Need Help with Pen/Run Design

[PRchick]

I will be moving to a new house with property, so I will have plenty of space for chickens. I will probably need at least six pens. I would like to know what size and what material to use. I’m thinking 2” chain link, but I don’t know if that is a good material. Also wondering how long and wide, 20’, 30’ long and how wide?

Also wondering if there is a good breed of dog to guard the chickens from predators. I mean to have in the main area.

TIA

 

[BuffyDuckies]

I will be moving to a new house with property, so I will have plenty of space for chickens. I will probably need at least six pens. I would like to know what size and what material to use. I’m thinking 2” chain link, but I don’t know if that is a good material. Also wondering how long and wide, 20’, 30’ long and how wide?

Also wondering if there is a good breed of dog to guard the chickens from predators. I mean to have in the main area.

TIA

Hello, for chicken coops you will want to plan how you want the coops to be built first. 6 coops is a lot of coops so it depends how many chickens you are going to have for how big the coops will be. The materials I personally use for chain link is 1/2 inch and for wood I would use cedar or redwood because they don’t rot as easy. 2 inch chain link would work fine though.
Border Collie or McNab dogs are great guard dogs that I would highly recommend to guard your chickens. They are smart and breed for guarding and herding.

 

[3KillerBs]

How many chickens do you plan on having?

@cmom has a great setup with multiple coops in a thoughtful arrangement.

 

[PRchick]

How many chickens do you plan on having?

@cmom has a great setup with multiple coops in a thoughtful arrangement.

I have 50 chickens right now. I plan on breeding, so I need at least two pens for that, and plan on experimenting with a breeding project. The rest , will be mostly hens with maybe a bachelor pen too.

@cmom, it would be lovely to see a picture of your set-up.

 

[3KillerBs]

Sounds like fun!

In Houston I'm sure that Open Air style coops would be the thing. My sister just moved from there and considered central North Carolina cool and not too humid by comparison.

 

[Ozarkhomesteader]

I will be moving to a new house with property, so I will have plenty of space for chickens. I will probably need at least six pens. I would like to know what size and what material to use. I’m thinking 2” chain link, but I don’t know if that is a good material. Also wondering how long and wide, 20’, 30’ long and how wide?

Also wondering if there is a good breed of dog to guard the chickens from predators. I mean to have in the main area.

TIA

Congrats! I'm sure your very excited!

Size will depend on how many birds you will have in each breeding group. When you are breeding, at least in my experience, you really want to make sure everyone is content and happy to get the most eggs! So I always try to err on the side of larger than I think I need. Plus...I usually have a few more birds than I planned anyways, so I always works out! And a happy chicken is a productive chicken!

Will you be locking them in a secure coop at night? I'm assuming chain link is for the run. Chain link is nice, because it is heavy duty and will keep larger predators at bay. I find is very hard to work with in my building projects, so I tend to use welded wire for runs and pens (look up "welded wire fencing" on Tractor supply and you will see what I mean). I like the stuff as it is decently priced, and easy to work with. It attaches to run frames nicely, and I can use it to fence larger areas for ranging. IMO it looks nicer than chain link when used on a pen.

Do note though, neither chain link nor welded wire will keep out small predators. Mink, snakes, etc can still get through. I use the stuff for the run, but use hardware cloth for any coops where they will be overnight, to make sure its 100% predator proof.

Don't know how many birds you want in each pen, and your width will depend on that. BARE minimum is like 10sq ft of outdoor space per bird, but personally my bare minimum would be double that, around 20sq ft. The more space the happier!

As for dogs, will they be WITH the chickens, or just in the surrounding area, but no direct access to the birds?

If you are wanting one to stay with the birds, look for the livestock guardian breeds. Any dog can kill a chicken, and if you want the dog to have free access to the birds, be prepared to do a lot of training, and you may loose a few birds. Don't train a LGD on your expensive breeders. I would get some chickens you don't care much about to train them until they are past the puppy test phase. There are lots of great LGD breeds. Some of the most common in the US are anatolian shepherd and great pyrenees. Both are awesome dogs, you will have to do some reading to figure out what will best suit your needs.

If the birds will be in pens and the dog will not have direct access to them, things will be much easier. You could go for a breed that isn't bred to be with livestock. IF your only purpose to getting a dog is to let it be outside 24/7 and protect the birds, I would still recommend a LGD breed, as they will be the most effective protectors of your birds.

I saw someone mentioned border collies and Mcnabs. Both are great dogs...and I know a lot of people have had great success with them around poultry and keeping critters away and stuff. I personally have had the opposite, and my herding dogs were terrible guardians. So not all will be good. The nice thing with them is they are very trainable. But many have a high drive, and that isn't a good mix with chickens. All mine have wanted to herd the chickens to death. Now with lots of training, they are allowed into the chicken areas with me...but I would never leave them alone with a flock of chickens. Unless you want a pet border collie with a side benefit of predator deterrence...I would go for a breed more suited to protection. A little border collie would also be terrible against larger predators.

Well hope this helped a bit, sorry it's so long, I just kept typing!

 

[Alaskan]

If you will have a bunch of pens..I would suggest having a building that is to store feed and all supplies, as well as maybe incubators and brooders. Better yet if it also has running water to clean eggs, waterers, and such.. .... and then attach 4 to 8 pens off of that center... so you can feed and water all of them while standing almost still.



