Need ideas!

[lilranchette]

So we are covering the coop the guy gave us with the chickens with plywood. It was only chicken wire. It is like 5 x 5 , 4ft 7in tall in front and 3 1/2 feet tall in back. There is a man door on the front of the coop.
Now my problem.... originally I was going to put the run coming right off the front of the coop, letting them come in and out of that door. WELL when I bought wood for the run today, and fencing, it made no sense to me to make the actual run as tall as I am! When the rolls of chicken wire were 40" tall, ( I think) So I changed the plan there and bought the wire and 2 x 4's for a run 20 feet long, and 5 feet wide and as tall as the roll of wire.

NOW the problem. I can no longer attach the run to the front of the coop! Because the door is taller than that. I haven't got all the sides on the coop yet. So I am wondering, what if I put the back side of the coop up against my barn, have the door facing out and then run the run off the side of the coop, with just a little walk thru doorway cut out for the chickens to go in and out of.
That also ruins my plans for putting the nesting boxes on the back wall and having a door that would lift up and latch so I could get eggs from the back.

So I guess I could still put the nesting boxes on the back wall and just walk into the coop thru the man door to get the eggs. And hope I don't lose chickens that way. OR I could put them on the right side wall opposite the wall with the run, and still have my door to get the eggs. Put the roosts front to back instead of sideways.

It's hard trying to remake someone else's design and make it work!

 

[Life is Good!]

Our fencing is hardware cloth at the bottom (36" high, dug down about 8-12" depending on where you're standing in the yard), with 4' high farm field fencing at top (it's 4"x 4" welded wire fencing). So in effect, we have a 6' tall fence for not quite a lot of funds - field fencing comes in 330' rolls at Farm & Fleet.

We built it over 5' tall to discourage the local dog population from jumping the fence. Neighbor has an intrusive bird-hunting dog that can easily jump a 3' fence. AND to discourage hawks from entering the run - a hawk will not enter a space it cannot fly out of easily. So that's what we ended up doing. It's worked thus far.

The only predator that's made it over the fence was an owl. Owls are bigger/stronger than a hawk and easily lifted out 3# or 4# chicks out of their unprotected brooder on a night I didn't lock them up. You can bet I changed that situation in the morning! (Caught the bugger doing it - grrrr....everything's gotta eat, but not at my time and expense!)

 

[LOLchick]

So you said you need ideas....Consider how you are going to clean out the 4 foot run..... There are many posts on here where people say if they could do it again, they would have made the run higher for easier access and cleaning. Also plenty of posts where people said the best thing they did was to make the run high enough for them to walk in. There are of course ways you can do it. Making the roof part so that it can be lifted, or gates to the side of the run to open it for easier cleaning, or, you can always, like a member suggested to me when I asked how would I clean a 4 foot run, "find someone about 3ft 10inches tall", but all of those add extra steps and effort. Just something to consider. I ended up making the run 6 foot high. Best thing I did....

I think the run on the side will work fine. Nesting boxes "on the right side wall opposite the wall with the run, and still have my door to get the eggs. Put the roosts front to back instead of sideways" would also be fine. Now I don't really know what your coop looks like, but if have a small run attached to it already,(I think I read that in another post of yours?) you'd want to try and avoid having to walk through the coop ( and poop) to get to the eggs.

Happy building.

 

[lilranchette]

Ok I am so glad I got back online to read the comments. We had a horrible thunderstorm yesterday and didnt get to work on the coop. Did go get materials. But reading this,your suggestion about a higher run is awesome. I would be so irritated when it came time to clean it and I had to crawl! Ill have to buy more wood tomorrow. Thank you.
We got walls up today. The coop is not square by any stretch of the imagination so its been interesting. My 13 year old grandson is doing the measuring and cutting and he is doing a super job. It will work til we have time to build something new.

 

[JanetS]

Pictures?? I would replace the chicken wire with hardware cloth. Chicken wire isn't strong enough to keep out most predators. We also made our run about 6 ft tall. Works great for cleaning. Glad to hear you have such a great helper

Good luck.