Has anyone built a coop with more than one run for grass grow-back?

[Moon Daizy]

I've trawled through the coop design articles but haven't found any yet

Would love to be directed to any designs if anyone knows of any. We're about to move house and are considering our options for coop build #2!

Thanks in advance

 

[NagemTX]

I've trawled through the coop design articles but haven't found any yet

Would love to be directed to any designs if anyone knows of any. We're about to move house and are considering our options for coop build #2!

Thanks in advance

I've built more than one metal frame coop run and once I get my numbers down was planing on rotating the flocks. In doing so leaving one open for six months to allow growth.

 

[RoyalChick]

I've trawled through the coop design articles but haven't found any yet

Would love to be directed to any designs if anyone knows of any. We're about to move house and are considering our options for coop build #2!

Thanks in advance

I tried. I have two runs that have open roofs on either side of my main covered run.
My idea was to block access to one and reseed it while they enjoyed the other one.
I still do that from time to time but they destroy the growing run in less than a day and it takes weeks for the other one to regrow.
So mostly it is a failure.
Each of the two open runs are 10’ x 4’. I think they are just too small for this idea to work, and I only have 5 chickens.
I do now often let them out to range in a much larger area and that stays grassy except in high traffic zones.
Right now they are confined because of Avian Influenza.

 

[ChaosMom]

I do now often let them out to range in a much larger area and that stays grassy except in high traffic zones.
Right now they are confined because of Avian Influenza.

RC, is this mandated in NJ, or are you doing this on your own out of caution? Good luck either way; it’s a scary thing!

 

[RoyalChick]

RC, is this mandated in NJ, or are you doing this on your own out of caution? Good luck either way; it’s a scary thing!

No mandate. But I live near wetlands and the Canada geese are flying over in large numbers at the moment.
It is hard to know what to do as we also have Canada geese all year round. I just got spooked when I saw a massive number coming over a week or so ago.
I will probably relent soon because my ladies do love to be out and about, but they do have masses of room in their coop and runs so it isn’t too much of a hardship (or so I try to explain to them!).
When I relent and let them out in the wild world I will seed one of their enclosed but open air runs and let it get a good growth going before letting them back in.

 

[ChaosMom]

I’m very fortunate - most of our migratory birds are songbirds, not waterfowl. But we have had one proven AI case locally on a pond.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Has anyone built a coop with more than one run for grass grow-back?​

Would love to be directed to any designs if anyone knows of any.

I do not have access to a specific design. This was a topic on the sister gardening forum many years back but I'm not going to try to do a search on it. They had a central coop and 8 different fenced spaces off of it. They'd garden in 4 of those one year and rotate the chickens in the other 4. The following year they'd switch which runs they gardened in.

As mentioned, one requirement is to have a space big enough that they don't strip it in a week. Nothing works if you don't set it up right.

The way I'd set it up would be to have a central coop with a small permanent run around it. That run will stay bare. Then fenced off two or three individual runs with access through that small run.

I can't tell you how big they need to be. That depends on your number of chickens but also climate. How well does grass or other vegetation grow in your climate? What plants would you have in there? You may need trial and error to figure out what works for you.

I don't do this. I fence off enough area so it remains in grass without dividing it. I have to mow it three or four times a year so it doesn't become overgrown.

Another method to provide greens is to build a grazing frame. Use something like 2x10's or 2x12's to build a frame and cover it with wire mesh. Then grow crops in it, grass or something else. They can eat anything that sticks out through the wire mesh but they can't get at the roots to scratch them out and kill the plants.

 

[Sic]

No, but I do have plants in my run... because we leveled the ground with gravel and packed it down and then topped the gravel with peat moss, the chickens can and do dig down and make holes in the gravel, except where there had been grass seeded (poa supina) and wild patches of Siberian miners lettuce, the roots wrapped that gravel up too tight for the chickens and they leave it alone because they can't dig there. The run is roofed and these are shade loving plants. Surprisingly they don't really eat them, but they are mostly free range and don't spend that much time in the run.

 

[Penpal]

Can you use portable electric fencing to move them to more areas?