PVC chicken coop runs?

[iwannaduckie]

Hi all! I was just curious as to how you made PVC chicken coop runs. We're only looking to house 2-4 hens, but would like to make it as cheeply as possible. Please post pics and roughly how much it cost you! Thanks!

ETA- Water'ers and feeders home-made from PVC would also be nice! Thanks!

 

[Russo's Roost]

I have a home made PVC pipe feeder that is very simple to make and CHEAP!
you need 3 items, 5 feet of 3" or 4" PVC pipe, thick wall works better then thin wall.
a 90 degree elbow
an end cap.

Cut the pipe into 3.5 feet and 1.5 feet.
On teh 1.5 foot long section with a circular saw cut lengthwise along the pipe for about the middle 15 inches.
Make a paralell cut 90 degrees or so from the first cut.
Dont start at or go all the way to either end.
Then cut across the pipe at the ends of the cuts to connect the 2 lengthwise cuts and remove the section in the middle.
Use a knife or a piece of sandpaper to smoothe out the edges and try to dut the pipe in a well ventilated area where it will be easy for you to sweep up all the PVC pieces from the cut, it's not really dust like form wood, it's a little heaftier then that, deffinately something the chicks will eat if given the opportunity
Put an endcap on one end and the elbow on the other end with the newly cut opening facing up and the open elbow end pointing up.
Attach the 3.5 foot section of pipe to the top of the elbow.
you've now got a home made PVC automatic gravity feeder.
I put the base / trough on a 4X4 to lift it up off the floor for a better height for the chicks to eat from and I attached the top of the supply chute to the sidewall of the coop with a couple of drywall screws and I cap that end off with a small piece of wood that just rests on the top. My feeder is inside the coop.
I fill the empty trough first, you won't have to do that again if you refill the chute before the trough is empty. If you fill the chute with an empty trough you will get a lot of overflow. Then I took a half gallon apple juice container and cut the top third off it and turned it upside down to make a funnell out of it because it has a big pour spout and I pour the crumbles right down the chute to fill it up. I haev also used this same feeder with pellets and it worked just as well, I haven't used it with mash though.
In the winter I re-fill it about once every 5 days and now that the 5 chicks and one rooster are eating a lot of worms, bugs and grass I will probably fill it half as often.
I can e-mail you a picture if you like.
[email protected]

 

[silkiechicken]

Just a thought, be careful with light coops and chicken wire. Preds can flip light coops over and tear though "chicken" wire.

 

[iwannaduckie]

Thanks Russo!

@ Silkie, were planning on building it inside the garden, which has 3ft tall metal sides all the way around. We're also going to spike it down or weigh it down.

We'd like to use chicken wire or the plastic wire, sense it will be inside another pen. Would that be OK?

 

[Jen71]

Quote:
I've read everywhere that if you are trying to keep predators out, you need to use hardware cloth - not chicken wire. Basically - all predators can easily rip through chicken wire. What is the purpose of the chicken wire? Can you substitute hardware cloth instead - just to be safe?

 

[iwannaduckie]

I'm sure we could, but trying to be budget-friendly here, were using mostly recycled wood and things we already have. I'm sure we can splurge and get the hardware cloth. What about the welded 1" X 2" fencing. Would that be good? Its a lil cheeper here.

 

[silkiechicken]

If you could do the welded fencing and cover it in chicken wire, that would work just fine. Coons are the absolute worst at getting chickens because they can climb over solid brick walls, open doors, dig under fences and tear though chicken wire when they see food. And chicken is nature's snack.