Quarantining using large dog crate?

[pathwandering]

Building my covered run was difficult for me - I'm not skilled with carpentry. I ended up having to hire someone to do the stuff I couldn't manage on my own. So I've been trying to think about affordable options for a quarantine coop/brooding area (hoping I will have a broody hen in the spring).

I wondered if I could use a large metal dog crate, and put a roost in it (when quarantining), and cover most of it at night?
I know I would have to reinforce the crate with hardware cloth for chicks, and wondered if I could just put a nesting box in there for brooding.

Would this be too bare bones? I have the space to let the quarantined bird out to free range far away from the other chickens, BUT I would be risking contact with predators and wild turkeys. Realistically I don't think I can afford to build another full-on predator proof chicken run though. I've looked at the a frame chicken tractor designs - I'm pretty convinced that I would mess it up badly and have to hire someone to fix my mistakes...

 

[JadedPhoenix]

I have had chickens that could get MOST of their bodies out of the cage when using a metal crate. Not safe if you have potential predators around. I had to wrap the crate with a tarp to make sure the chicken stayed inside fully. Just a word of warning if you planned to use it for older chicks/chickens before adding hardware cloth to it.

 

[dirtsaver]

We have used large dog crates(not the plastic travel crate) as quarrentine coops for years. As Jaded points out,they will need to be made more secure. For us that was done by attaching plywood panels to some of the sides and hardware cloth to the others for protection from both weather and predators. You can make the plywood panels removable to adjust for summer/winter conditions. Another thing we use is the plastic cat travel carriers as nesting boxes. Just remove the gate from the front and put them where you need them.