Another weekend role-playing a farmer. We were blessed with two beautiful weather days, after a few days of rain, giving me the opportunity to finish the coop and run build.

Securing the Coop

In my free time after work, I dug trenches between each post so that I could bury the mesh 6-8inches into the ground. We went with 1/2″ steel landscape mesh, which we’d previous used on the garden side of the build. I’ve seen that others go with 1/4″, but supply chain issues had made this harder to find. We had some leftover pieces from the garden build and order 2 more rolls from Lowe’s. The hardest part was the first row that’s dug into the ground, but after we had that row down it was relatively smooth sailing. If you want a tip for working with the steel mesh, buy one of these gadgets. It cuts the mesh like butter and really speeds up the process, especially when sections need trimming after you hang them.

I do suggest you go with 1/2″ or 1/4″ steel mesh instead of traditional chicken wire. Chicken wire isn’t as strong and allows for larger animals to slip through. If you live in an area with lots of predators (fox, coyotes, possum, racoons) I suggest you take the time from the start to predator proof your run. We even put the steel mesh under the roof and over the open area of the run. The mesh is attached with staples and roofing screws with washers. I’m pretty confident we’ll keep out most predators with this approach.

The perimeter security

In the space between the bottom rung and the group, we attached more 1/2″ steel mesh on the outside of the coop, stapled into the wood and attached to the ground with landscape staples. Then, as an added measure, we attached landscape wire (1″ x  2″ green) extending two feet out from the enclosure. This should ensure that any larger animals don’t try and dig into the coop from the outside. The green wire should eventually settle into the soil nicely and blend into the grass, so we’d still be able to mow over it.

The Final Touches – Automatic Chicken Door, Ethernet, Cameras, Lights

The finish line was finally in sight! With our fencing done, we turned our attention to the coop itself. Anne purchased an Omlet Automatic Door.  There’s a lot of automatic door options out there – most will run you about $200. But not having to worry about getting up early to let the chickens into the run is worth it to me. Anything to make the process more efficient and self sustaining.

Install took 15 minutes and attached to our manufactured wooden coop easily. The directions leave a little to be desired – but for now we have the door set to manual. We’re manually opening and closing it in the mornings and evenings. At least until the chickies get used to it.

Camera Security

While the camera in the coop definitely makes for viewing pleasure (and our live stream). It also exists to we can keep and eye on the flock and see if anything tried to bust in at night. I installed ethernet in the run, which feeds back to the house. The ethernet is used to power a camera and a motion activated flood light. In addition, we grabbed a few solar lights from Home Depot to really round out the Area 51 Security vibes.

Bonus: After just 1 night in the coop, 5/6 of the chickies put themselves to bed! We didn’t have to chase them around. Bubble was the only straggler, but I went out and gave her a hand. Hopefully she gets the hang of it.

Photos

Below are some more ‘final’ photos of the build. There’s still a few more things we want to add on later – like a rain water collection system and solar. But the girl are moved in and official living in their new outdoor home.