Suggests for turning dog kennel into chicken wonderland

[jaybyrdsfarm]

Hello everyone! I'm going to be a new chicken Momma!

I have an old 10 x 10 x 6 dog kennel that has two doors. The kennel itself has an aluminum roof over half of it and is set on railway ties that are buried about 8 inches into the ground.

I'm trying to decide on if I should build their house outside of the run and attach it through one of the doors or the back chainlink panel OR build their house inside.

I think it would be easier to clean on the outside of the kennel?

I plan to put hardware cloth around the entire kennel at least 2 feet up on all sides.

I've attached pictures of the kennel. It is actually INSIDE an acre fenced in yard with a livestock guardian dog (and the blind herding dog you see in one picture). I know it needs to be cleaned out... or does it? Lots of leaf litter and honeysuckle vines.

Thank you for all your advice as I delve into the world of chickens!

Jackie
Jaybyrd's Farm
Apex NC

I'm currently looking at all the house designs on here and yall are SO creative!

 

[orloffer]

We have something quite similar to that that we use as the chickens' run. The floor is dirt, though--no vegetation. The leaf litter in your run should be fun for your chickens to scratch around in. I am not sure about the honeysuckle; I believe it is toxic to some animals, but I don't know if that includes poultry.
I have my chicken coop separate from the dog kennel run. This maximizes run space, though if you plan to let them free range during the day, the size of the run doesn't matter too much. I should think it would make it easier to clean the coop as well. However, you will have to manually transfer your chickens from the coop to the run and back (not ideal, but I have only five hens so it works for me).
I will get a picture of my whole set-up after breakfast. In this picture you can see the side of the dog kennel.

 

[RSTinWA]

I think it depends on how many chickens you're planning on. I have a similar set up with 10 x 10 x 6 dog kennel for my 6 ducks, with a house inside. I'm thinking I need to switch to their enclosed house being on the outside of the run area to maximize space for them. True confession -- I got 6 ducklings with the assumption that I would have casualties along the way, and while that might still happen (knock on wood it won't, cause I like all of them) my pen is probably not quite big enough for the 6 of them as adults. They can potentially free range during the day if I can trust them to come back in, but for now they are in the enclosure, and I wish I had more space.

 

[3KillerBs]

I would build the coop on the outside of the kennel so as to make the best possible use of the kennel as a sturdy run.

The chickens would love the leaf-litter, but I would be inclined to eradicate honeysuckle on general principles since it can be such a pest of a weed.

 

[HawaiiCoyote]

I am with 3killerBs on this one. I have a dog kennel - coop for my birds, but they free range so I didn't have to consider it as a run. For your situation, using the kennel as a run would be smart and it would keep your chickens from pooping all over the yard. Eggs will also be easier to access from the outside.

 

[orloffer]

We have something quite similar to that that we use as the chickens' run. The floor is dirt, though--no vegetation. The leaf litter in your run should be fun for your chickens to scratch around in. I am not sure about the honeysuckle; I believe it is toxic to some animals, but I don't know if that includes poultry.
I have my chicken coop separate from the dog kennel run. This maximizes run space, though if you plan to let them free range during the day, the size of the run doesn't matter too much. I should think it would make it easier to clean the coop as well. However, you will have to manually transfer your chickens from the coop to the run and back (not ideal, but I have only five hens so it works for me).
I will get a picture of my whole set-up after breakfast. In this picture you can see the side of the dog kennel.
View attachment 2634573

Here is my full set-up. This is the dog kennel run. You can see in the first picture that there is a cat litter box in there. It serves as the nest box:

--
And this picture shows the coop/hutch next to it (they are only there at night). The lighter-weight birds fly up themselves, and I lift the heavier ones up when they "go home" in the evening. I bribe them in with birdseed:

 

[black_cat]

Hello everyone! I'm going to be a new chicken Momma!

I have an old 10 x 10 x 6 dog kennel that has two doors. The kennel itself has an aluminum roof over half of it and is set on railway ties that are buried about 8 inches into the ground.

I'm trying to decide on if I should build their house outside of the run and attach it through one of the doors or the back chainlink panel OR build their house inside.

I'd put their house outside. Easier to build. If it's raised, you can also fence the underneath to make it part of the run.

I think it would be easier to clean on the outside of the kennel?

Probably.

I plan to put hardware cloth around the entire kennel at least 2 feet up on all sides.

I'd go no lower than 3 feet- raccoons could most likely get over two.

I've attached pictures of the kennel. It is actually INSIDE an acre fenced in yard with a livestock guardian dog (and the blind herding dog you see in one picture). I know it needs to be cleaned out... or does it? Lots of leaf litter and honeysuckle vines.

No cleaning necessary, chickens will love it!!

 

[neo71665]

I have 2 10x10 kennels attached to each other for my main run. Mine are the chain link kind. My coop is outside of that.

Not a fan of honeysuckle vines at all, they are a PITA to clean out of the wire.

Coons and possums will climb all over that like a jungle gym. I'd go 1 foot min over the height of your tallest bird with the predator hardware cloth. Me personally I have mine 4 feet up the side.

 

[rosemarythyme]

How many birds MAX do you plan on having?

If it's a very small flock, like 3-4 birds, coop inside would be fine and still provide plenty of room for the birds to roam around.

Anything bigger, I'd go with coop outside.

Incidentally, I have my coop inside a chain link kennel, but I have a much bigger set up:

 

[jaybyrdsfarm]

Well I plan on maybe 5 or 6. But I have also heard of "chicken math"....