Chicken Coops and Outdoor Runs are something you will need if you are planning to have chickens.
I’m sure you’ve seen our other blog post with the chicken coop that we re-built from and old outhouse that was in very rough shape. We’ve been so busy that we just haven’t had the time to finish the outdoor runs for our big chickens. We have a temporary chicken run that is in one end of our tractor shed, but it doesn’t offer much sunlight for our chickens.
What About Sunlight For Chickens?
Chickens need sunlight and that is just what are giving them with this outdoor chicken run. Chicken Coops and Outdoor Runs are made in many different ways, shapes and sizes. Most people run to the local hardware or farm supply store and purchase post and fencing for their Chicken Coops and Outdoor Runs, but we are doing it a little different.
If you’ve read any of our previous blog post I’m sure you’ve seen how we like to use reclaimed materials…or at least as much as possible. Sure we have to buy some stuff once and awhile, but not like the majority does. To most people today it is to hard and takes to much time to use reclaimed materials. Time is money…right? Yes, but materials cost money too and we want to keep as much of our money in our pockets as possible.
Make Your Own Fence Post
We decided to make our outdoor chicken run with post we have here on the farm. We already have lots of trees that are down, so we are using them for our outdoor chicken run. Hedge post will outlast any other post you can put in the ground, so that is exactly what we decided to use. They may not be as pretty or as straight as the store bought-en post, but they will out last all of those other post…guaranteed!
See our outdoor chicken run pictures below…or at least the hedge post are in the ground and tamped in and the upper frame work is srarted. This chicken run will get a heavy gauge galvanized woven wire (horse wire) that has close spacing and galvanized close weave chicken wire behind that…
Warning About Hedge Post
Hedge post are extremely hard. They don’t bend, break, or rot, and it is very hard to drive fencing steeples in them. Try it sometime and see for yourself. Try driving steeples or nails in hedge post. Fun job…not really. However, once you do get your steeples in them, they are there to stay…forever! I like to use galvanized, ring shanked steeples so they won’t rust and won’t pull out.
Chicken Coops and Outdoor Runs
This outdoor chicken run will provide a safe and large outdoor area for our chickens to get sunlight and enjoy everything that the great outdoors has to offer.
We will add a small door up off of the ground approximately 3′ to 4′ with a ramp for the chickens to go in and out of chicken coop that is located inside the tin tractor shed that you see in the pictures above.
Another thing we will be doing in taking extra precaution against predators for the safety of our chickens. We will be digging down approximately 12″ to add a surprise for any predator that might have ideas about digging under the outdoor run. Our heavy wire will be down in the ground with smaller diameter hedge post fastened to the heavy gauge galvanized wire to prevent predators from digging down under the coop fence. Oh, there will also be barbed wire fastened to that as well…ouch. By adding some nasty sharp barbed wire near the bottom of the outdoor run and in this trench will leave any predator yelping and bleeding.
Enough about the outdoor chicken run for now. Below you will see pictures of our little chicks that are growing very quickly. These chicks have outgrown there decent sized home made box we had them in and we was forced to make them a chicken coop that is portable. Having this chicken coop portable was important so we can move it from inside to outside each day until these chicks can be outdoors all the time.
It still gets fairly cool at night here in Missouri, so we feel better about these chicks being indoors in the evenings.
Check Out The Pictures Below:
Notice in these pictures above how we have the Feeders so we can fill them from the outside of chicken coop. We are also making automatic waterers for these chicks. Chicken Coops and Outdoor Runs is something we have enjoyed building here at Pin Oaks Farm as well as the enjoyment of our chickens, chicks and now ducklings.
As shown in the pictures above you will see how we made a 4’x8′ 2×4 frame and then added OSB plywood to that. Then we added 3/4″ PVC pipe to that by drilling holes through the plywood and fastening the PVC on the underside using heavy duty metal conduit fasteners.
Next we added the galvanized chicken wire and used galvanized steeples to fasten the wire to the 2×4 frame. Then we added double folded heavy mil plastic before adding the shredded news paper and wood chips. This protects the wood flooring and makes it easier to clean.
Adding Feeders
In these pictures you can see how we’ve added the Chicken Feeders so that they can be filled from the outside of the chicken coop. You will also see how we added a ridge board down the center of the coop for stability. This is a 8′ long 2×4 that fastens on each end and is wired to the PVC pipes using heavy duty galvanized wire.
The next thing we did was add roosting bars for these chicks to roost on. These are 2×2″ roosting bars with a ramp going up to them. As you can also see we added a solid end using some reclaimed smart siding and then cut out a door that is hinged for easy access for cleaning out this chicken coop.
Are you building Chicken Coops and Outdoor Runs, or thinking about building your own Chicken Coops and Outdoor Runs? If so, hopefully this blog post will help you do just that.
In the pictures above you will also notice we have added a pull rope on each end of the chicken coop for easy moving. This makes it very portable. The piano style hinge came from a post you may have seen from a recent tornado that went through our area. This tornado created lots of damage nearby our place and during the cleanups that I did. I recovered a great deal of lumber and aluminum parts. This piano style hinge was something I recovered from a destroyed pontoon boat. By having these reclaimed materials laying around, it allowed us to finish this project without having to run to town for something.
Using Lumber and Materials From Tornado
All of the Lumber used in building these Chicken Coops and Outdoor Runs came from that same tornado. The hedge post shown above came from our farm as mentioned earlier in this blog post. The old dirty looking blue tarp pictured above is something we also recovered from our farm. We thought this would provide some shade and darkness for our chicks.
So you see, using reclaimed lumber and materials does have lots of advantages when building Chicken Coops and Outdoor Runs. Anything else you might be wanting to build can also be done using reclaimed lumber and materials. There is no limit.
Feel free to leave comments below and let us know what you think. Or leave comments with ideas you may have about Chicken Coops and Outdoor Runs. We would love to hear from you!
Always do your best,
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