Amazon Chicken Run Review | 18. Months After

[@Watchoutforsnakez]

We put a curtain of 1/4 hardware cloth 3’ up and 3’ out along ground on all sides of our run. Our coop is exactly like yours. Enter through the auto door. Our shelter is a tarp we bought also from amazon not tin like you. I love your shelter (roof)

[@cedarporchhomestead]

The hardware cloth is a great addition to protect your hens! Our winds here would destroy a tarp in days so the tin roof was a must. Thanks for watching and great hearing from you!

[@lisaandaydensgarden4317]

Thanks for sharing. I've been on the search for a chicken run, and I'm glad i came across your video. Now, all i need now is to find a chicken coop. Lol!

[@cedarporchhomestead]

Glad we could help! Ours is still going strong and our ladies did great through the winter in deep bedding in the run. Good luck with your coop and don’t be afraid to tackle a diy project yourself. You really never know what you’re capable of until you just do it.

[@Mary-had-a-lil-farm]

Love the base that you put on this chicken run. I’m gonna go check your other videos out right now really awesome ideas.

[@cedarporchhomestead]

Awesome. Thanks for watching. Hope we have some stuff that helps.

[@heribertocandelaria2140]

Great review. I have the same one. I connected it to my coop. I have 20 girls. I just bought 2 more runs 9 by 26 and I will connect them all together so they can have more area to free range. I used to let them out 3 hrs a day but a neighbors dog got loose and killed one. Can't take anymore chances. Great vid sir. Cheers🥃🥃

[@cedarporchhomestead]

Thank you! We have had a couple of neighborhood dogs do some real damage to birds we've had out too. We appreciate you watching and good luck with your Chicken Mansion LOL

[@carolbjornsen487]

Our coop/run arrived yesterday afternoon so just waiting for the rain to stop! Will post our results. Thanks again 👍🏻

[@cedarporchhomestead]

that's great. good luck!!!

[@Time_to_breathe]

I like your idea of raising it up instead of having the metal poles on the ground. Also like having the built-in planters, just makes it look nicer and honestly the extra height helps too! Definitely going to factor these ideas into my design.

[@cedarporchhomestead]

Great. It’s worked really well for us.

[@alisarooks521]

I bought two of these, each is 10x6, so my finished project is 10x12. I like it a lot, but I so want to do the corrugated roof. Any chance you could make a how to video showing what you used and how you attached it? Thank you for all the ideas!

[@cedarporchhomestead]

No problem. Here’s a video we did showing a little more detail of how we put our chicken run together. UPGRADED Metal Backyard Chicken Run kzbin.info/www/bejne/amiqXoKPaJuFlas Hope this helps

[@alisarooks521]

@@cedarporchhomestead Thank you, but the link says "This video isn't available anymore."

[@alisarooks521]

@@cedarporchhomestead Thank you, but the link says "This video isn't available anymore."

[@cedarporchhomestead]

@@alisarooks521 well that’s unfortunate, lol. The video is still available on our channel though. It is one of our earlier videos but I encourage you to check it out.

[@jaimebohrtz4783]

I have this same run...and attached it to my chicken coop, like you did. I like it so far! I need to find a better latch for the door though. I put up some winterizing plastic around it to keep drafts out for winter..but I want to put a corrugated metal roof on, too! Because already with a light snow last week (in Wisconsin) it made the roof sink in a bit. I want the snow to just melt off as quickly as possible and not put pressure on the roof. So, going to try that!!

[@cedarporchhomestead]

That sounds great. Bless you guys up north and the snow you have to deal with. We occasionally get a hurricane or two and I can deal with that, but cold and snow is a completely different animal.

[@Wendy-y1o]

I wonder if adding a gutter, especially on the house side of the run, would work to both collect water and protect the house’s foundation. Other than that possibility, you have really done a really nice job of making it both functional and attractive!

[@cedarporchhomestead]

Thank you!! I've thought about adding gutters, but really just haven't gotten around to it. So many Homestead projects so little time!

[@CathysChickens]

I have the same run and wondering how you attached the metal roof.

[@cedarporchhomestead]

I have an earlier video showing how we upgraded the chicken run, so I'll encourage you to check that out. I will say that after almost 2 years it is still standing strong and we have had multiple wind events that haven't hurt it at all.

[@StaceyHerewegrowagain]

Thanks for sharing. I was wondering how effective these amazon runs were. My husband and I built out own with left over wood we had around the property.

[@cedarporchhomestead]

That is awesome!

[@anniejefferson7329]

I love mine. Just ordered another to attach make long run. ❤

[@cedarporchhomestead]

Wonderful! That's really awesome.

[@LeeAnnKaplan]

How do you attach the coop to the base? We have a lot of strong wind out here too.

[@cedarporchhomestead]

The chicken run that we bought has metal plates for feet and the plates have holes pre-drilled in them. We screwed the metal base to the wood and it has held up very well. We just had a Cat 1 hurricane go right over us and the chicken run made it through unscathed.

[@TheStickinator]

I have the same auto door. It's awesome.

[@cedarporchhomestead]

I agree! Just found out that my solar panel doesn't get full sun during the winter months, so gonna have to adjust for that.

[@LindaIBrown]

I have one of these. I was concerned about the wire around the door. How did you handle that? I want to put hardwire around the bottom but I’m on a budget build with this coop and short on time. I’ve not loss my chickens to predators because of my hardwire build for my first coop. So yes hardwire keeps the predators away. One other question, even though you built and put the coop on a wooden base, did you have to predator proof around the outside frame to keep predators from digging under?

