Need foraging area for my chickens... need ideas...pics included....

[DebB11]

Here is the plan.... Girls will be in coop/run a lot of the time but would love to have them out in the grass/woods foraging a couple hours a day as well..... Is it too much to alternate grassy area/woodsy area for them? Maybe one day in woods/one in grass etc... My biggest dilemma is HOW I will get them from coop/run to these foraging areas??? Any ideas? We have a few snaky areas on the backside of the woods that I REALLY don't wanna be chasing chickens into during the transfer process...YIKES

Right now I have 6 in a coop/run... but not a lot of room around it to add on or build another area next to it (lots of tree's plus it's very close to the property line)

Here is the view from my deck into the backyard....going to build a PVC run for the grassy area soon...this will be 1 of the foraging areas for the chicks..

Here are a few pics from the wooded area in our backyard...this is where I would like to build a fenced in area for the chickens to forage (LOTS OF BUGS and such out here)

Would love to hear your suggestions/ideas.... Also what size do you think is a good size?

Thanks

 

[georgiagail]

Have you considered building a small, portable tractor type run that you can load the chickens into and pull around the yard to move them from place to place?

It wouldn't have to be very large as you'd be moving it on a regular basis.

If I made one, I'd consider making the frame out of PVC pipe which would be inexpensive, lightweight and easy for me to move around. I'd cover it with hardware cloth as protection against snakes.

Gail

 

[jbarth8924]

Beautiful coop/ run! How did you send your original post? I am new to this site and am having trouble posting my question. Thanks, new chick

 

[DebB11]

I had thought about that...actually that was my first thought. But, I was thinking the girls might like more room than I could give them with a portable run. My biggest problem with that would be getting it from yard to woods and back due to a lot of tree's where the yard/wood line is. It would have to be skinny and long.

 

[georgiagail]

Do a search on this site under "portable run" for ideas on what others have done in terms of homemade portable runs.

Gail