Outdoor playpen? Post yours!

[Featherwisp]

I would really love to take my chicks on a little "field trip" to the outdoors, but I just cant think of how to go about making one.
It needs to be light weight, portable, has sides and no small openings, and be tall enough for them to not jump over.

Have you made one that works well? What materials did you use? Pictures would really help.

(I am on a limited budget too...so house hold items would have to be used.)

 

[YeOleBroodie]

Two things I have used lately.

One is an actual playpen with a netting over top.
The other is from a solid wall swimming pool thats 4 feet tall. You can also put netting over that too. No liner, ladder or pump required.

Both I got from Freecycle.

Before that I made a stand from pvc pipes covered in wire.
I would cover it with a bed sheet to keep out the hottest of sun. Chicks were tiny so didn't worry about the great escape.
Of course I was never far away from them.

 

[BioBob]

I didn't find mine on Freecycle, I bought it from Amazon, but at $84 I thought it was a pretty good deal.

It is 12 x 14 and tall enough (7 ft in the center) such that they can fly, and fly they do. I made them a perch that they like to use as a launching pad.

Here's a pic (actually two)

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[alamogirl]

This is mine. I built it myself. I'm so proud. It's just some boards with deer proof netting stapled all around. It keeps the deer out, but not the children...

 

[elmo]

I had four left over cage panels from bird cages. Three of them were slightly imperfect, so the manufacturer sent me new ones, and the fourth panel was the divider to my double wide breeder cage where our linneolated parakeets live (which we never use). I used zip ties to fasten the four panels into sort of a square, then I used some left over hardware cloth from building our coop/run to enclose the top. I got caught a little short on that, because I couldn't believe the little buggers would be flying before they were a week old.

This contraption is out on our screened breezeway. I put an old towel down on the concrete to make it easier to pick up the poops, etc. I strew some alfalfa for them to scratch in, and I put in a pan of dirt/sand for dust baths.

They get daily field trips out to their big coop, but I don't like to leave them out there because I can't keep a constant eye on them. And, to be honest, I like watching them. So they spend most of their daytime hours in this pen on our breezeway with me sitting nearby.

 

[cposz]

We bought this playpen at the local farm supply store. On the cover of the package there was a photo of a small dog, a little child, and a duck - so we thought it would work great for the chicks, too - and it does! It folds flat and opens all by itself once you start it. It also has a removeable bottom - so the chicks can eat some bugs and grass and dirt while they are out there. It works great in the back of the van for transporting full sized hens, too.

(Sorry - you'll have to settle for a photo of the boy with the playpen, we had already taken the chicks out.

 

[Chickenmaven]

This is our bargain tractor. It is 3 x 8 and 2 ft. tall. Made of 2x2s and chicken wire. It cost about $30 to build.

 

[sloallie10]

What we used for my friend's chicks is:
We took the tope off off our bunnies cage and then put it over the top of them, and it worked great!

 

[Featherwisp]

Those are all some great ideas! I love all of the pictures too, guys.

The idea of the bottomless bunny cage: that is so simple! I would have never thought of that. I have an old rat cage (actually rabbit cage) that I completely forgot about!

Thanks guys!

 

[sloallie10]

Quote:
Glad i could help!