So, many of you read my post 10 or so days ago about getting hit by a tornado. Well we decided to take the opportunity to build our birds a new coop/run. We went with the easy 4x8 size, up off the ground, using a 10x10x6 dog lot as a run. Neither I or my wife have any experience doing this kind of thing. Our first small coop was built using the stairs going up to our house, and was pretty cramped. The really tough part (and very NOT fun part) was the dog lot. We purchased a used one off craigslist, that turned into a disaster. Inside the lot at the previous owners house was an old dog house she was using for some chicks at one point. While taking down the chain link fencing, I bumped into the dog house and out swarmed about 5000 mutant hornets. After realizing we'd survive our numerous stings, we devised a plant to pull the top pole down, hopefully angling the whole thing up and over the nest of death and pain, pull it away from there and dismantle it 50 feet away. About halfway into that plan, the whole thing fell apart, plastic corner pieces cracking in half, and smashing the dog house releasing a cloud of very angry hornets. I probably should have walked away at that point, but the savings was over 250 bucks, and that's a lot of money. So a job that should have taken 20 minutes, took hours, as we continually had to retreat from the mess and let the hornets settle down before continuing to work.
After getting all the parts home, we found that the replacements parts were not available. At least not locally. So we went to Lowes and purchased some things that would work, even if it wouldn't look very good. In the pics, you'll see the dog lot leaning. It IS stable and structurally sound. It just isn't pretty and won't be winning any awards for having all 90 degree angles or anything
Very proud of the coop. We worked hard on that. The dog lot is not predator safe yet, but will be in a few weeks. Until then, they will be locked up in the coop during the night hours, and free ranging during the day anyway, so nothing to worry about. We'll end up replacing the plastic poultry netting across the top of the dog lot with good stuff, and along the bottom. We introduced them to their new home last night. Ohhhh, that was fun. And then to get them from the run into the coop? Everyone one of them had to be handled and placed up the ramp. But they'll get it.
Now for the pictures...
After getting all the parts home, we found that the replacements parts were not available. At least not locally. So we went to Lowes and purchased some things that would work, even if it wouldn't look very good. In the pics, you'll see the dog lot leaning. It IS stable and structurally sound. It just isn't pretty and won't be winning any awards for having all 90 degree angles or anything
Very proud of the coop. We worked hard on that. The dog lot is not predator safe yet, but will be in a few weeks. Until then, they will be locked up in the coop during the night hours, and free ranging during the day anyway, so nothing to worry about. We'll end up replacing the plastic poultry netting across the top of the dog lot with good stuff, and along the bottom. We introduced them to their new home last night. Ohhhh, that was fun. And then to get them from the run into the coop? Everyone one of them had to be handled and placed up the ramp. But they'll get it.
Now for the pictures...
