Building a run around a house?

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Greenlintie

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Hi!
I am a very, very new chicken keeper. Our girls arrived on Tuesday (two bovins nero, two isa browns, one white sussex) and we've had a few eggs already, which is lovely.
We bought a bog-standard wooden house and retrofitted it with weldmesh panels on the sides, double layer of chicken wire underneath the run (it is raised off the ground), ran extra thick solid timbers around the base of the run to keep it off the ground and mr fox out and of course painted it. Unfortunately my daughter chose the colours, so it is mostly PINK. :oops:

Anyway, my plan was to keep the girls in their for a day or two then use the large weldmesh triangular ark my brother made me to help them get safely around the garden, eating weeds, bugs and other things and keeping them entertained.

The problem is that yesterday the weather was REALLY horrible - hail, torrential rain, the lot. The poor souls didn't get out into the portable run because there's no shelter on it & I know from reading up that they don't like it wet.

Now I'm thinking I need to build a decent sized run around the coop and 'run' underneath it, because let's face it, the weather isn't going to be better over the next few months LOL!

This is the house we bought (the extra large one) http://www.henhouseworld.co.uk/ch102.htm

so you can see it's not big enough for the girls to be in the run for very long (although better that than eaten by a fox!!) and yes, there is a local fox which I had a dream about having shot the other night. Amazing (and crazy because another one would move in...)

ANYWAY: I'm trying to work out if it's considerably cheaper to buy the materials myself (treated timber, weldmesh panels, plastic or onduline roof (do I mean onduline?), sleepers to sit it on, wire skirt etc) and just accept it will take a while OR do I get a bank loan and buy a nice one with ready made panels? I *used* to be quite handy, before I had my wee girl (now 4). It's beena while though. And my lovely DH is no use whatever - none. He likes to look at the girls but he hasn't worked out how to hold them yet, he's a bit scared of being pecked I think.

Anyway, thanks for all your thoughts: I've been doing a bit of scouting online and the materials do seem to be very expensive. I have a MASSIVE back garden for them, so I can build a proper sized run for when I'm not out there digging and planting and mowing and yadda yadda yadda. I don't want them to be unhappy or in danger!

Thanks
Susan x
 
Have you thought about using electric poultry netting Susan? You can create a run with your hen house inside it.If your'e garden is big enough and you can keep the netting about 4' from anything (walls or fences) a fox could climb up and jump down from that might be your best bet. You can get complete kits, excluding the battery from a number of suppliers (check out ebay).

You would then be able to leave the door to the weld mesh run open so the hens can wander in and out. You might also want to think about putting some plastic sheet or something on the weather side of this to provide more shelter form the wind and rain.
 
Thanks Margaid! I'd thought of the electric netting & my aunt has offered, very kindly, a 50m length but without the battery & power thingy. The only downside would be the walls - we have lovely 5ft high brick walls all round which Mr Fox can clear in a single leap (I've seen it happen). I might be able to keep them in there temporarily but their house is sheltered in a corner of the garden, so they have enough shade and protection from the high winds (we're on top of a hill) - I didn't think at the time about a big run around the house, daftie.
if I work out how to load up pictures I'll put some up, otherwise I'll add a link to my garden blog, where they'll be joining the weeds & plants very soon.
*goes off to price up batteries in the meantime*
 
And would people in general say that a solid coloured roof is better than a clear corrugated plastic one? I just realised that a plum tree is smack in the middle of where I was going to build the run, so the ladies would get some shade and extra beasties... but that will rather foil the roof - and it's within 4' of the wall *scratches head*
 
The other thing would be to consider building a fence and threading a few electric wires through. The bottom wire extruding outwards, then around 4 or 5 more. You could then link a wire to the top of your brick wall, you may also need an earth wire there too depending on your set up.
 
