1.) We live pretty close to a road that sees a decent amount of traffic.
They do not know to stay out of the road. Your chickens might get hit but, more importantly to me, they might cause someone to swerve to miss them and cause a serious accident.
2.) I have lots of plants on the property that I don't want to see destroyed that can't be individually fenced.
They tend to do a lot of damage with their scratching, not just their eating, especially if you mulch. They can find all kinds of nice creepy crawlies in that mulch.
3.) I have a lovely dog that will seek out and eat every piece of poop not washed away and
then get VERY VERY SICK. I speak from experience. Lots of it.
Interesting. Typically mine don't eat enough to get sick but we all have our own experiences.
I have room to give them a good sized run (30 ft long or more) but I don't want them to be unhealthy because they don't have access to grass.
They will not be unhealthy because they don't get grass. Your basic chicken feed contains everything they need to stay healthy. Many of us do like for them to have grass, weeds, and various creepy-crawlies they can catch but that's a personal preference, not a need.
What tends to be unhealthy is a continuously wet coop or run. I consider drainage the most important factor when deciding where to put the coop and run. Think dry.
There is another health aspect of this that is not as straight forward. The higher your chicken density the higher the risk. Chickens poop a lot. The more chickens you have in a small space the more the poop can build up. If you ever get a parasite that is somehow related to poop (like some worms) with a high chicken density it can be harder to treat for those worms and keep them from coming back. The higher your chicken density the more you need to manage the poop. There are other reasons to manage the poop too but you had mentioned health.
I don't want to frighten you with this. Many people manage this in a lot less room than you are talking about and their chickens never have these parasites. Some people remove poop regularly, sometimes as part of their daily routine. You'll probably have too big an area for that. Some use bedding, those wood chips are one possibility. That can work. Some regularly remove their bedding from the run and replace it, too much work for me. Some turn their run into a compost pile, tossing in all kinds of things you'd put in a compost pile including grass trimmings, dried leaves, kitchen wastes, or garden wastes. If it stays pretty dry doing nothing may be a good option. We all have different conditions, what works for one may not work for another. Not sure where you are located, that might help with this.
Another approach is to spread them out so you reduce the chicken density. Build your run as large as you reasonably can.
Many people use tractors to spread them out. Basically what you mentioned above, a movable pen. If you look in coops under the "Articles" tab at the top of this page you can find many examples. I tried that one summer for a few weeks but did not like how often I had to move it. How often you have to move it will depend on how big it is, how many chickens you have (chicken density), and your climate. If you decide to move them from the main coop/run to this daily it will take a commitment. Depending on where they live and their climate many people use tractors in the summer and a main coop in winter. Lots of people use tractors and are happy with them. Just because I don't like them much doesn't mean tractors are bad for everyone.
The way I handled that when I was in Arkansas was to set up an area inside electric netting that they can get to it from the main run. It's big enough that it stays green from early spring to late fall. It does not provide predator protection from flying predators but I haven't had a problem with them. Some people can't allow their chickens out because of flying predators, another case where we are all different. I don't know how big an area you would need to keep green stuff during your growing season. A lot of that will depend on what your ground cover is and your climate, both rainfall and seasons. Instead of netting you might build a permanent chicken proof fence around a big area.
I'm not going to tell you that you can't do certain things because people probably are doing them successfully. I'm not going to tell you that you have to do things a certain way, what works for me might not work for you. I'm trying to give you some things to think about and some of what your different options might be. You have all the potential for a great set-up. Good luck!
They do not know to stay out of the road. Your chickens might get hit but, more importantly to me, they might cause someone to swerve to miss them and cause a serious accident.
2.) I have lots of plants on the property that I don't want to see destroyed that can't be individually fenced.
They tend to do a lot of damage with their scratching, not just their eating, especially if you mulch. They can find all kinds of nice creepy crawlies in that mulch.
3.) I have a lovely dog that will seek out and eat every piece of poop not washed away and
then get VERY VERY SICK. I speak from experience. Lots of it.
Interesting. Typically mine don't eat enough to get sick but we all have our own experiences.
I have room to give them a good sized run (30 ft long or more) but I don't want them to be unhealthy because they don't have access to grass.
They will not be unhealthy because they don't get grass. Your basic chicken feed contains everything they need to stay healthy. Many of us do like for them to have grass, weeds, and various creepy-crawlies they can catch but that's a personal preference, not a need.
What tends to be unhealthy is a continuously wet coop or run. I consider drainage the most important factor when deciding where to put the coop and run. Think dry.
There is another health aspect of this that is not as straight forward. The higher your chicken density the higher the risk. Chickens poop a lot. The more chickens you have in a small space the more the poop can build up. If you ever get a parasite that is somehow related to poop (like some worms) with a high chicken density it can be harder to treat for those worms and keep them from coming back. The higher your chicken density the more you need to manage the poop. There are other reasons to manage the poop too but you had mentioned health.
I don't want to frighten you with this. Many people manage this in a lot less room than you are talking about and their chickens never have these parasites. Some people remove poop regularly, sometimes as part of their daily routine. You'll probably have too big an area for that. Some use bedding, those wood chips are one possibility. That can work. Some regularly remove their bedding from the run and replace it, too much work for me. Some turn their run into a compost pile, tossing in all kinds of things you'd put in a compost pile including grass trimmings, dried leaves, kitchen wastes, or garden wastes. If it stays pretty dry doing nothing may be a good option. We all have different conditions, what works for one may not work for another. Not sure where you are located, that might help with this.
Another approach is to spread them out so you reduce the chicken density. Build your run as large as you reasonably can.
Many people use tractors to spread them out. Basically what you mentioned above, a movable pen. If you look in coops under the "Articles" tab at the top of this page you can find many examples. I tried that one summer for a few weeks but did not like how often I had to move it. How often you have to move it will depend on how big it is, how many chickens you have (chicken density), and your climate. If you decide to move them from the main coop/run to this daily it will take a commitment. Depending on where they live and their climate many people use tractors in the summer and a main coop in winter. Lots of people use tractors and are happy with them. Just because I don't like them much doesn't mean tractors are bad for everyone.
The way I handled that when I was in Arkansas was to set up an area inside electric netting that they can get to it from the main run. It's big enough that it stays green from early spring to late fall. It does not provide predator protection from flying predators but I haven't had a problem with them. Some people can't allow their chickens out because of flying predators, another case where we are all different. I don't know how big an area you would need to keep green stuff during your growing season. A lot of that will depend on what your ground cover is and your climate, both rainfall and seasons. Instead of netting you might build a permanent chicken proof fence around a big area.
I'm not going to tell you that you can't do certain things because people probably are doing them successfully. I'm not going to tell you that you have to do things a certain way, what works for me might not work for you. I'm trying to give you some things to think about and some of what your different options might be. You have all the potential for a great set-up. Good luck!
