. You can find it here.
Do share more if/when you take more photos

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Now that my coop is almost done, I'm starting to plan out the run. I'm creating a separate thread for the run so it doesn't get lost in the coop build thread (which you can see here).

I've been designing and redesigning this since last summer. The space I have is an irregular shape, which makes this tricky. There are trees and bushes in the way, and a raised garden bed. I want to give the chickens the maximum area I can though, and an irregular run is the only way to do that.

This will probably be long and I'll have lots of questions, so bear with me, I need to think this through. I appreciate any feedback!

So, here are my latest plans (standard map orientation, so the top is north):
View attachment 2026597

The run needs to go around the little tree that's next to the coop. That's a linden tree so it will get big, and I want to leave it enough room (it's very young right now). The whole area will have a sloped roof, sloping south to north, so towards the property line. The 3'x5' section of the run that's attached to the coop will have a lower roof - about 5' tall, just enough for me to walk under - to leave room for the linden tree's branches. The main section, the 11'x11', will be taller, sloping down from 8' in the front to about 5.5' in the back. I'm treating the 3'x5' and the 11'x11' sections as two structures with two separate roofs, just to get two regular shapes that are easier to work with, and then I'll have to connect them somehow (more drawings and questions on that later).

The original soil on our property was heavily contaminated with lead, so we had everything covered with several inches of clean fill after we moved in. So the surface is fine, but I don't want to dig. Which means no footing holes for the run structure. I want to lay down landscape timbers along the whole perimeter and use them as the bottom of the run frame. So the vertical supports attach to the landscape timbers at the bottom. Would that work? Any advice, best practices or red flags?

The fencing material will be wrought iron mesh panels, which I got for free from a former chicken owner neighbor. They are about 3'x4' and I have 28 of them, enough to cover the whole run (with some HC patching for the irregular-shaped areas). The mesh holes are 2"x2". A bit big, but that's what I have. The coop door will be closed at night, and our worst enemies here are large, so I hope that's enough. I'll also have a denser HC apron along the ground and going up a foot or two along the fence. The panels look like this:
View attachment 2026600

The walls: the iron panels will stack on top of each other, two tall, standing on their short sides for the taller south wall (so 8 feet tall total), and on their short sides for the north wall, so a little under 6 feet tall. They are solid and very heavy. If the horizontal top beam of the run frame is resting on the top edges of the iron panels, can I count on them for support and use 2x4's for both the vertical supports and the top horizontal supports of the run frame? Or will I still need 4x4's? Or a combination of the two? How far apart should the vertical supports be?

The roof will be partially covered year-round, with clear polycarbonate panels, so the chickens always have a dry outside area. The rest will have a welded wire mesh on top for protection (probably 2"x4" for cost purposes). I will only cover that part with polycarbonate in the winter, to keep the snow out of the run. The reason for that is because I have trees and shrubs either inside or immediately next to the run, and don't want to cut off their water supply during the growing season. I also want some rain water to get in there for the sake of composting the organic matter on the floor somewhat. The clear panels will allow light to still go through. The tree marked "HUGE TREE" on the right is a giant maple that shades everything, so I don't need additional shade, but rather, more light. As for snow load, I don't really know what to plan for anymore. This used to be snow country, but snow is actually rare nowadays. Every few years we'll get a giant snowstorm with deep snow, but most years there's barely enough for a snowman.

Now, questions about the roof:
▪ Will 2x6's be enough for the roof rafters? Will the fact that the roof will be resting on the iron panels all the way along the south and the north wall help distribute the load?
▪ If the rafters are 11+ feet long, will I need additional vertical supports somewhere in the middle of the run? Or will the rafters be enough?
▪ How far apart should the rafters be?
▪ The polycarbonate panels are only 2' wide, so I assume I'll need purlins as well, unless the rafters are 2' apart (which seems excessive to me...but maybe not?) What size wood do I need for the purlins? Will wall studs be enough? (1x2 or 1x3)
▪ How much of the roof can I get away with covering permanently without killing the bush inside the run and negatively affecting the linden tree? (the bush is a forsythia, so it's hardy, and rainwater will run off the roof and down directly behind the bush and hopefully water it, but still).

Thank you to whoever survived until the end of this giant post, and thank you for any feedback!

How deep is the soil that was brought in to cover the lead? Remember the chickens will dig and I do mean did. I have large holes every day that I fill in. If the new soil is not very deep they will be digging down into the affected soil with lead.

 

[K0k0shka]

How deep is the soil that was brought in to cover the lead? Remember the chickens will dig and I do mean did. I have large holes every day that I fill in. If the new soil is not very deep they will be digging down into the affected soil with lead.

We asked for 6" coverage but the bobcat wasn't very precise, so some areas got more than 6", and some got less. I'm not sure about the chicken area. It will definitely be several inches of clean soil plus several inches of wood chips on top of that. I'll watch out for excessive digging and put down rocks or pavers as necessary. It's the best I can do.

 

[ColtHandorf]

Remember the chickens will dig and I do mean did. I have large holes every day that I fill in.

Out of curiosity, what breeds do you have? I have wood chips down on my run and English Orpingtons. They do not dig. lol I think I've seen them dust bathe once or twice as adults in finer wood chips. They don't dig down past the top of the dirt under the chips. So I wonder if digging is breed specific. I don't imagine most Cochins are big diggers. Mine never were.

 

[K0k0shka]

Out of curiosity, what breeds do you have? I have wood chips down on my run and English Orpingtons. They do not dig. lol I think I've seen them dust bathe once or twice as adults in finer wood chips. They don't dig down past the top of the dirt under the chips. So I wonder if digging is breed specific. I don't imagine most Cochins are big diggers. Mine never were.

This is reassuring to hear. I'll be getting mostly Orpingtons, too, and the breeder has English lines. So I'm glad to hear they're not big diggers. I've heard Orps are lazy, haha. I'm also getting Barnevelders. Not sure how much they dig.