Hi Susan

Yes it is a lot cheaper to build your own run than buy one off the peg, costs about half as much if I remember from when I built mine. With regards to the roof I have only seen one clear corrugated plastic one and it was a very hot day but the chickens were baking under it, the owner had locked shut the coop popholes so prospective customers could view them and they were queing at the closed door trying to get in. I'm sure somebody will come on who uses the clear stuff to tell me I'm wrong but I use onduline which gives them a nice bit of shade in summer. Can't quite imagine your setup but I have a large tree and I built my run around it in a L shape, I tried to upload a photo of it but it seems to be having a bit of a wobbly at the moment.
 
Electric fencing can be problematic in a garden, especially where children play, and needs quite a lot of upkeep to keep it running effectively. Batteries can fail vegetation grows and shorts it out, and it's difficult to feel confident that it will go on working if you leave the hens in the care of someone else when you go away from home. A secure walk-in run will be a godsend when the winter comes, especially if you can roof at least part of it. They must have shade in summer and somewhere dry and out of the wind in winter, as you have realised. Yes Onduline will provide shade as well as shelter, but the choice of onduline or clear plastic really depends on whether you get natural shade from trees etc. Until recently I had the end half of my run covered with onduline, and it was effective, but after this soaking wet summer I've just had it covered with clear corrugated plastic all over and it's fabulous, always dry and never muddy, it will be excellent in winter both for the girls and for me. Because its now covered I'm able to put Aubiose (shredded hemp stems) on the floor, which is really warm and soft and very absorbent so a doddle to keep clean. It was lquite warm in there on the one or two hot days we had, but there is always shade under their coop and in our garden the run is shaded by big trees from 2 p.m. anyway, so the extra light of the clear plastic is welcome, especially in winter when the warmth will also be a bonus. If it was in a more open sunny spot onduline would have been better for hot days. I suppose theres no reason why you couldn't have half and half, thus getting shade from the onduline end and light from the clear plastic end.
I also have the end walls covered with plastic tarpaulin, a very cheap and effective way of providing shelter from wind, which hens hate, and also it stops rain blowing in sideways and making the run wet. It's been up 3 years and is still perfectly intact and effective.
We made the run ourselves, it was a lot cheaper but quite hard work, concreting in 3in. posts and fixing mesh all round and over the top, but I know it's impregnable and never have to worry about the girls being perfectly safe in there. It took a lot of time, which is where the cost comes in if you have to pay anyone to build it for you.
It sounds as if you've done a really good job retrofitting your run and i bet the hens love the pink paint. I agree it's too small for 5 hens, as they need a minimum of 2 square metres each, so at least 10 square metres would be a good idea when you plan your bigger run. I think the run on the coop you have would perhaps do for two birds, but it's always the case that coops with fixed runs underestimate the size of run which will be satisfactory for the number of hens the coop will hold. If they're overcrowded there's much more chance of fighting, feather pecking and stress for the ones lower in the pecking order when there's not enough room for them to escape a higher-ranking bully.
You could let them use the triangular ark if you got a small plastic tarpaulin or even a sheet of strong polythene to fix over the top using elastic ropes, leaving the ends open for plenty of air, so they were out of the downpours. I have some quails in a rabbit run covered with tarpaulin and they've stayed perfectly dry and comfortable all this wet summer. There's a good company called Tarpaulins Direct that do a clear plastic Monotex tarp in various sizes at very reasonable prices, easy to cut to size if necessary. What would you do if the hens wanted to lay whilst in the ark? It would be fine if they'd all done their homework in the morning, but sometimes they lay at various times during the day and need access to their nestboxes. This is important especially when they are just starting to lay and need to develop good regular habits. So a nice big run around their coop would be very helpful for them.
 
What fantastic helpful replies!! :D

I'm so grateful fo ryou rtime and patience, it's very kind. I have done a bit more research overnight and have come up with the following plan:

- electric fencing is, I think, too unpredictable (and i have four year old rampaging and wanting to talk to her hens) so it's a temporary possibility maybe next summer, once the weather improves and we're outdoors more often.