So much better than a bunch of seperated coops.

As to size...

In Houston (grew up in Texas, and my mom lives in Houston) you very much want a fully roofed but open air coop. Lattice walls maybe..but NOT A CLOSED BOX.

In an open air coop (coop and run are all together), aim for 15 square feet or more per bird. Do not make them too narrow, since you want birds to be able to get past each other. Narrowest acceptable is 4 feet, but 6 feet wide is better.

Do remember that with chicks you suddenly need many more pens. I solved that issue by using tractors in the summer.

Also, come fall when the many males are still growing and not yet old enough to figure out who to keep and who to eat.... I toss them into my spent veggie garden.

Best fence is welded wire stretched nice and tight with good support, and layered with hardware cloth. Chain link will also work if you then layer it with hardware cloth.

But you want fence strong enough to keep out a rabid dog, and small enough holes to keep out snakes, racoon hands, mice, and sparrows.

 

[cmom]

I have 50 chickens right now. I plan on breeding, so I need at least two pens for that, and plan on experimenting with a breeding project. The rest , will be mostly hens with maybe a bachelor pen too.

@cmom, it would be lovely to see a picture of your set-up.

The larger coops are actually duplex coops. At one time they were just bigger coops but eventually modified and made into duplex coops. When the trees I planted in the pens were small. I put some good heavy duty netting up covering the pens as I had issues with aerial predators. As the trees grew, I worked them through the netting. The birds love the shade. My land is mostly open pasture and I no longer free range due to losses in the past. It seems like the favorite birds are the ones that get picked off first. When I stopped free ranging, I extended all of the pens out, around an additional 10'feet. All of the pens are 60 feet deep x around 20+/- feet wide. Like many people I started out with one coop but over the years added more birds and coops. Good luck and have fun...

 

[PRchick]

Hello, for chicken coops you will want to plan how you want the coops to be built first. 6 coops is a lot of coops so it depends how many chickens you are going to have for how big the coops will be. The materials I personally use for chain link is 1/2 inch and for wood I would use cedar or redwood because they don’t rot as easy. 2 inch chain link would work fine though.
Border Collie or McNab dogs are great guard dogs that I would highly recommend to guard your chickens. They are smart and breed for guarding and herding.

Congrats! I'm sure your very excited!

Size will depend on how many birds you will have in each breeding group. When you are breeding, at least in my experience, you really want to make sure everyone is content and happy to get the most eggs! So I always try to err on the side of larger than I think I need. Plus...I usually have a few more birds than I planned anyways, so I always works out! And a happy chicken is a productive chicken!

Will you be locking them in a secure coop at night? I'm assuming chain link is for the run. Chain link is nice, because it is heavy duty and will keep larger predators at bay. I find is very hard to work with in my building projects, so I tend to use welded wire for runs and pens (look up "welded wire fencing" on Tractor supply and you will see what I mean). I like the stuff as it is decently priced, and easy to work with. It attaches to run frames nicely, and I can use it to fence larger areas for ranging. IMO it looks nicer than chain link when used on a pen.

Do note though, neither chain link nor welded wire will keep out small predators. Mink, snakes, etc can still get through. I use the stuff for the run, but use hardware cloth for any coops where they will be overnight, to make sure its 100% predator proof.

Don't know how many birds you want in each pen, and your width will depend on that. BARE minimum is like 10sq ft of outdoor space per bird, but personally my bare minimum would be double that, around 20sq ft. The more space the happier!

As for dogs, will they be WITH the chickens, or just in the surrounding area, but no direct access to the birds?

If you are wanting one to stay with the birds, look for the livestock guardian breeds. Any dog can kill a chicken, and if you want the dog to have free access to the birds, be prepared to do a lot of training, and you may loose a few birds. Don't train a LGD on your expensive breeders. I would get some chickens you don't care much about to train them until they are past the puppy test phase. There are lots of great LGD breeds. Some of the most common in the US are anatolian shepherd and great pyrenees. Both are awesome dogs, you will have to do some reading to figure out what will best suit your needs.

If the birds will be in pens and the dog will not have direct access to them, things will be much easier. You could go for a breed that isn't bred to be with livestock. IF your only purpose to getting a dog is to let it be outside 24/7 and protect the birds, I would still recommend a LGD breed, as they will be the most effective protectors of your birds.

I saw someone mentioned border collies and Mcnabs. Both are great dogs...and I know a lot of people have had great success with them around poultry and keeping critters away and stuff. I personally have had the opposite, and my herding dogs were terrible guardians. So not all will be good. The nice thing with them is they are very trainable. But many have a high drive, and that isn't a good mix with chickens. All mine have wanted to herd the chickens to death. Now with lots of training, they are allowed into the chicken areas with me...but I would never leave them alone with a flock of chickens. Unless you want a pet border collie with a side benefit of predator deterrence...I would go for a breed more suited to protection. A little border collie would also be terrible against larger predators.

Well hope this helped a bit, sorry it's so long, I just kept typing!

Thank you, yes doing some research on dogs, I came up with both of those breeds, and I would like them to be with the flock 24/7, so I would definitely need a LGD. I will read more about both.

I guess, as far as the fencing, I could go with either, I’ll have to price both. And the plan is to have a run, and a coop inside for them at night.

 

[PRchick]

@cmom, I love your coops, the runs also look great! What do you use for your runs? Wire mesh or deer fencing?