Searching for Detailed Chicken Run Plans

[Finnie]

If you are wanting to move it in the future than concrete and posts would be out. I found this run plan and it looks easy enough. Of course you would have to modify most plans due to the slope of your yard. One thing to remember is the taller the structure the more likely to be unstable it becomes. Mine is built with 4x4 posts and concrete with left over chain link fencing. Your DH is right that you would need to secure the wire with something more substantial than the staples.
This plan is also rather short so you would have to adjust the lengths of the boards. It should help give you a visual of what you are looking to do.
I tend to use graph paper so I can get my measurements and scale right. I use one square equaling 3 inches so 4 squares is a foot. You would need to make the "walls" taller on the down hill side if you want a flat top or the same for a slope.

http://ana-white.com/2012/06/plans/chicken-coop-run-shed-coop

I will look more to see what I can find that may help.

Thank you for that. I'm not sure how I could adjust that plan to make it the size I want. I does mention spacing the posts at the right width to fit the roll of wire. I figured I would do it that way, once I know what size rolls of wire I will buy.

 

[3riverschick]

I have searched and searched, and I cannot seem to find any plans for sale that would tell me how exactly to build a walk-in chicken run. There are tons and TONS of photos and threads of other folks' great ideas and awesome set ups, but nowhere do I find plans, lists of materials and detailed instructions on how to make my own.

It's quite frustrating. There are a few detailed plans here and there for coop/run combos, but my coop is already built, and I need to make a run that I can attach to it. Or I can find plans for a knee-high size run, but I don't know how to convert that to a 7 or 8 foot high run.

My question to all you who have built your own run is: Where did you find plans?

Or did you just "know" what to do and winged it as you went along? (I really don't think I could just wing it!)

We build our structures using the "panel system" It is easy and requires minimum help. Check your local codes to see how high the roof can be without permit. Do not tell them why you are asking. This system works well because nothing goes in the ground. Everything sits on top so in our township it is considered a "temporary" structure and no permits needed. My dog runs were built in 1996 and still going strong. They are fenced with 2x4 welded wire, so obviously poultry wire will need to be replaced more often than that, smile.
Ok here's how. Determine the length and width of the panels you wish to make. I used 5 ft. widths and 5.5 ft. heights. The 5 ft. width makes calculating adding additional run space easy on the math. I make the run 6 ft. wide. that means every time I add a section it is 5x6 sq. ft. and can hold and additional 3 birds at the recommended 10 sq. ft. per large fowl in the outside run. 1/2 that sq. footage for bantam breeds.
Buy study 2x4's and cut to panel size. Make a "frame" , adding a horizontal cross bar of 2x4. This cross bar lets you use the easier-handled 3 ft. high poultry wire instead of struggling with the 6 ft. high stuff. Lay the finished "framed panel" on the ground, stapling in the poultry wire "cover" for the frame with heavy staples. If there are critters around. add a firmly screwed on slat of 1x2 over the staples around the edge of the frame. If you use 4 ft. high poultry wire on the bottom half of the panels, you can bury that extra foot around the edges of the run to help keep varmints from tunneling in.
Ok, you have a frame!! Now make as many more as you need for the area you want to enclose. Door, door, needing a door. Not a problem. You have 5 ft. wide panels so making a door which will let a wheel barrow thru is easy. Just make another smaller framed panel which fits inside one of the larger panels. Lay both panels on the ground, one inside the other. Wedge the inner panel so it sits inside the outer panel equal distance on all side. It should fit snugly so varmints can't get in around the edges, but so it will open without binding. Use fence hinges or this great door strapping I affix to my coop doors with heave screws and fender washers. It holds for years without sagging! ( nuts, can't find the source any more for the strapping, sorry).
-sorry had to stop to make lunch. To make the roof, put some 2x4 horizontals across the run and cover it with poultry wire as done on the panels.
One other thing I do to keep panels from flexing in windy weather. I bought more 8 foot long 2x4 boards than I needed. Cut 2 ft. off the end when making the panels and cut the extra boards into 18" or 2 ft. lengths. Cut angles on the corners of the sections so they fit into the inside 4 corners of each panel. It looks real pretty when the run is assembled and keeps the panels (which have been bolted carriage bolts and washers ), nice and rigid in all weather.

