Run Expansion Advice

[julskinka]

It looks great! What's your set up with coop and run pop doors? We've got the same plan - there's currently a pop door into the coop from within the covered Fort Knox run, and we are planning on adding a pop door to the exterior of Fort Knox so they can go out into the net-covered run.

 

[Ted Brown]

Tooshay89 said:
We unscrewed each screw and washer that was holding up the netting one by one, pulled the it tight, and re-attached the netting. It looks a lot better now.

Oh, I've had to re-do stuff, PITA but worth the trouble.

When I started learning how to build things (and making mistakes) I had a motto:

"If it worth doing once, it worth doing twice."

 

[aart]

When I started learning how to build things (and making mistakes) I had a motto:

"If it worth doing once, it worth doing twice."

Yes! and it's wasy goes faster the second time..
.....or, "It's not how bad you ffffoul it up, but how well you fix that foul up"

 

[Tooshay89]

I'm just looking forward to being DONE with chicken projects, haha!

Actually, I really like projects, I just don't like Florida weather. I thought I'd have at least a few more weeks of nice weather and semi-cool temps before our "pre-summer" temps and humidity from heck came back... I was wrong. It was almost 90 degrees one day this week. WHAT? We had a very mild winter this year - if you can even call it that.

We still have to finish adding screws/washers to the last side of the run, and then add trim boards to the top of the run for aesthetics and to sandwich the edges of the netting.

My son is begging me to add ducks, he's like how hard can it be to build a small duck coop? Maybe next year I'll build a duck enclosure, but definitely not this year.

 

[aart]

Actually, I really like projects, I just don't like Florida weather. I thought I'd have at least a few more weeks of nice weather and semi-cool temps before our "pre-summer" temps and humidity from heck came back... I was wrong. It was almost 90 degrees one day this week. WHAT? We had a very mild winter this year - if you can even call it that.

Soon after you really are done.....you'll go wandering back ...hmmm, maybe I could tweak that a bit.....

My first child was born in North Fla in May......I.was.miserable.

 

[Tooshay89]

Soon after you really are done.....you'll go wandering back ...hmmm, maybe I could tweak that a bit.....

My first child was born in North Fla in May......I.was.miserable.

I feel like I'm constantly tweaking this year because of chicken math! I blame incubators. I have seramas due in about a week and orpington and silkies due 2-3 days after, so I'm currently trying to figure out if it's doable to hook up solar power to my brooder heat plate. I'd really like to get the chicks out in the coop at a week old or so. Daytime temps would probably be okay if it stays in the 80s, but it drops a bit at night (though not much anymore) so they'd still need access to heat.

Late March through end of October (at the earliest) - that's our "summer." If you're at the beach or in a pool it's bearable, but forget theme parks or generally being outside. Even our dog pees under the shade of the trampoline and runs right back inside during hot weather. I think it'd be okay if we had more of a dry heat (or so I've heard, anyway.) Humidity is awful.

 

[aart]

Late March through end of October (at the earliest) - that's our "summer." If you're at the beach or in a pool it's bearable, but forget theme parks or generally being outside. Even our dog pees under the shade of the trampoline and runs right back inside during hot weather. I think it'd be okay if we had more of a dry heat (or so I've heard, anyway.) Humidity is awful.

Yep, it's why I ran right back to Michigan by August...had only been there since October, we had a lousy furnace and jalousie windows... it was cold, even snowed that year.. and then no AC.

 

[trumpeting_angel]

Wow. While it’s been too hot for an energetic woman like you to work, we’ve gotten more snow and then more snow, awesome for skiing!

Now we are in for some (maple) sugaring weather - above freezing during the day, below freezing at night.

Diversity is a wonderful thing!

 

[tigger19687]

Love that netting ! I am looking to do that for the front yard now that I work during the day but want the hens out.
@Tooshay89 where did you get the netting? It is fabric not plastic based?
Watch out for sticks falling onto the netting. I had a fabric THIN one and when sticks form the tree feel it was a pain to get it untangled.
Yours looks so much thicker then mine !

 

[Tooshay89]

This is the netting that I used from Stromberg's

https://www.strombergschickens.com/product/1-Inch-Heavy-Duty-Game-Bird-Netting/poultry-netting

I bought the 50x50 and it worked great! We were able to pull it tight on the edges and it was MUCH easier to work with than the cheap plastic netting we've used before. That stuff was awful - every twig, branch or piece of moss on the ground would get tangled in it as we laid it out. I think we spent more time untangling it than anything else.

This aviary netting isn't plastic, it's like rope, and it's knotted. SO much better than before, haha! It's rated to 85 pounds, so its heavy duty stuff - and it should be for the price. I've had some moss and sticks get caught after falling from the trees above and I can just yank them through with no problem. Most of the leaves just fall right through.