All work has resumed on our chicken coop.  Have you seen it yet?  If not, you better start from the beginning to get caught up.  This post is where I talked about what we found last year to use as a chicken coop.  I shared an update after we worked on it for a few weeks.  And then I shared a checklist of things we need to do yet.  If you read the newsletters, you probably know we have been working very hard on this project. We finished the inside of the coop, which I owe you a post on.  And, I could not wait to share the progress on the chicken coop run, which is almost done.  

Progress on the Chicken Coop Run

Many of you know this and some probably don’t, but we are headed to Alaska in three days!  YAY!  I cannot wait to take a vacation to regroup from building, moving, etc. I always think it’s good for the soul and it makes me come back with a huge amount of energy to get our projects done.  Anyway, we got our chickens a few weeks back and of course, there was a story to tell.  There is always a story. Since we are headed to Alaska, we knew we needed to get the run done before we left.  Because we didn’t want them stuck inside their coop all day.   I should say, we at least wanted to get it done to the point that they would be safe.  Well… we accomplished that. 

We decided to put up a privacy fence for the back of the chicken coop run… for no other reason than we have a burn pile back there.  So we sort of wanted to disguise that.  Deb ended up making the rest of the wire fence panels out of 2×4 boards and a roll of wire.  I love how she added an extra board at the top to give it a little bit of interest.

Our coop is 8 x 8.  So we made the run 24′ x 16′ with the coop taking up 8′ square of that area.  So it’s a great size for the 7 chickens that we currently have.  Deb made the 2 panels and the door the way she did to add interest.  It was a bit of extra work, but she is very extra in the things she does. 

What we have left to do….

We need to add the top on the run yet which means we will be cutting off the random 4×4 posts at the top.  I think we are going to use metal roofing material.  We thought about using the same wire and making panels, but we want to offer the chickens a shaded area.  Plus, we don’t want the run to be constantly wet from the weather we have here in Ohio.  

We are going to add about a foot of the fencing along the outside of the run and then add some landscaping rocks on top of it.  That will help prevent any predator from digging under the run and harming the chickens.  

We are going to make a perch inside the run.  We had one at another house before and they used it all of the time.

And then, of course, landscaping.  I want to plant all types of plants that are really good for chickens around the run.  We did that one other time and it’s nice.  Because they can reach their necks out the wire and snack.  Ha!  Also.. Its nice to grab handfuls to give to them when you go into the run.  And I want to add some pots around the doors of the coop. We have a whole stash of old urns out in the woods that I will be using for this area.

Stay tuned for all of the progress because you know I will always be sharing here and over on social media.  Also.. the garden will be the first thing we work on when we return from Alaska.  So that will be fun too.