The Run thread

[redneck farmer]

Wow nice!

 

[MoonShadows]

Here is my run one picture is kind of dark I took it at dusk. I still have a few finishing touches to put on the coop and I need to paint the inside but it's done for the most part.

Where did you purchase that nice kennel fencing?

 

[JuNK GyPSY]

Where did you purchase that nice kennel fencing?

I found it on Craig's list but they sell them and Lowe's,we did build a small section in the back to make it larger. My husband just made a frame out of 2x4's and painted them black to match and covered it with hardware cloth.

 

[bellachicks]

Oooh I love your colours!

 

[MEMama3]

Thats a beautiful run!! 
The chickens are proud of you! lol :cd

I love your run! How tall is your fence? Do you clip your chickens' wings? I live in a rural village and would love something like this.

 

[ohju1ia]

I love the coloring MiaHudy. Do you plan on painting the run posts as well?

 

[MiaHudy]

I very much wish I had taken the time to paint it before attaching the hardware cloth. I can't quite figure out how to go about painting it now attached. >.< Definitely a "Doh" on my part

 

[GreenEggsNSpam]

I love this thread!

It's awesome seeing all the creative run-builds people come up with. Very inspiring since I need to build one.

I have an awesome, sturdy 12'x8' chicken coop that we had built for us by pros, but we have yet to build a run. My 5 week-old 7 pullets and one roo are stuck in the coop all day except the two hours a day I let them have supervised free range. We have SO many predators around here that they'd be gone in a day if I let them free range unsupervised. Even hawks and owls are abundant. (I was just listening to a bunch of barred owls last night). So I am going to need to have a top on my run for certain.

The question I have is does anyone have a good basic plan for building one? One with measurements and instructions? LOL I'm not worried about the size. We can adjust that.

I know the kind of materials to use, it's putting them together that's the problem. I could guess myself through it, I think, but would feel more confidant with a defined plan. Some kind of good, sturdy basic plan would give us an idea how to do this and get us started.

Any suggestions??

 

[SwedishDude99]

This is the surf shack coop. We have a Hawaiian looking backyard so we wanted the coop to tie in with it. The run is 6 ft by 11 ft.

 

[naadarien]

Under the My Coop link, there are pictures of the area around my coop that became the chickie run. The run itself is about twice the size of the coop.

It is dark and cloudy today. Not a good time to take pictures of an area shaded by trees. I'll take pictures tomorrow. It is supposed to be sunny.

We used the deer fencing the previous owner left on the property to bound the run. He used to raise deer for commercial sales so there are tons of that fencing here. We added 2-3 48"x100' lengths of chicken wire on the bottom half, both to keep the cats out and the chickies in.

I had not considered, but like the idea of, closing off part of it to give greens a chance to regrow. The ground is definitely denuded now. I also had not considered putting anything down for the winter (to prevent mud). I am planning on having sand delivered over the next month or so for the coop so maybe I'll put some ground cover down in the run as well. We have lots of fall on the property so maybe we'll buy a wood chipper and put some down in the run. Thanks for some of the neat ideas.