Chicken Run Question

[Ullie]

I made a 100X100' run using electrified poultry netting from Premier. 19 chickens milling around in there since Apr, and I still have plenty of grass. Around the coop itself is a little rough, but it still has grass. Below is a pic of the back side of the "Run".
Jack

That is awesome, I love that idea and hope to buy the fencing in the spring.
I notice the grass is burnt around the fence, did you weedwack or roundup it?
A couple more questions, what height of fence, did you buy the post (if not what kind did you use) or get the pkg. with post included.
Also if you have any other suggestions regarding this type of fence, feel free to share.
I do have a portable charger/fencer already that I use with my portable horse fence.
Thanks Jack

 

[Ridgerunner]

I got the kit that contained everything you need from Premier, with the energizer, ground rod, 164’ of 48” netting, electric wire, the double spiked poles, tester, and spares. I recommend you get a kit to take the guesswork out of it. When I called the lady was quite helpful and seemed to know her product.

That netting has enemies. You cannot use a torch and burn the weeds and grass like you can with a chain link fence. Weed whackers and lawn mowers can destroy it. I believe the lady said weed whackers destroy most of the ones they send replacements for.

The grass and weeds will grow up the fence and ground it out, especially if it gets wet. This time of year especially, leaves and such will blow up against it and stack up. You need to control these things. Weed and grass killer can work for some of that but I need to move mine now because of the leaves blowing against it.

Mine is set up attached to the gate on a permanent run. When I take it down to mow the stuff that has grown up, I set it back up in somewhat different places, but there is a certain area right out the gate that is always inside the netting. It usually takes me about 2 hours to take mine down, mow, and put it back up. If you are setting it up in a totally new area it could go quite a bit faster. I also do it by myself. A helper could really help. My ground is real rocky too. That slows me down a bunch.

My totally bare permanent run is 12’ x 32’. The area inside this netting is roughly 30’ x 65’. During the peak of weed and grass growing season, I probably move it every two weeks or maybe more often. During the winter I hardly ever move it. I got it and set it up between Thanksgiving and Christmas last year.

It’s hard to say how many chickens I keep in there. Last winter I had 1 rooster and 6 hens. By the time I finished hatching I had a total of 41 of various ages. I’ve got that back down to 20 total and am waiting on that broodies last hatch to get to butchering age to get the total numbers back down so I can start over. Many of those 41 were young chicks that are not as hard on ground as adults.

Last winter those 7 were not real hard on it. During the spring and summer and moving it regularly, I had no trouble keeping it green inside the netting even with that large number. This fall since grass has quit growing, it’s getting eaten down pretty bad. I’ve still got a month to go before I can put those last chicks in the freezer. They are old enough to be hard on that ground. I may have to confine my adults to the permanent run this spring until the thatch resets itself.

The chickens would have no trouble flying over that netting if they want to. My adults don’t. They have no motivation to leave that area. When I integrate chicks, that changes. I integrate brooder-raised chicks at 8 weeks and let a broody raise hers with the flock and wean them whenever she wants. I’ll often go through a spell when they are maybe 10 to 13 weeks old where some of the chicks occasionally fly over the fence. They are trying to get away from an adult and panic. They do not know to fly back in.

I have had an incident where something, I assume a deer because of the prints, ran into the netting and broke a corner pole. I guy my corners back so the wind is not a real big problem about blowing it over. I have not been through a heavy snow with it yet so I don’t know how that will work.

One problem I do have when I set it up is that the very bottom of that netting can sort of lay over on the ground and ground out. I’ve offended some people on this forum when I show this photo because I did not go to the store and buy something fancy to use, but I just break a tree limb and use that to keep the netting off the ground.

 

[JackE]

I used roundup to keep the grass out of the fence. The fence is the poultry plus option, it is 4' high and comes with double stake posts already attached. I used 6' fiberglass stakes for the corners, (Also from Premier). I got the fence charger form Premier. I got the 115VAC charger for the fence. It tops out my fence charge tester at 7000Vs. I think it's doing more than that. They also have solar chargers available. I have a bunch of predators around that love chicken dinners. After a couple of bad daylight attacks, I got this fence, and it has worked out great for me, and especially the birds. I'm thinking about getting a couple more 100' sections and expanding the area. The charger can handle 7.
Jack

 

[Ullie]

Thanks for the info. I am looking forward to the spring when they can have some free ranging well limited free ranging that is.