These examples are from BYC's "Coop" gallery.
The "Large Coop" section.
Example of panel system. Here at waist high. Just make it as high as you want.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/moonshadowsfarm
This could also be done with the panel system:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/thomas-pharrs-chicken-coop
Here's several more "panel system" runs:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/our-recycled-shed-coop
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/philervins-yucaipa-chicken-coop
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/metal-shed-into-coop

 

[21hens-incharge]

This one has measurements that are similar to what you are looking for. If you want the walls longer just add another section IMO.
Adding any kind of solid roofing is a whole nother ball of wax. It takes a lot of framing and planning to make it strong enough for any kind of snow load as well as taking into consideration wind. Wind would be a huge disaster with a solid roof and posts floating on the ground not cemented in the ground. For that matter so would any kind of tarp or shade cloth that catches the wind at all. Think parachute effect.
Making it so it can be moved is a tremendous amount of extra work IMO.

http://www.chickencoopplansguide.org/free-chicken-coop-plan/free-chicken-coop-plans-part-15/

I think an impact driver is a great purchase since it can drive in 3 inch screws without stripping the heads out. Predrilling the holes for the screws will save you a lot of headaches. Use a drill bit smaller than the shank of the screw. I think for standard wood screws that would be a 1/8th inch drill bit if memory serves correctly.
I personally would not make it out of 1x anything lumber or even 2x2. It tends to warp and split. I would use 2x4 or larger lumber and treat it with water sealant if it is not already treated lumber. 1x3 is fine for sandwiching the wire but not for strength and predrilling is needed.


I hope this has helped some.

Babs

 

[Nupe]

Hi, thanks! Your run does look similar to what I have in mind. How do you cut strips from a 2X6? Do you need a table saw to do that? The only power saws I have are a mitre saw and a circular saw.

I'm pretty sure my husband has an air stapler. I know he has an air compressor, and I think the reason he got that is for his stapler. He also told me that I should lightly staple the wire on, and then secure it more strongly by covering it with a second piece of wood, so the wire is sandwiched in between. I have seen people use screws and washers to attach the wire. I guess one long strip of wood would take the place of a whole row of washers.

What is the wire spacing you used? Do you have raccoons in your area?

Yes, we used a table saw to split the 2x6s. We do have raccoons but my particular area is hounded more by foxes, hawks and unwelcomed neighborhood dogs.

The staples we used were anything but light. They are 18 gauge galvenized steel, 1 1/2in long and only about as wide as the wire in the fence. I made sure to staple both vertical and horizontal wires of the fence. Using these staples with the air tool was a serious time and work saver, except when the yellowjackets in the garden decided I was too close...

 

[Finnie]

3riverschick, 21 hens-incharge and Nube,

Wow. Thank you so much for all that help. It gives me a lot of ideas I can use. The panel system looks promising. In that one link, I was surprised to see that they installed their panels horizontally. I suppose that helps if you want to use different wire for the bottom than for the top.

And Babs' warning about how wind can make a parachute effect on solid roofs has given me something to think about. I already knew I had to take a heavy snow load into consideration, but I hadn't thought about it catching the wind.

Don't worry, I'm not really planning to move this. But if we ever move (to my dream farm, sigh), I would probably want to either take it down and move it with us, or else sell it to someone else who would take it away. So I kind of think I need to make it with a level bottom, and not contour it to the ground. If contoured, it could only fit on a site with the same slope. But then my son told me that if you dismantled it to move and rebuild it, you could easily peel the wire up, cut the bottom of the posts even with each other, and rebuild it on a flat area.

But it is true that if I can make it "temporary", then I don't need a building permit. I have seen 4x4 post stakes that you can put into the ground instead of using cement, so I thought I might do that at the corners.

Babs, for some reason, your link only works if I right click on it and select "open". But I had to laugh when I read this part of it:

"We will provide the dimensions but after what you have done, we think you should be able to figure out how to construct the run."

I guess figuring it out myself is what it's going to come down to. But at least you guys have been a huge help with the details, information and links you have given. Once I get started, I will have to make a point to take photos and make a detailed article as I go along. Then maybe it can help someone else in the future. I decided I need to start with the pop doors, though. We've gotten our first snow, and it blew right into the open human door since I have that on the west side of the coop. If I can get the pop door made on the east side, then I can start leaving the bigger door shut all the time.

I noticed as I sifted through tons of threads on different coop builds, that some people include drawings in theirs. I'm getting kind of tired of sifting, though. Does anybody have any links handy to any more threads that have their design drawings posted in them? (That is, ones that include the run part.) If I'm going to sit down with some graph paper, then the more examples I have to copy, the better.

Thanks again, everyone!