Chain link Panels for chicken runs - coop set up & Ideas

[ChicKat]

In this thread you can see the evolution and growth of a chicken operation.

The very start was 7 panels that were given to me by a man who once used them as housing for his daughter's rabbit.

Over the years, additions, configuration ideas, things learned...and the evolution of the chicken pens resulted in what has been a very useful and for the most part safe and cool environment for my chickens.
Here's one picture:

2014

ahhh to travel back in time, two simple 10x10 pens with roofs, and Snap N lock chicken houses safely tucked inside. That was the 2014 set up.
Even prior to that the panels were located on a ranch in the Texas Hill country -- not the Pineywoods where they are now.
Here is the very first setup. You will instantly notice there are no roofs:

2013
====================================================
First point: 10' long by 6' tall panels are bolted together using a wrench. the panels are fairly easy to transport,
Second point: it's essential to have a 'roof' over the top. A). Chickens are kept in, B). Predators are kept out, and C). most important in this climate, shade is always available to the chickens as well as protection from rain for the feed.


In the Pineywoods set up -- we placed the pens in the area of the backyard that had the best grass. It seems the best grass was there because a giant Magnolia tree provided afternoon shade. In the hottest weather the shade of the tree, even on the tarp roofs is a factor in the temperatures that the chicksens face and hence their survival.

 

[Kiki]

Kat did you move?

 

[ChicKat]

The highly configurable set up -- evolved from the 10' x 20' original configuration of two 10' x 10' pens, made from 7 panels -- to the larger more functional set up that now has a foot print of 20' x 40' and contains a courtyard/entrance area. The following pictures show a pen on each end that is 10' x 20', and two pens that are 10' x 10' behind the courtyard area where doors from both 10x10 pens open and one of the 10x20 pens opens to give the residents a chance to have more space, and to access grass, while still being protected by 6' high chain link fence.

2018

2018

 

[ChicKat]

Kat did you move?

Getting ready to....

 

[Kiki]

Getting ready to....

Are you getting ready to take all this down to bring with?

 

[ChicKat]

Actually, I'm going to put it on BYC buy-sell-trade to auction it off....so this thread is to tell the details to anyone interested in buying it, as well as some of the pros and cons I've learned over the years of having chain link chicken runs with little houses inside. :O)

Figuring I could accomplish two things at one time.

 

[Kiki]

Actually, I'm going to put it on BYC buy-sell-trade to auction it off....so this thread is to tell the details to anyone interested in buying it, as well as some of the pros and cons I've learned over the years of having chain link chicken runs with little houses inside. :O)

Figuring I could accomplish two things at one time.

AWESOME!
@Tesumph
@RUNuts

 

[ChicKat]

Third Point: Putting a piece of hardware cloth down on the ground at the outer edge of the chicken pens can prevent predators from digging under the walls of the enclosure.

The soil here is very sandy/silt and one rainy night a raccoon scaled the 6' courtyard fence and then dug into the farthest pen, that is 10'x20' from the inside of the courtyard which I hadn't putt hardware cloth down inside. That night he terrorized my Silverudd's Blue Isbars and ended up killing one.
The only other predation that had occurred was due to leaving doors/gates open overnight. Quite a dumb thing to do in this environment.

All the above situations could have been prevented.
Fourth Point:
Here's what I mean by highly configurable:

Above, the toothpicks represent each individual chain link panel. Here's an even more descriptive example.

To decode the above, all you have to do is realize that the black marks on the tooth picks represent doors to the various pens.
So 19 panels that are 6' high and 10' long, five of which have a door.

 

[ChicKat]

Fifth Point:
Were I to reconfigure these pens today there are three things I would do
1. Place the door on the 200sq ft pen/run on the far right of the above diagram in the panel that opens into the courtyard. With 200 sq feet, that bunch doesn't REALLY need more space, but the court yard does have some grass growing, the rest of the chicken runs are bare soil.
2. Of course place Aviary netting over the top of the court yard, both for protection of the chickens from predation (especially hawks) and to insure that those able to fly and leap to the top of the 6' panel don't do that.
3. Place 1'x1' or larger paver blocks under the entire perimeter (and it would require pavers under all the interior walls to maintain level.... Big job and if nineteen 10' panels comprise the set up, then it would take 190 of them, and they cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 each, not to mention the labor involved.

The reason for item 3 above is the sandy silt that this property had -- it shifts with the rains, and over the 4 years that the pens have been in this spot, the silt and sand have covered the bottom rails of the chain link panels. Putting a paver under to be a footing, would prevent that to a degree. A funny aside, a pipe came unglued out in the landscape and I needed to shut off the water....in the time between 2015 and just a couple months ago, the shut off valves had been completely silted over, and it took some digging to re-find them.
Here's what I mean:

If the homeowner isn't diligent, then these shut off valves will be re-buried under the eroding silt. :O( These two valve covers were covered in silt/sand.

Here's the base of the door that leads from the yard to the courtyard of the pens.

This nterior door needs to be excavated to show the bottom rail of the door frame in the chain link panel.

Here's another view of that same pen that is right off the courtyard.

The way that the doors should look.
Some digging is needed here.

 

[ChicKat]

Doesn't time go by fast? sheesh.

Now it is time to talk about the ROOFs.
Under all the roofs are structures made from pipes. Next those are covered in chicken wire, and on top of the chicken wire are tarps.

Presently there are two 10x10 green tarps on the 10x20 chainlink run closest to the house, then on the two 10x10 runs, one 10x20 tarp covers them, and lastly on the far end, there is one 10x20 tarp.

The chicken wire roofing support extends down over the peak of the roof, and over what would be gaps in the area above the doors. This has not been an entry point for any unwanted critters in the 4+ years that the coops have stood in the same location.

This is the box that the roof 'skeleton' comes in. (Writing on box designates that the electric poultry netting traveled here during a move. Good box to package up poultry netting).
In the far chicken run, we 'improvised' and rather than use their shorter poles, we used the angle hardware and steel tubes from chain link fence supply to double the length.
We made a center roof support in that pen using a pipe/tube on a concrete paver block.

you can see the roof configuration and the center pole just on the other side of this coop.

Just about the same picture. different day different time of day.

took this picture with the door closed, because a snake was in the nest box, and there was no ramp -- was trying to figure out how the snake crawled IN. Gives a good view of the center support pole, though doesn't it? ;o)

A couple other views I have of the insides are on video. Once I left the doors open and a hawk followed a hen in and killed the hen, but then couldn't find its way out. Once I figure how to attach, although it is of the hawk, it shows the interior of the roof.

So, Sixth Point:
Tarp over chicken wire, over steel structure makes a good roof. The tarps need to be replaced from time to time.
For the court yard, I purchased chain link fence rails/tube/pipe -- what ever you call it, a special saw blade to cut the steel with my 'sawzAll' - and aviary netting that would prevent or at least slow down predator invasion. Even snakes can't crawl through that aviary netting. --
The extra pipes & Aviary netting will go with the pens.

In addition to providing things I've learned and my experience from my set up -- This is a LOT of detail to support the sale of these pens. There's a lot here that will be going.
It will have to be disassembled, and hauled away. A big job -- but do-able. If I were to haul it, I would probably rent a U-haul, but a flat bed trailer might work...there are a LOT of panels here, pipes, tarps, hardware cloth, chicken wire etc. If you are driving distance from Woodville, TX - and want to buy these pens, I will put them up for auction on the Buy-Sell-Trade here at BYC in a few days. Also will post more - and answer any questions that come my way about this set up