- a fixed run, using the corner of a wall where the house is already sited will be most secure: the back wall is about six foot high and I will run the roof off that. It will be covered in chicken wire, including the area around the plum tree which I will keep inside the run, but with sheets of onduline. AFAIK the corner is one of the sunnier in the garden: it faces south/SW, so they need shade I think more than sun. I can postcrete in some 4x4s at the front two corners of the long wall, a 3x3 at the wall corners and a few more 2x2 as I go along. I will buy a door ready made (they're not too expensive) and I have found sheets of weldmesh 6x4 6 for about £100 (inc VAT) and it's a good gauge too.

- overall floor size of the run will be just over 6.5m x 2.5m ((22ft x 8ft) - I hope that will be enough to keep them happy during the winter and early spring, when I''m not out so much. does that work out to 10sq metres? I like the sound of the clear tarp, that will be great for the weather we sometimes get on top of our hill & handy to add onto the ark.

And no, so far most of our eggs have been at lunchtime! I will keep them in the run until after lunch today and then put them in the ark, once I'm sure their homework's been handed in LOL.

THanks again, I'm very excited (and a bit feard) of all this work - I had hoped that the coop would be enough but you all know how it goes :D
 
Although my dad has just pointed out that if I built it right up to the end of the hut, I'd have a hard time painting it or getting at the sides to treat vermin... SO!

I need to post a photo, don't I? Right, will work that one out and get back to you. Have to say though, have found some 6x12 weldmesh panels and could get 3 (36ft) for £117, which I think would be enough. Much, much cheaper than a pre-built run.
 
6.5 X 2.5 metres = 16.5 sq. metres, so that's generous for 5 hens, room for expansion maybe! Or you could scale down the size a bit if you wanted to make a perfect fit for pre-formed panels. What size is the mesh on the panels? Small is good, mine is 1/2 inch, which excludes vermin and small birds, also foxes couldn't get their teeth into it to bite it through. We did ours off the roll, after putting in the framework, stapling it on to the posts and wiring the joins together with garden wire along the overlapped lengths, rather like wrapping a parcel, and we covered the floor with mesh as well so nothing can ever dig in. You could give the posts several really good coats of extra preservative before putting them in and they will be OK for many years.
Tips on posting photos on here can be found in the Photos of Chickens section at http://poultrykeeperforum.com/viewforum.php?f=27 - we'll look forward to seeing some.

PS this is the link for tarpaulins. I used the clear version and fixed mine to the framework using battens to hold the edges securely along their length, and here and there where there was an eyelet i tied it down with nylon cord. http://www.tarpaulinsdirect.co.uk/tarpaulins/tarpaulins/monotex-tarpaulin
 
Thnk you so much Marigold, really lovely tips. I'd thought of buying weldmesh panels but although they are a good size (6ftx12ft (3.66m long)) the mesh holes are about 2x2 so too big probably. I'd not thought of making a frame for the mesh and then stapling it on, my dad had said it was just impossible to get the rolls to go flat (and he will most likely end up helping, unless I do it under cover of night!).

I'd rather use 1/2 inch if I can, although t will make more of a visual impact with the smaller holes - but be safer as you say. And a mouse could definitely still get in, but maybe not rats. I like mesh along the floor, that's what we've done on the coop. You would've laughed to see me trying to get the girls out of there today - the 4yo was in there to shoo them towards me but we could only get the isa brown's, the sussex is far too fast & so are the neros. They quite liked scratching about under the ark I think, we found them some lovely grass & weeds but getting them back in was a bit slapstick too. It rained so I wanted them to be in. Going to order some tarp straight away, even the little run can't stop the rain if it's at an angle and they *do not* seem keen on wet! Poor things. Maybe I should've got Scots Dumpies after all!!
 
would this be safe for hens do you think? and indeed any use against rats...

http://www.tarpaulinsdirect.co.uk/home-and-garden/pest-deterrents/solar-mole-and-rodent-repeller
 
It may be safe around hens but they are absulutely useless against rats, apparently at best it keeps them away for a couple of days until they get used to it. The best way to keep away rats is to deny them food, keep your feeders at a height so the chickens don't spill much when they feed (back height) and take the feeders in at night, sweep up any major spillage, store your feed in metal bins etc. The only problem with 1/2 inch mesh is that is almost double the price of 1 inch mesh, £125 for a 30m roll of 16g instead of £70 for instance, though you may be able to get it a bit cheaper than that shopping around, obviously if thats within your budget then thats fine, you would get about 16 6'x3' panels out of that which would be a 18'X6' run if that helps you with your costing at all.
 
