ta da! Tiki coop/run and tractor mostly done (whew)

[elmo]

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Actually, that isn't a tree, it's just bamboo culms that I harvested from elsewhere in our yard and propped up inside the coop. I thought the chickens would be more comfortable with natural cover. I know whenever they free range in our yard, they make a bee line....ehr...a chicken line straight for the nearest patch of bamboo. When these branches wither too much, I'll just replace them with fresh....we have enough bamboo!

I do this for our indoor birds (doves and parrots), and they seem to enjoy it, also. I got the idea from the Birds' Landing Aviary at the Dallas Zoo, a wonderful place for all bird lovers.

 

[2txmedics]

thats awesome, I also have my b/g macaw out in a kennel area...but only have a few branches in there for her to climb wanted to give her a jungle atomsphere, havent as of yet....then I have 2 greys inside and one cuckatoo...

well you did awesome!

 

[HEChicken]

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What about covering half with a tarp? That way they have shade from the sun and can get out of the rain too.

 

[elmo]

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What about covering half with a tarp? That way they have shade from the sun and can get out of the rain too.

I'm pretty fortunate in that the back part of our yard is pretty much always shaded by our trees, at least in the summer time. That's where I keep moving the tractor. I do have a shade tarp that I can use if necessary when the leaves drop in the fall. I'm not sure it would help too much for rain because it's one of those kinds of tarps that "breathe."

As luck would have it, the first day I put our chickens into this tractor it rained. Actually, it poured. I ran out and put the Palrum roof panels that I hadn't yet installed on their coop over the top of the tractor. The chickens freaked, and all ran to the one spot in the tractor that wasn't protected by the panels, rain notwithstanding. When I got that corner covered, too, they were dry, but then I noticed that rain was pooling on top of the panels and weighing them down. I was worried the whole thing might collapse, so I stood there with an umbrella and a pail, bailing the water off my makeshift roof. I realized that's not going to be a good long term solution for the problem!