Ok, You can see it, but promise not to laugh....

[Kansaseq]

Wonderful job of repurposing! I love it, and the chickens will, too. Plus, it's light enough to move around your yard. I have to agree with everyone about using hardware cloth, though. Raccoons are everywhere and it truly sucks to find that out the hard way. I did

 

[bburn]

I am sure not gonna laugh at you! Mine is built from a barn that fell down and the run is an empty dog pen that had been dog less for 10 years! I am just proud the chickens have a safe place to sleep.

Someday I am going to figure out how to upload pictures and post my coop and run. Have been waiting because I have been collecting signs for it. My husband is going out of town to work for a few weeks and I will be working on some more signs....then I will post!

I have been watching for the little playsets at garage sales. My roo's love to be up on something in the mornings when they crow!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Nice repurposing of the garden plot!

FWIW I have a friend of a friend who lives in central Tucson (Broadway and Alvernon) who has a hard time keeping fish in his pond because the raccoons keep eating them. It's clearly raccoons because of the tracks. The odds are very low that they will find your birds (I have yet to see one), but I thought I should give you a heads-up. I think the closer you live to Reid Park/Randolf golf course the greater are your chances. As you probably know, there are also coyotes mid-town. I'm trying not to be a downer, because I like what you did. Good luck.

 

[BWKatz]

Except for the slide it looks almost exacty like what I built for my chicks. I only put them in there during daylight. I have their food & water in it. They parade to & from to their coop in the garage like those geese at the famous hotel. At night they are lined up at the edge waiting on me to lift it up and they beat me back to the coop. Parade right in & hop up on their roosts. They are SO cute. But I wouldn't dare leave them out at night....too many owls, fox and coyote.

 

[emvickrey]

Sorry, but this is a little off subject. More off species but I have to tell it. My brother and sister n law where looking out their back door one sunny afternoon and they have a wooden playset in their back yard. They noticed something playing on it and they got out the video cam and zoomed in and it was 2 squirrels. They would run up the rails of the slide and slide down the slide on their tummys then back up the rails and down the slide again, I wonder how long it will take the chooks to leant to play on it?

Nice idea and set up. We have a few we have to come up with ourselves for some Orpingtons. We have to split a pen for the silkies to devide the colors And a pen for the gunnea. Right now they are occupying the double pen DH made for the quail babies.

 

[paddock36]

My coop is made from old pallets and the wire on my run was some 3ft tall wire that I had lying around so I connected it together to make it 6ft tall. So don't feel bad about your coop. It works and that's all that is important. I think you did a good job

 

[leslierf]

I think you did a great job!

Way to recycle!
I have lived in and around Tucson for over 20 years and the only critter I have not seen is Racoons. I would be more concerned with coyotes. They are everywhere here. It sounds like you have a good guard animal though. If you have a nice big dog, the coyotes stick to the neighbors yards. I wish you great success with your new chicks!

 

[rebbetzin]

Quote:
Yes, Our Spartacus is quite a good guard "Beastie". Here he is looking over a not quite 5 ft fence that divides the back yard to give my desert tortoise a yard of his own.

I plan to make the bottom 24 inches a bit more preditor proof. I worry more about the neighborhood cats than any other preditor. The enclosure is about 6 ft from the back door.

Once the chicks feather out, I plan to put them in the real coop and run. Which is very preditor proof.
Here it is for those who haven't seen it before.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=8389



Then I can use this enclosure for a "play area" during the day. I am thinking I will have to buy new chicks every couple of years or so, I will have a place to put them.

 

[elmo]

Quote:
That's great that you and your chickens have been lucky. I hope your luck continues to hold. Every day here you can read sad stories in the Predators and Pest section about people whose luck ran out using chicken wire.

I guess it does depend on your individual tolerance for risk. Personally, I fall into the "better safe than sorry" category.

 

[Luke13:34]

Quote:
Oh, I just LOVE your "real" coop and run! Very Victorian.

I think your little "chicken playscape" is excellent.