450 square ft run and grass...

[Panhandler80]

No, I think you cannot have to large of a run. The larger the run, the happier the chickens! You need space to put in obstacles and places for the lesser ones in the pecking order to get away from any aggressors. You are doing the right thing giving them the space you are! And you will have it partially covered. But, again, I go with straw. Works much better in the run than pine shavings. Some people will add wood chips in too and I'm thinking about doing that this year.

I understand that more is better, but putting down / removing material across entire run is not something I had pictured needing to do. Roofing the entire thing is also something I had not planned on. $, time and effort on this little "weekend, project" is getting a bit silly.

 

[ValerieJ]

I understand that more is better, but putting down / removing material across entire run is not something I had pictured needing to do. Roofing the entire thing is also something I had not planned on. $, time and effort on this little "weekend, project" is getting a bit silly.

haha...welcome to chicken life.

 

[Panhandler80]

haha...welcome to chicken life.

I'm also really really bad at compromise, so all projects go just like this one... Over built, over planned, over budget, over effort, etc. Nice, but just to much of EVERYTHING.

 

[ValerieJ]

I'm also really really bad at compromise, so all projects go just like this one... Over built, over planned, over budget, over effort, etc. Nice, but just to much of EVERYTHING.

Okay, well at the risk of boring all the regular members on here who have heard me say this a thousand times, I believe building bigger and stronger than you think you can possibly ever need or use will make your life so much easier in the long run.

My mistake: Building a coop, hutch style, big enough for 8 hens, thinking I would only have 6, so a Cadillac of a coop! So, I thought. I now have 4 coops, hutch style, not one that will hold all my 12 chickens. But, that's okay, because here's what I did right.

What I did right was build a huge run. Over the 4 years I've had my chickens, I have had reason to separate and divide, due to isolation and integration needs. Having so much room to work with merely meant putting in an internal fence for divisions. Having 4 coops has made separation/integration very easy for me. Right now, with 2 cockerels, I have 4 runs and coops being used to keep them separate from the hens/pullets and from each other. So, I'm glad I have the set up I do. But, it has meant that every year I have added something.

NOW, in March, we are building an 8x10 walk in coop with a fully enclosed and roofed run, minimally 10x12, that will be absolutely predator proof. They will still free range in the larger pens, but will have a safe haven to return to. So, year #5 begins coop #5.

Build as big and as solid as you can the first time around. You no longer need to ask me how I know.

 

[aart]

I understand that more is better, but putting down / removing material across entire run is not something I had pictured needing to do.

Use the right stuff and you won't need to remove anything, just add more to it.
Got a place to store a pile of wood chippings?

Roofing the entire thing is also something I had not planned on.

You might want to cover the whole thing, for shade.

time and effort on this little "weekend, project" is getting a bit silly.

Well, if you had planned more, you might have known....not a 'weekend project'!

.

 

[SueT]

If you get enuf rain and have enuf square footage per bird, you may at least have weeds in growing your run. I have about 1000 sf, and in rainy summers quite a few weeds grow in my run, weeds that chickens don't eat. I have under 10 chickens, the number has varied year to year. Right now, this run is all dirt, but I am confident these weeds will return, as they have each summer. With your 450 sf, I think you could possibly keep 4 or 5 chickens without turning it into a moonscape.

 

[Panhandler80]

Use the right stuff and you won't need to remove anything, just add more to it.
Got a place to store a pile of wood chippings?





You might want to cover the whole thing, for shade.



Well, if you had planned more, you might have known....not a 'weekend project'!

.

Well, so far I have an entire Saturday, half a Sunday, half a Saturday and half a Sunday in it... if my poor man's math serves me correctly, that's a total of three days actually working. Of course, one "half day" began with a head lamp on and spreader lights set up. Hahaha. Anyway, to have jumped in with no plans other than 8 x 8 floor and having looked at some pictures, the framing went pretty well.

Trying like the devil to get some work done during the week, but by the time I get home there's only an hour of daylight, plus the 7 month old makes it tough.

SHADE: There will be a fruit tree that providing shade and a pecan that begins to leave out about now that will provide quite a bit outside of the roof on run that I planned to build for them. The elevated coop, another 8x10 section of roof, and the two trees will come to about 180 feet of shade. Plus the two houses and an 8' fence, other trees in the yard, two houses, etc will provide varrying degrees of shade througouth the course of the day.

As far as wood chips go: Those things are pretty substantial you buy them? There hundreds of millions of cubic yards of free wood trips on vacant lots here for months. They are all gone now finally. Should have scooped some of them up. I may just see how it goes with the chickens and mud before I get into storing and putting down chips. Not sure where to buy them as course as the ones you have pictured.

If you get enuf rain and have enuf square footage per bird, you may at least have weeds in growing your run. I have about 1000 sf, and in rainy summers quite a few weeds grow in my run, weeds that chickens don't eat. I have under 10 chickens, the number has varied year to year. Right now, this run is all dirt, but I am confident these weeds will return, as they have each summer. With your 450 sf, I think you could possibly keep 4 or 5 chickens without turning it into a moonscape.
View attachment 2030598 View attachment 2030599

Hahaha... "Moonscape"

 

[aart]

As far as wood chips go: Those things are pretty substantial you buy them?

Nope, got lucky...tree trimmer dumped them at local DPW yard,
I picked up a few pick up truck loads,
then they brought a couple big loads here because they wanted to get rid of them.

 

[Panhandler80]

Nope, got lucky...tree trimmer dumped them at local DPW yard,
I picked up a few pick up truck loads,
then they brought a couple big loads here because they wanted to get rid of them.
View attachment 2030679

We just wrapped up the largest debris removal in US history here... Much of which we're pine chippings. Had I been planning I could have had all I wanted. Storage would have been an issue.

 

[ValerieJ]

Use the right stuff and you won't need to remove anything, just add more to it.
Got a place to store a pile of wood chippings?





You might want to cover the whole thing, for shade.



Well, if you had planned more, you might have known....not a 'weekend project'!

.

This is what I want in the enclosed roof when we build the new coop & run.