AshleySGM
Songster
I have had a dozen different set-ups over more than a dozen years. In 2012 we decided to build an actual coop rather than throw one together like we'd done so many times before. Usually we'd rig something up from what we already had. This time we chose to buy all new materials and build an actual coop so it wound up taking us about 2 years to finish. We went with 6' x 8' for the size and used a metal roof. My initial goal was to set posts and run a physical fence around the whole hill area here and join up to an existing fence and wrap up around and behind the coop. However that never happened. Instead we used a combination of panels to create our run. We have a 6' tall 6' x 12' dog kennel so I put one 12' panel for the end of the run. Used the other 12' plus both 6' panels along one of the sides making it 24' long and then used a cattle panel and a half covered in welded wire for the other side. To fill in the end next to the coop we used one of the panels off of our 4' tall 6' x 8' dog kennel. Across the top we used chicken wire to keep hawks out. We have a 'nest door' on the back of the coop and a 6 hole metal nest box so we can check for eggs without having to go into the coop. We have 7 pullets due to start laying in just over a month and 1 Buff Orpington who's 2 years old we plan to introduce soon. Can't wait!
Here is how the run looks this year with the roses.
(Attached)
Here is how the run looks this year with the roses.
(Attached)
