Bigger Chicken Run?

[ZANEYchickenguy]

Hello everyone, I currently have 8 hens and each has 15 square feet in the run. I keep wanting to make it bigger so each will have 23 square feet. I don't want mine to be free ranged but I want my chickens to be happy. PROBLEM: wood prices have gone up by so much at Lowes. I estimated how much building an 8x8 run would cost and it was $450 dollars! Should I make my run bigger?

 

[Ridgerunner]

$450 dollars! Should I make my run bigger?

If you are not having any issues I would not at that price. I believe the more room you can reasonably give them the better, but the key work is reasonable. To me adding more at that price would not be reasonable.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Hello everyone, I currently have 8 hens and each has 15 square feet in the run. I keep wanting to make it bigger so each will have 23 square feet. I don't want mine to be free ranged but I want my chickens to be happy. PROBLEM: wood prices have gone up by so much at Lowes. I estimated how much building an 8x8 run would cost and it was $450 dollars! Should I make my run bigger?

Chickens are much happier when they have more room, so if you want happy chickens I would say to give them a bigger run! If you take the $450 and divided by eight years, the average life expectancy of a chicken that’s only $56.25 a year. Then you can divide that $56.25 between your eight chickens and it only works out to 7.03 per chicken each year. That’s always how I justify all my chicken purchases and expenditures. I think $7.03 per chicken, per year is really cheap compared to how much people spend on other pets throughout their life span. I had a dog that recently passed away at almost 15 and throughout her life, I probably spent at least $40,000 on her.

 

[3KillerBs]

Since it's not an emergency, maybe you can hold off while you scrounge materials -- watching Craig's List for deals, looking at the local ad newspapers, etc.

 

[TheAlrightyGina]

Yeah I would save a search on craigslist for lumber or pallets at or below the price you want.

Unless you're in the Memphis, TN area cause I don't like to share

 

[neo71665]

Price of building materials is coming down. I would wait till it's reasonable again.

 

[Krugerrand]

Chickens are much happier when they have more room, so if you want happy chickens I would say to give them a bigger run! If you take the $450 and divided by eight years, the average life expectancy of a chicken that’s only $56.25 a year. Then you can divide that $56.25 between your eight chickens and it only works out to 7.03 per chicken each year. That’s always how I justify all my chicken purchases and expenditures. I think $7.03 per chicken, per year is really cheap compared to how much people spend on other pets throughout their life span. I had a dog that recently passed away at almost 15 and throughout her life, I probably spent at least $40,000 on her.

Then, if you divide that by how any eggs the chicken lays, it's practically FREE!