uc4tuna Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 Hi everyone! I love all the walk-in runs by aviaries4you. If I lived in the UK I would definitely order one from them! But instead it looks like I'll be making one. So I was hoping to get some advice from all of you WIR experts! If any of you can help me (especially since my DH and I have no building experience! ) I would really appreciate it! Here is a picture of my current set up: Basically, we have a 12 foot x 6 foot wooden frame (made of redwood 2x4s) that the cube and run are sitting on. There is base rock and then sand inside this box. I am hoping to build an aviary-style run to build on top of this frame, like this one (sorry if this is one of yours, I'm not sure where I copied it from! ): So here are my questions: 1. I'm planning to build panels that are 6' by 3', with hardware cloth stapled to the wood, and then screw them together. What size is the wood that is used for the panels? It looks like it might be 2x2? With maybe 2x4s used to support the roof panels? 2. It looks like most of the runs just rest on slabs and aren't attached to posts that are dug down into the ground. I'm hoping to screw the panels of hardware cloth to the wooden frame that I already have, but I'm worried that it might not be stable enough? Do I need to cement in posts at each corner to make it more stable? I don't want to take apart the wooden frame and start over because it's full of sand and base rock. We have 4 chickens, and live in the San Francisco bay area (so winter lows are maybe in the 30s and there's no snow) and we have lots of raccoons, possums, skunks, hawks, and dogs to protect our flock against. Thanks for any advice!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chicken bark Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Sorry don't have time to answer all your queries (and I probably don't know the answer anyway ) but the weight of the run make is sturdy when constructed so you won't need to have anchor posts. Worst case you could use brackets and screw it to the slabs in a few places but you shouldn't need to. Good quality runs use 2 by 2 but mine is fine for my needs and is 2 by 1. On mine the side panels are 6 x 3 and I just screwed them together then used another 6 x 3 panel to go across the roof. No other support was needed. I put on an extra couple of 2x1 wood across the length of the run at one edge to make it higher so that the roofing (onduline) was higher at one end when attached to make the rain run off easier and not pool on top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted August 6, 2012 Share Posted August 6, 2012 Mine is just resting on slabs. It would have to be a heck of a breeze to shift it. I think a sloping roof is a better idea, so that rain runs off and snow is easier to shift .. if you get any where you are located. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uc4tuna Posted August 7, 2012 Author Share Posted August 7, 2012 Great! Thank you so much for your help! We have raccoons and pretty strong winds here, so I just want to make sure that my girls are safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cooks Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 My run is 12x6 also and is made up of 6ft high and 3ft wide panels, these are screwed together, there is no frame, however I cannot see why you couldn't do it like that if you wanted. The panels are made from 2x2 planed wood, the roof is supported on the actual panels but supported in the middle by a wooden bearer. My roof is corrugated metal. It sits on a concrete slab and has not moved one bit. http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm5/hullahoop777/004-2.jpg http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm5/hullahoop777/003-6.jpg http://i292.photobucket.com/albums/mm5/hullahoop777/SP_A0293.jpg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayleybug Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 could you have your WIR standing just inside your current set up, so that you could use brackets to attach it to the current wooden edging to give it more stability? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
uc4tuna Posted August 16, 2012 Author Share Posted August 16, 2012 Thanks everyone for your replies! I think I will just attach it to the existing frame. So far we have the panels built (still have to attach the hardware cloth) and this weekend we're planning to screw them all together! One other question - we're planning to put the cube outside the run with a hole in one of the panels to allow them out of the pop door into the run. I''ve seen lots of pictures of this on the WIR threads, but I'm just not sure if there is anything connecting the cube to the run, or if everyone just pushes the cube up against the run? I'm not sure that a raccoon would be able to move the cube away from the run, but I just want my girls to be safe. =) Thanks again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayleybug Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 i think people mainly just put the cube up against the hole as the cube weights itself down fairly well, are racoons very strong? maybe you could put some bricks or something behind the cube to prevent any rolling back, im not sure how yo could fix the cube to the wire as i dont have a cube myself. maybe someone who has done this will be along to offer pointers... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
