Chicken run

I live in a very rocky area. I have a chicken coop but no run for them since the ground is so rocky. My chickens are free ranch reamers but I need a pen built for them because of predators. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to give them a nice yard without fence holes dug because this girl is out of ideas? Thanks much any ideas are appreciated

Maybe you could look into electronet fencing? You'd still have to pound the fenceposts in though.

You could build a run with wood framing, so it touches the ground but isn't secured to it- sort of like a giant tractor. You know, a 2x4 square screwed to another 2x4 square and so on and so forth until you have a big enclosure.Then when you put the wire on (hardware cloth or 2"x 4" garden fencing- NOT chicken wire, for predators), leave a two foot apron you can put rocks on top of. Does that sound plausible?

Don’t you just love rocky ground? What would life be without challenges? I was lucky enough to have rocky ground when I built my run and planted a bunch of fruit trees. I got enough good sized rocks to build a pile (I won’t grace it with the name wall) on the downslope side of my driveway to stop it from eroding out. If I had not been lucky enough to have rocky ground I’d have had to come up with something else to stop that erosion. Yeah, I was really lucky. I’m glad I was younger then.

I don’t know how big an area you are talking about. That wooden frame is a decent idea, but any wood that touches the ground needs to be either treated wood or one of those expensive woods that resists rot.

Depending in size and shape, our corner posts generally need to be pretty substantial but any intermediate posts not so much. Gate posts also need to be pretty solid.

Instead of using wood build a cinder block base and attach your posts to that. Mortar them together or concrete them in. You can build a footer all around your run or just do something where you want a post. Or just build your corner posts out of brick or cinder blocks.

Can you hire someone with the right equipment to set some posts for you?

Another option I really don’t like but maybe it will spark an idea in you, build a footer for the post, maybe make a cross out of timbers, and weight that down. Maybe you can find some rocks to pile in the cross to hold it steady. Or concrete it in place.

We too have very rocky ground, being on top of a mountain. I have premier electronet and it is not so difficult to handpush the stakes into the ground, sometimes I need to move a couple of feet to avoid a large rock, but if you are at all flexible in the design of the area you want to fence in, that is easily done. I have about an acre surrounded at this point. We have had no issues with predators since the fence was hooked up. I have a wooden gate to get in and out of the enclosure which I secured with one of the metal spike things you use for mailbox posts.

I like the portable run idea. Make individual panels then attach them. No digging and 100% adjustable, incase you have to enlarge due to more chickens.