All of the top of my chicken run is made of chicken wire. I need a permit to build a full roof out here in Colorado and do NOT want to deal with that. But everyday I look out the window, there are sparrows going nuts in the run eating scraps because they are so small they fit right though the holes. . Should I worry about them hanging out with the chickens? The chicks dont seem to even care what so ever about them being around but I do. I keep reading about not letting wild birds around your flock, but what about the people that have wide open acres that their chickens roam on?
I don't know about whether the birds are bad or not, I know they carry parasites, but if you want to keep them out without a roof, you can use hardware cloth. We have it all over our run. We have a corrugated roof too, but the 1/2 inch hardware cloth keeps the moles, voles, birds and snakes out.
Quote:Sometimes the chickens go out on the acres, sometimes the acres come over to them. I think that's inevitable, unless the run and coop are made of sealed plexiglass. If you decide that you just do not want the birds in there, you could do a second layer on the run using chicken wire. The sparrows will still poop into the run, though.
Welcome to the food chain! You could look at the sparrows as doing you a favor by cleanning up excess feed before it attracks rodents...I am very liberal with the scratch and have alot of birds feasting when the chickens leave it (Now I don't have to buy bird food) I have sparrow, finches, cardinals, and 2 doves, don't worry too much, I think rodents carry more parasites than freewheelers like songbirds