THANKS - I'm really rubbish at planning this sort of thing & my brother who builds pens is busy this week (really, really busy). He uses the bigger 2x2 mesh for birds but I don't fancy going out to find them with their heads bitten off and Elizabeth was doing that this evening in the ark... silly girl :D
 
dinosaw said:
The only problem with 1/2 inch mesh is that is almost double the price of 1 inch mesh, £125 for a 30m roll of 16g instead of £70 for instance, though you may be able to get it a bit cheaper than that shopping around, obviously if thats within your budget then thats fine, you would get about 16 6'x3' panels out of that which would be a 18'X6' run if that helps you with your costing at all.
Click to expand...

Try this site http://www.4wire.co.uk/wire-mesh/pvc-green-wire-mesh 30metres for £69.99 and free delivery. (wherever you order from, check delivery charges as this can inflate the price!) this site has other options, eg plain silver wire 1'' x 1/2'' considerably cheaper and a sensible size.
If you can get the posts properly vertical and the framework horizontal, it's not too difficult to fix the mesh to it without sagging. A two-person job, one to pull the mesh tight and the other to get a few staples in to hold it to the next post. But if the framework isn't rectangular the job will not be easy.
Also consider that, to get your minimum 10 sq. metres for your 5 hens, you could get away with a smaller run, ie 4 metres by 2.5 instead of the 6.5 metres you suggested (though bigger is good.)
 
Thanks again: ordered the tarpaulin yesterday, finalising my shopping list for timber, wire and sundries today. My brother is going to help w the heavy bits and we'll hope to postcrete the uprights in mid-week ;D I've opted for 5.5m x 3.5m as I think I'd rather do bigger & make sure the girls are happy long term (and with the room for expansion of the flock....!) in case I'm not around in the garden to supervise.
I'm going to stick it on the credit card and hope for the best: even with postage & time, there's not a chance I could ever afford to buy an aviary ths size so I'm going to really enjoy watching them have lots of free, safe space without worrying they're about to be fox-fodder as soon as my back is turned. And yes, I'll still lock them in safely each night - even with Colditz taking shape, I am not underestimating the lure of their warm feathery bodies!

Two lovely fresh eggs this morning, straight into the Saturday pancake mix :D
 
Hi folks! Sorry it's been a bit quiet but... we've been building the run!

In the end, I ordered weld mesh & chicken wire from Hills of Devon - 15m of the 1x1/2 19 gauge 72" wide weldmesh which is light enough for me to actually lift & staple, plus a long roll of 90cm wide chicken wire: at the bottom of the run, we are going to double the mesh with wire which will come out a bout a foot and be buried all the way round. The framing is made of 4x4 corner posts sunk 2ft down & postcreted in place, plus the same either side of the gate (which has bolts top & bottom to make it even firmer). Over the roof, we are running wire stitched together so the plum tree can stay in place and I'm saving up for the corroline to make a solid roof. In the meantime, I got a big clear tarpaulin that will provide a bit of protection from rain - the sun not being a *massive* problem at this time of year lol.

The girls are keeping us massively entertained & their personalities are really coming out. They love watching us work, mainly because I will go and get them some salad that's gone over, or spinach or sorrel leaves from the tyre planters nearby. I'm a bit worried they love that too much because they go slightly bonkers when the greenery arrives lol.

Should get it finished tomorrow and then I can post a picture. I feel like it needs a name though: it's substantial at about 20ft by 10ft. Something that size needs a name, surely?!

Thanks for all the advice & pointers :D
 
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