Chicken pen Rebuild

[Peanut]

I need a new perimeter fence for my chicken pen. My old fence is about 12-14years old. The bottom 2ft is nothing but fragile strands of rust. I might try to save the upper 4ft. Roll it up cutting off the bad part. 1” chicken wire is great for making fish baskets. 4ft is a great length for fishing in the swamp, the back waters and sloughs.

The old perimeter is 180ft, 30ft is a barn, another 10 is a chicken tractor (gives me a second enclosure inside the pen). So I need about 140ft. Rolls of 1” chicken wire comes in 150ft lengths.

I also need to take down 3 large sweetgum trees and a small princess tree, 2 are in the pen, 2 within 5ft of the perimeter fence. They've needed to be taken down for a few years now. I have to do it alone, no one to help. With the chicken pen fence up the odds were too great I'd crush it. With the fence removed? I can drop those trees anywhere I wish (as long as I don't crush the coop).

Now is the time, shut the chickens up in the coop, rip all the old perimeter fence down. Drop the trees, put up new fencing.

Also, on the upper side of the barn there was a small ditch plowed with a break plow. It’s filled up with loose soil and water is starting to run underneath the barn. I need that barn dry.

So, when the old fence is out I'll hook the break plow to the tractor and make a new ditch.

Full ditch

Sweetgum and princess trees that have to go. I asked my nephews to help me 3 years ago but they've been to busy. The sweetgum looks simple to cut... it's not! I have to climb up as far as I can and take it down in sections.

 

[Bacpacker]

Be carefulbwith that Peanut. Any way you can put a rope or cable up in the tree and pull with a tractor as you cut? Encourage it away from the coop

 

[Peanut]

Yep, got 100ft of 1/8 inch aircraft cable and planned to use the tractor. All it'll take is a couple hundred pounds of pressure to make a tree go where I want. However, I don't want to climb those trees. That's a young mans job.

I didn't mention it above, but my coop is also built to be moved. I can hook to it with the tractor and drag it out in the pasture if I need too. I'd rather not but... if necessary I will.

 

[Bacpacker]

I've got a big dead pine i need to take down. Gonna have to pull it too. Its leaning toward the road

 

[Double R]

Love the building! Keep us posted!

 

[Cascadian]

My wife wants to move our very small coup and go big. As soon as she gets on board with where I want it I will get around to it.

 

[Peanut]

@Cascadian I like using 6X10ft panels of chain link fence for a coop. 4 of them make a 100sqft area, plenty for up to 50 chickens to sleep.

Several years ago a lady I know had a big kennel before a car wreck. The kennels were chainlink fence panels, lots of doors, hinges, even a big box of left over fencing parts. But she built all the fencing before she poured a 3” thick slab.

After the car accident she needed cash and wanted to sell me all the fencing… that was set in cement, at least the bottom couple of inches were. And there was no electricity down at the kennels anymore.

I paid her $100 for anything I could cut loose and haul away. I took my big trailer, tools, a sawzall and a generator. I still have panels stacked over at the old barn I haven’t used. They were originally 6ft x 10ft. After I cut them loose from the concrete they were 5ft 9 inches x 10ft. I just had to buy new 10ft poles for the bottom edges. I had all the spare pieces/parts/bolts I needed.

Anyway, I’ve been using panels in this chicken pen, the chicken tractor since I built them. Happy as a clam I did it this way. Built as a triangle or square, properly clamped and bolted, the panels are very strong but also light enough to be moved easily.

My chicken tractor is 10ftx10ft (panels) set on pressure treated 2x4 skids (above, 2nd pic in op, right edge against barn). My coop is the same but no skids. Here is the coop as I was rebuilding it a few years ago. I even gave it a pitched roof using chainlink fence pieces.

 

[Peanut]

Here, this shows how I did the peaked roof.... I covered the top with chicken wire. It supports the tarp nicely adding longevity to the tarp.

The roof is a tarp which will last about a year before it begins to tear. But if I leave it on and cover it with another tarp, the 2nd one will last almost 2years.

 

[Cascadian]

We have a dog kennel just like that. Unfortunately our dog is young and a bit of a meathead so we need it for her. The biggest hold up is my wife wants to put it in a bit of a high spot where we can't see it. There is a spot in full view of the kitchen but in the rainy season it is under 4 inches of water. I want to bring in some dirt and put it there. For the time being I have plenty of other things that require my time and money so it isn't happening.

 

[user 3433]

This is our set up. Right now we don't have chickens. Last one died last May 2021. I used it for a baby bird as a pre-release cage.

 

[phideaux]

Be carefulbwith that Peanut. Any way you can put a rope or cable up in the tree and pull with a tractor as you cut? Encourage it away from the coop

And make sure the rope is longer than the tree.

Don't ask.

Jim