Want to use dog kennel/pen for housing meat birds.

[cackle]

I found a 10x10x6 dog pen/kennel on craigslist today for 70.00. It is like new so I bought it to use for housing my meat birds. They will be here next week and I have done nothing to get ready.

Has anyone converted one to a tractor or as the base of a portable pen? I would love to hear about your pen/coop or see pictures.


Thanks,

Susan

 

[JessicaGrant]

I have a kennel that size as my run (the coop sits in the middle of it) and it doesn't seem really moveable to me. I'll be interested to see what other people think.

 

[love-my-wolves]

I agree with Jessica, mine is a 10x10, and is permanant. My coop isn't built yet, but I have the kennel backed to a wall of the garage, and I use the window as the entrance to the temporary coop which is a dog cage. It works, is totally coon proof, and they seem to love it! Steph

 

[the1much]

i have 1,, and im pretty sure moving it around would just bend it outta wack soon.

 

[bheila]

I used a kennel for raising our meat birds. I wouldn't use anything else. After learning how much they poop and stink. It's great for ventilation. I even put them in the kennel when they were 2 days old. I just put some netting around the kennel so that they couldn't fit through the chainlink. Something I had already done for some chicks I raised earlier. Then I tacked some plywood together so that they were protected from drafts and gave them a light. Our kennel was 8'x20' and we raised 20 meat chickens. They weren't in there the whole time though I also let them free range. It worked great.

 

[Salt and Light]

I took a very old and rusted dog run and backed it up to my coop. Most of the kennel's rails were rusted from sitting in wet leaves so I turned over the kennel and replaced the entire rails (now on the top) with grey plastic conduit. I bent the conduit at the corners after gently heating with a torch. It worked like a charm and only cost a couple of bucks.

The entire front of my coop is open, so I just backed up the coop and cut a small piece in the bottom wire to allow the chickens to go in/out. I also took a couple pieces of cypress poles and ran between the chain link to give the birds a roost. They spend all night on the roost about 6" below the top of the kennel, which is covered with some CHEAP netting from Wal-Mart. I also dug a small trench around the base of the kennel and dumped in some concrete. After watering, this formed a predator proof base that can be easily removed with a shovel.

This has worked well for me.

 

[cackle]

I was looking for something I could move around every few days. What if we re-enforced the corners? Or added wheels or both.

At least if we can't use it for a meat pen we can use later as we get more chickens...


Susan

 

[the1much]

you could reinforce the corners,, but it will still skew,, you'd have to make an angle brace in the corners from 1 wall to the other, like a brace from 2 foot from the corner to the wall next to it.,, and i know the panels seem light, ( i have broken neck and put mine together) , but once their together,, i hope someone there has BIG arms,, hehe

 

[willheveland]

I've been buying up dog runs when I see them cheap.I thought about doing the same thing,but I think the 4 foot high ones would work the best.I thought about buying a few of those wheels that clamp to those heavy tubular farm gates and use them to move it.If you tried to move one without wheels you would bend it,or rip the wire holders off.If you do it before me,let me know. Will

 

[the1much]

i buy all i can,, even got BIG discount at tractor supply cause 1 of the supports was bent up,,,,i was gonna go with 4ft,, would be nice for a "tractor pen" ,, but if its covered and ya dont move it,, man i hate crawling in bird poop,,