Coop to yard

[Cluck Berry]

I plan on raising some chicks in the brooder in my garage. Once they are ready to move to the coop and have been in there a few days to get used to it, I just want to let them out in the fenced in back yard. I dont want to build a seperate run along with the coop, I just want to let them run the fenced in area where the coop will be. The fenced in area is 75 feet square and I will start with 10-12 chicks. Will this be ok?

 

[NatJ]

So you want to use your whole yard as a run? That might work.

Some points you may want to consider, if you didn't already think of them:

The fence needs to be secure enough (keep chickens in, keep predators out.)

The chickens will most likely kill grass and most other plants in the yard, and will definitely poop on everything. They may try to walk into your house when you open the door.

 

[Cluck Berry]

So you want to use your whole yard as a run? That might work.

Some points you may want to consider, if you didn't already think of them:

The fence needs to be secure enough (keep chickens in, keep predators out.)

The chickens will most likely kill grass and most other plants in the yard, and will definitely poop on everything. They may try to walk into your house when you open the door.

Thank you NatJ.
The fenced part is just a square that comes off the back of the house where my basement walks out. It was a kid retainer when they were little. I live on a few acres. so there is more. In the time it takes to raise a dozen meat birds (12 weeks), do you think those 12 birds will completely decimate a 75 foot square? I want then to have some room to roam. I can reinforce the fence top and bottom, No worries there.

 

[NatJ]

In the time it takes to raise a dozen meat birds (12 weeks), do you think those 12 birds will completely decimate a 75 foot square?

I had been assuming chicks that would grow up to be laying hens, and I had been assuming they would live there for a long time (a year or more.) I'm pretty sure a dozen laying hens would kill everything in that amount of time.

But meat birds spend the first few weeks as little chicks who don't scratch much, and then it's not too much longer until they get butchered, so I don't know if they'd have time to kill everything before butchering day.

I'll have to settle for "maybe." There will probably be some patches that are actually dead and bare, but I think you have a reasonable chance of having some areas of grass left at the end. Even if it's just roots underground, once the chickens are gone, it can send up new shoots and the chickens won't be there to eat them too.