My eco solution to rat problems

[mostin]

Looks gorgeous, I will add it to my pile of design plans i want to plunder and pillage from

[Tilly Bud]

Great inspiration here, thanks! My chickens are hopefully getting a run for Christmas, i'll post pics!

[blackpuddinonnabike]

Finally got round to finishing the walk-in run for our girls on a bit of land that was just going to waste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The shed was already blue... No plans, no kit, just an idea, some wood and a saw (with some other stuff obviously). Had to build round a curve of a path (that I've now got to reinstate) and there's a snagging list to get through (Eglu up on a table, railway sleepers screening off the base, couple more perches etc.). Save for some help laying the concrete base (hah, get through THAT Mr Fox!) all by my own fair hand...

 

I'm knackered.

[Chickvic]

That looks fabulous! Love the colour too

[blackpuddinonnabike]

They were a little wary this morning when they got moved in, but the extra space and height and added dustbath and perches should win them round! Looking at some of the others here I think I've over-engineered a bit....

[mostin]

Those are some lucky chickens, what a cool new place to move into for christmas.

[Groovychook]

Wow! It looks fab!!!

[chelsea]

love it, especially that Chelsea blue colour....very

[sti chick]

Hi, thought i'd add our completed project in here there are some great ideas to be had from this thread A quick run down on the security measures taken to out fox the fox The run itself sits on concrete footings 80% of the way round, the 20% that is around the tree trunk has mesh running under the run frame & onto the trunk, this is covered by earth to keep it looking neat & tidy ( no digging here for the fox) The roof fully covers the run area so no worries about bird poo landing on the chooks the mesh runs right up between the roof truses so it is fully enclosed stopping the birds entering. Added a raised platform and slope for them to get on to it + a branch for them to mess around on The house has been built with 1" shuttering ply either side of the studwork roof included, this is located inside a secure shed so no worries of water ingress (sp) entry into the run has a outside & inside sliding door so hopefully no draughs the house has a stable door so that you can have a little peek it has also been painted to seal the wood for easy cleaning, so here are a few pics for you to see

ps ventilation will be via a small window opening into the run, just need to source a frame

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[evochick]

The chicken house looks great, shame about the car picture

[sti chick]

The chicken house looks great, shame about the car picture

Hello evochick, thanks for the comment on the chicken house you must be in your later years of life with a comment like that about such a fantastic car the chelsey tractor is more suited to OAPs so thats you sorted then

[Larkspurs]

We haven't a huge amount of space in our back garden so any run would have to use as much space as efficiently as possible.

 

So what we are doing is incorporating the run into our raised decking which will use otherwise dead space, allow shelter and with the bit that sticks out some exposure to direct sunlight in the mornings and early to mid afternoon until the sun goes behind the house. Directly under the decking and acting like a ceiling will be corrugated plastic so rain doesn't drip through.

 

Anyway, here's the extension to the decking that will house the Eglu and also provide more direct exposure to the sun:

 

 

You can see in this pic where it will be added, we've also created a base for the extension with weldmesh that will be sunk a few inches and covered with slabs then earth, so if a fox does manage to dig through paving slabs, it will then have to bite through a floor made of that...or more slabs if it gets the aim wrong!

 

 

And the final pic shows where the padlocked access flaps will be for ease of cleaning. And of course where the hens can free range through when supervised.

 

 

If need be we can always expand it a bit later. What do you think?

[Olly]

wow, that looks amazing - very efficient use of space (and someone who's very handy with a saw!) I think that's great - shelter from rain/sun and quite a bit of space to potter about in.

 

Looks as if cleaning it out could be a bit awkward because of the height, but no worse than an Eglu run. Someone in your household is very clever!

[Toots]

I am going to start my own project to build chicken world (not going to get close to the others in terms of style!)

 

I have read somewhere earlyer that the best option is 16 gauge weld mesh. I have no idea how thick that is.

 

Help

[moomin]

Toots, 16g weldmesh is as strong as an ox but you can still see the chooks beautifully

[Toots]

thanks i will get the 16g but the website i found sells 1 mm diameter or 1.6 mm. I am going to get 1.6 as it is probably worth spending the extra just in case

[BarbaraJ]

so is 19g thicker or thinner than 16g?

[Cooks]

19 is thinner

[Bantambabe]

Finally got my run finished. It's a couple of weeks since I blogged the making of it, but the eglu has been in it since then as I needed to remove some edging stones from the patio in order to put it in the right place, and they were frozen solid.

Anyway, this morning I've finally finished it off. and here it is:

 

I guess I'm lucky that the patio is raised so I could have the eglu on it. This means that I can change poop tray / collect eggs without having to go on the mud/poo at all.

 

 

still need to do some tidying up though

 

I used weldmesh to make a bridge between the eglu and the run - don't ask me what gauge - it's what they had at the hardware store. Don't know how fox-proof it would be, but up until now there has never been a problem. (famous last words i know)

 

 

I had put bark in the bottom, but don't like it much - I just couldn't find woodchip at the time. I've now got some woodchip so will swap it over in a few weeks time. Also got some aubiose for the end of the run which is covered - it's probably not that easy to see, but the half-wood panels have clear perspex over the mesh at the top so that end is pretty much water tight.

[moomin]

That's looking really good The chooks will be able to go up to bed, they will like that

[Smeg]

Its almost finished! Hubby has spent the last 3 weekends building from scratch with just his imagination! what a clever boy

Now all we need to do is fill the run with interested toys for our chooks - my niece & nephew are due here later today so maybe they can help

 

 

 

 

[moomin]

What a fab run and what a talented hubby!!

 

They will have great fun in there Smeg - maybe a few more chooks will fit too??

[Smeg]

They will have great fun in there Smeg - maybe a few more chooks will fit too??

 

I've already started hinting! we may get a couple of exbatts later in the year if i nag enough!

x

[Ain't Nobody Here]

That's looks brilliant . What a clever OH .

 

I thought your cat looked like it was getting ready to leap onto the cube, I see from the following photo I was right .

[PhilipCaldwell]

wow, tah looks super,cant wait to do smething similar