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I want them to be able to free range in the huge pen. They are in mobile pen right now and it's costing me way too much in feed. 700 feet is not near enough for 70 chickens to free range. The pen size is not the question. The question is that I have found a safe spot--safe from chicken hawks--and I need to be able to water them. The question was about the water hose. The pen size is not debatable as we are sure we want them in a large pen free ranging and we are positive we are adding more chickens.I agree, once and done is best!
70 chickens, 10Sq ft each = 700 sq ft minimum space.
A half acre is 21,000 + sq ft.
So, you can reduce pen size to help manage coverage, as one option. You could have a few smaller pens. You could create a mobile coop that gets moved to fresh grass once a week or something. If trailer is high enough, they can get shade underneath it and to a side that is shaded. Pen can be mobile and possibly covered easily, especially if mobile coop is a support for the roof/net.
The aerial predators are hard to deal with. It is also illegal to kill or harm a raptor in the US, so don’t go that route.