... Except I can't call it a 'chook run' because that would be politically incorrect. My sister's ducks are going to live there, too.
This is been a long, long process. The actual building started three weekends ago, on the coop (a 1.5m x 1.5m fowl shed from Bunnings... those instructions are confusing!). The fence was built almost a week ago. I built the perch on Sunday afternoon while my parents finished with the shed.
Here it is, full of chooks:

And inside, so you can see my lovely (crooked) perch:

One of the light Sussex crosses couldn't help posing for the camera. Over and over and over... I've got a lot of her taking all the attention.
And here's their lovely new fence:

My cat was inspecting it this morning. He doesn't seem to realise it's there to keep him from being terrified by the chooks (seriously, he's scared of chickens).
As you can see, the fence is seperating the chicken area from the house. Hopefully they'll have enough room in the yard that flying over the fence won't enter their minds.
Here's a couple of pictures of their new yard:

There's some random debris (rolls of wire and stuff) which has been cleared up now.

The ducks have already been in there for a couple of days. There's a lovely pond in the middle which they love. Here's a pic of some of my sister's Khaki Campbells enjoying the pond.

All of my pullets and hens are in the coop at the moment; I might let them out for an hour this evening or tomorrow evening; they're staying in the coop for a couple of days so they learn it's home, and I'll start letting them out for longer periods over the next week or so. Some of them would probably be good and go back where they're meant to at night, but there are a couple of flighty ones in there that I'd prefer not to take too many chances with (it took me several days to catch them last time they escaped).
The roosters are in a different enclosure at the other side of the property for the moment. Until a couple of days ago they each had some hens with them, but since I've put all the girls together now and there are quite a number of pullets in there that are meant to start laying soon, I'm keeping the guys out for now.
Well, I'm quite pleased with the new coop and run, anyway. Just thought I'd share...
from Rachel.
This is been a long, long process. The actual building started three weekends ago, on the coop (a 1.5m x 1.5m fowl shed from Bunnings... those instructions are confusing!). The fence was built almost a week ago. I built the perch on Sunday afternoon while my parents finished with the shed.
Here it is, full of chooks:
And inside, so you can see my lovely (crooked) perch:
One of the light Sussex crosses couldn't help posing for the camera. Over and over and over... I've got a lot of her taking all the attention.
And here's their lovely new fence:
My cat was inspecting it this morning. He doesn't seem to realise it's there to keep him from being terrified by the chooks (seriously, he's scared of chickens).
As you can see, the fence is seperating the chicken area from the house. Hopefully they'll have enough room in the yard that flying over the fence won't enter their minds.
Here's a couple of pictures of their new yard:
There's some random debris (rolls of wire and stuff) which has been cleared up now.
The ducks have already been in there for a couple of days. There's a lovely pond in the middle which they love. Here's a pic of some of my sister's Khaki Campbells enjoying the pond.
All of my pullets and hens are in the coop at the moment; I might let them out for an hour this evening or tomorrow evening; they're staying in the coop for a couple of days so they learn it's home, and I'll start letting them out for longer periods over the next week or so. Some of them would probably be good and go back where they're meant to at night, but there are a couple of flighty ones in there that I'd prefer not to take too many chances with (it took me several days to catch them last time they escaped).
The roosters are in a different enclosure at the other side of the property for the moment. Until a couple of days ago they each had some hens with them, but since I've put all the girls together now and there are quite a number of pullets in there that are meant to start laying soon, I'm keeping the guys out for now.
Well, I'm quite pleased with the new coop and run, anyway. Just thought I'd share...
from Rachel.
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