Digging

• 1
  Free-range chickens can be dead chickens if they don't have a secure coop and side yard at night.cockerels and chickens image by Jeroen de Haan from Fotolia.com
  
  Tear out whatever "yard' you have next to your coop, or clear an area in which to put one. A 10- by 10-foot space is good for three to four chickens. A square area is best. If a yard is on a slope, or has an irregular shape, each variation off of a square increases the difficulty of sealing up the yard. Dig out a foot of soil from the marked-off area, reserving the dirt to throw back in. Dig post holes at each corner of the area and midway on each of three sides (your coop will be on the fourth side.) Set the posts with cement to a height of 6 feet 5 inches tall from the edge of the earth (not from the floor of the trench you dug.) Nail in place 2 by 4 runners at the top of the posts to create support for what will become a roof of chicken wire.
  
  
• 2
  They wait.Eastern Coyote (Canis latrans) image by Steve Byland from Fotolia.com
  
  Cut three 34-foot lengths of chicken wire. Let the pieces roll up --- they'll be easier to manipulate. Bend about a foot of the wire up, then lay the the rest of the first length of chicken wire along one side and across the 10-foot hole. Lay a second piece the same direction, overlapping the first piece by at least 4 to 6 inches. Lay a third piece the same way as the first --- overlapping the middle piece by enough inches to fill the 10-foot-wide space. You'll have three rolls of wire, now 23 feet long. Visualize this: you are building a box of chicken wire.
  
  
• 3
  They look so tasty.cockerels and chickens image by Jeroen de Haan from Fotolia.com
  
  Standing on the laid wire, stretch the rolls up and over the 2 by 4s, across to the 2 by 4s on the opposite side and down the other side where they will overlap the foot of bent up floor wire at the bottom. Loosely twist the cut ends of wire into the floor wire to keep them in place. Cut three 9-foot lengths of chicken wire. These will become the wall opposite the coop wall. Bend 6 inches of these lengths and hook the 6 inches onto the "roof," letting the rest fall down to fold onto the floor of chicken wire. They will overlap with the floor by at least 6 inches and overlap each other by 4 or 5 inches. You've created a box of chicken wire with one "wall" being the chicken coop.
  
  
• 4
  They'll be happy.galinhas na capoeira image by fran_ from Fotolia.com
  
  Secure every wire strip to every other adjacent wire strip. Loop the cut ends of wire through the holes in next piece of the chicken wire or weave the flexible wire through two layers. You must secure sides where the strips overlap as well as stapling the strips to the posts where they touch. Be sure to secure bottoms where the sides overlap the chicken wire on the floor and the roof. Floor overlaps will be held down by the weight of earth. Attach the wire with staples to the sides of the coop. Your existing coop will likely be shorter than one side of the yard. Cut more chicken wire lengths as needed to adjust and to fill the open spaces between the yard and the coop. Secure them with staples or by weaving the flexible wire through any two pieces. Shovel the dirt back onto foot-deep floor hole and tamp it down.
  
  
• 5). Cut a rectangle door in the wire next to a midway post or next to the coop. Make a wood frame for the door the same size as the cut out chicken wire, hinge it to the post and staple the chicken wire very securely to it. This will be a vulnerable spot. Check every opening and put a sliding bolt on the door to the post.