[@cedarporchhomestead]

If you are in an area that has intense predation then yes I would absolutely recommend using hardwire cloth rather than the chicken wire, but if your on a budget and the run comes with the chicken wire you can always start with that and then upgrade to hardwire later. As far as predator proofing the bottom I didn't do anything on three sides because the run is sitting on an old rock pad from a old carport, but on one side I put about 18 inches of chicken wire down and then put a small raised bed above that.

[@bettinaripperger4159]

How many chickens do you have?? In this area ? And what’s the size?

[@cedarporchhomestead]

The run is about 9foot x 13feet. We have 12 hens in the run currently, but it could handle as many as 15-16 easily.

[@carolbjornsen487]

We’re looking at this exact run but are unhappy with tarp. I see you’ve added a metal roof over the entire run, which is what we are looking to do also. With the set up in our backyard, we want to put a solid wood side towards the neighbors fence line. I just found your video did hit the thumbs up and subscribed did you do a video on how you reinforced the roof, or can you give us instructions? This is exactly what we want. We just don’t want to reinvent the wheel. Thanks for any your help.

[@cedarporchhomestead]

We have an earlier video of how we upgraded the chicken run. Unfortunately I didn't go in great detail on how we secured the metal, but we do show it and explain a little of how we did it.

[@carolbjornsen487]

Ty just found the video in your library. I ordered my run and await its arrival this week. Be blessed my friend.

[@evelynsouzaferreira4593]

Thank you for the video. I wish I had seen it before I put mine together as my only real gripe with mine is the height of the sides. Putting the boards at the bottom has raised the height for you which would be wonderful, but my predator proofing wire it would be near impossible for me to do so now as it is really anchored down. I did not bother with the zip ties except to temporarily hold the wire in place while I added the J clips for chicken wire. Those are not coming undone, but I think there is a tool to remove them if need be. I had thought of putting a tin roof on my run but just have not got around to it yet but will most probably do so in the summer. I put a single tarp over the whole run which was sort of okay till we got the winter storms last year. The tarp tore and I ended up having to install another tarp over the top as my birds (guinea fowl) just sleep in the run. As winter approached this year I still had not put a roof on so I replaced the torn tarp and just double tarped the run again. I added extra grommets to the tarp and have the anchor holes spaced about 1 ft apart on both tarps so the wind catches from the underside does not rip the tarp as the top tarp holds it in place. The problem with the tarps is that they are anchored along the edge of the run and the rain runs down and into the chicken run as there is no distance for the tarp to shed the rain like your roof. I also put wind netting all the way around which has helped keep the foxes at bay, They pull at the wind netting instead of getting a grip of the wire. We don't have racoons here in Ireland.

[@cedarporchhomestead]

Always great to hear from someone across the pond. Thank you for your comment. Sounds like a blessing to not have to deal with raccoons. They really are one of the biggest predator problems we have here when it comes to our chickens. We have played the tarp game in the past with some mobile coops and 100+ degree summers and constant wind make short work of them. Metal is a life saver. We raised the coop mostly for the ability to create the deep bedding for our composting process, the byproduct is the added predator protection. Good luck with you birds and let us know what you end up doing for a permanent solution to roofing.

[@victorylane22882]

What size is your run ? Theirs a bunch on Amazon lol

[@cedarporchhomestead]

I believe its 10x13 but the specific one I bought is linked in the description of the video.

[@sygheric65]

Love this idea. I just purchased one and was conflicted on how to predator proof. Why did you go 2-2x6 high instead of only 1?

[@cedarporchhomestead]

Great question, and thank you for commenting. We decided to go with the 2 2x6's because we add a ton of bedding throughout the year and wanted to be able to generate as much compost as possible. The 12 inches gives us that ability to just pile on the wood chips, grass clippings, and garden scrapes.

[@sygheric65]

What I thought. How often are you cleaning the bedding out?@@cedarporchhomestead

[@cedarporchhomestead]

@@sygheric65 I clean it out twice a year. I do the same with the deep bedding inside the chicken coop. My reminder is when its time to change the clocks for time change it's time to do the bedding as well.

[@waynecarson8635]

We have 2 10x20 plywood 4’high which we’ll cut to 2 feet after herbs and chicken beneficial garden grows on the outside we’re also putting corrugated roof over back half that has roost no varmits in Hawaii nesting boxes along side plenty room for 24 soon to be 50 layers

[@richjageman3976]

My neighbor ended up wrapping 3 or 4 strands of barbed wire at the bottom and spacing each strand 4-6 inches apart. He also has rocks along the perimeter to deter predators trying to dig under it.

[@cedarporchhomestead]

sounds like that would work.

[@Countryboy316]

I would run electic wire and a fencer

[@matthewpetersen4417]

I live in the suburbs just like the movie the burbs, even have creepy neighbors, But I might copy the coop outside the run, with the automatic door. My raccoons here are not the problem it's the Ferral cats that look like it's been shooting steroids its whole life. It's probably been eating chicken lol but still. I have a dog that's part cattle dog and she is the flock protector shell lay at the door watching out for leaves and crap to bark at.

[@cedarporchhomestead]

Lol. That’s pretty funny. We had an issue in our farm with feral cats and they are almost as bad as raccoons. The automatic door is definitely a game changer.