Grocery schmocery, it’ll make your life more interesting, and your food will taste better. :)
Thanks! It took about 2 months to build and it wasn’t terribly expensive.
It has a 2’ wide hardware cloth apron buried around the perimeter so nothing can dig into it. It’s based on six 10’ 4x4 treated posts that are set in concrete, so it’s very durable, windproof, and pred proof. We have coyotes here in the neighborhood that feed on cats and squirrels, and would love a big fat chicken dinner. Lots of egg-eating ‘possoms too. With our predator load here, it made sense to be as thorough as possible. The border along the front just keeps the yard out of the front of the run.
Did you catch the water barrel on the back? It collects the rain from the roof so the girls are never without clean water...
We expect to get about 4 eggs a day from the flock once they start laying, and that is plenty of eggs for our family and our friends and neighbors. Feed is pretty cheap and if you keep a clean coop you generally keep a healthy flock. The run is sand and stays perfectly dry and that helps dessicate everything the chooks leave behind. I also put a bit of feed=grade diatomaceous earth in the sand which accelerates the process and kills any bird lice and mites.
Besides, keeping chickens is as old as man, and it is a lot of fun and quite rewarding to boot...