Hello from Pennsylvania! Hi I am new to this group. My name is Catherine.

[DLA]

Hi! Our family just got 12 chickens and I really want them to be happy. We are in Southern Pennsylvania near the Maryland line and I have been up late researching all there is to keeping chickens happy. Their well-being is my goal. It makes me so sad to think about the lives of commercially farmed animals. Having happy chickens helps me feel better about it. I'm also looking forward to the nutritious eggs that backyard chickens can provide. Our family eats a lot of eggs.
Since I have had these young hens I have fallen in love and want them to be able to free range in my yard as much as possible but I am in the suburbs on less than 1/4 acre.
Initially I got 5 Columbian Rock chicks but then we decided to get 7 more about 18 days later. I got 3 Barred Rocks and 4 Rhode Island Reds. I didn't know much about these breeds and the manager of the feed store in my town helped me to decide. The Columbian Rock chicks were born on Feb 27 and the barred Rocks and Reds were born on March 17.
I have been trying to figure out a good housing/run/free range situation for them for a very long time so I'm hoping that you can help. Initially I had a coop maker make a coop for the first 5 hens that is 51" x 51" excluding the nest box. That was for 5 hens. It is solid and heavy, made of wood. Then I got 7 more hens and had to figure out what to do with this inadequately sized coop. I decided to add two prefab children's playhouses to it, one house on each side so the main coop is sandwiched between the two playhouses for a total of 40 sq feet. I plan to keep the 3 houses open to each other with the option of closing one or two off in case I need to separate them or keep them warmer for the winter if they all sleep together in the main coop. I will put 1/4 inch hardware cloth over all their playhouse windows and put plexi-glass covers over the windows that can be removable in hot weather. Those two play houses are made of fir wood and are not as sturdy as the main coop in the middle but they have a lot of ventilation from lots of windows. To make them sturdier I will put plywood on the inside of the walls of the playhouses, perhaps 1/4 hardware cloth in between the original house walls and the plywood, to make them more sturdy, secure and warmer for the winter.
I know this may still be small but I spoke to the feed store manager about securing their run and having it available to them 24x7 with possibly some plastic surround all or part of it. Their run is a 20'x10' chicken coop cage that I can fully wire with 1/2 inch hardware cloth including the bottom. So their run is 200 sq feet minus the size of the coop which will be inside this cage, with the exception of the nesting boxes. During winter I can put a plastic greenhouse cover over the entire wired cage for more protection from the weather and during the summer I can put a tarp cover over all or part of the top for shade.
I am really hoping to free range them from dusk until dawn in my yard which is surrounded by a chain link fence but I want to make sure they are protected from predators when I am not there to watch over them. The perimeter of my yard is lined with very tall spirea bushes about 9 or 10 feet tall depending on how much I cut it down every year so I am planning to have a two foot metal fence all along the perimeter under the bushes about 5 feet from the main fence so they can graze under the bushes with bird netting above them attached to the two fences. That border run leads from their secured run to another open area at the side of my house that is about 250 square feet. That part of the yard I plan to put another 20'x10' chicken cage that I will cover with bird netting, not hardware cloth. There will be a total of 900 sq feet of free range area excluding their caged run. The free range area will be entirely covered with bird netting on the top and wire fences on the sides but not hardware cloth. I am wondering if all this sounds adequately protected from predators and weather for them and if their coop setup seems adequate? They seem to be getting along well with each other so far in their brooders but they are housed next to each other in separate cages. I have not put the two groups together since they seem so different in size even though they are only 2 1/2 weeks apart in age.
Does 1/2 inch hardware cloth around their caged run seem adequate especially since they will have 24/7 open access in that area? I already bought the hardware cloth but have since learned that stoats and mice are in Pennsylvania and can squeeze between this 1/2 inch hardware cloth and it was expensive. I'm wondering if I should buy the 1/4 inch to be sure.
Thanks for any/all your advice!
Best Regards,
Catherine

Welcome!! and that sounds like a great flock. I have RIR that are around 3 years old, I got new mixed flock about 22 weeks old now(barred rock, easter egger, olive egger, gold and silver laced wyandotte, rhode island blue). I've tried integrating them when they're out for walks but they mostly keep to themselves so far, they don't really fight but RIR can be funny about accepting new flock members. They seem to trigger on color, the gold laced wyandottes they seem to mind less cause they're closer in color but the other colored hens they do react to more. Over time they are starting to get along better. They want nothing to do with my surprise EE rooster, poor guy has been rejected - LOL.

Here's the PA state thread -
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/pennsylvania-unite.248345/page-8245

Here's the hardware cloth I use 1/4 inch only bugs can squeeze thru this, it's a little expensive and your delivery driver will hate you cause it's heavy! but I've found it to be very good value. It's sturdy and holds up extremely well in PA weather. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PPYX999?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

These are the staples I use to secure it to wood with either screws and washers or staples which are easier. The typical ones you find that say they're for attaching poultry wire are cheap and don't pound into most wood very well. You can also use zip ties to attach overlapping sections of wire if you don't have a wood piece to connect them to.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E95IY0?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

Raccoons and hawks will probably be your biggest concern, at least they are for me here north of you. The bird netting should keep the hawks out. The raccoons can be deterred by securing the chickens in a protected run at night plus possibly installing motion sensor lights. They can reach thru to grab a chicken close to the fence and climb chain link or dig under it and rip thru anything less sturdy than hardware cloth but they typically only are active at night so locking up the chickens in a place they cannot get at them during night would be your best bet. Just check the yard for any that might have gotten in overnight and not left. The motion lights I have seem to keep them away. Use carabiner clips on the latches on your coop doors. They can't open those.

 

[Raisin_The_Chicken]

hello and welcome!

 

[Marlinmabel]

Hi, and welcome to BYC! We're so glad you decided to join us! Make yourself at home!

Hiya, Catherine, and welcome to BYC!


One reason is it can be the cause of bumblefoot, especially if they fly down from a roost and continually land on it. An apron should suffice, but if you wanted to just do the whole floor, then cover it up with your bedding, that should wor

Welcome!! and that sounds like a great flock. I have RIR that are around 3 years old, I got new mixed flock about 22 weeks old now(barred rock, easter egger, olive egger, gold and silver laced wyandotte, rhode island blue). I've tried integrating them when they're out for walks but they mostly keep to themselves so far, they don't really fight but RIR can be funny about accepting new flock members. They seem to trigger on color, the gold laced wyandottes they seem to mind less cause they're closer in color but the other colored hens they do react to more. Over time they are starting to get along better. They want nothing to do with my surprise EE rooster, poor guy has been rejected - LOL.

Here's the PA state thread -
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/pennsylvania-unite.248345/page-8245

Here's the hardware cloth I use 1/4 inch only bugs can squeeze thru this, it's a little expensive and your delivery driver will hate you cause it's heavy! but I've found it to be very good value. It's sturdy and holds up extremely well in PA weather. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PPYX999?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

These are the staples I use to secure it to wood with either screws and washers or staples which are easier. The typical ones you find that say they're for attaching poultry wire are cheap and don't pound into most wood very well. You can also use zip ties to attach overlapping sections of wire if you don't have a wood piece to connect them to.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E95IY0?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

Raccoons and hawks will probably be your biggest concern, at least they are for me here north of you. The bird netting should keep the hawks out. The raccoons can be deterred by securing the chickens in a protected run at night plus possibly installing motion sensor lights. They can reach thru to grab a chicken close to the fence and climb chain link or dig under it and rip thru anything less sturdy than hardware cloth but they typically only are active at night so locking up the chickens in a place they cannot get at them during night would be your best bet. Just check the yard for any that might have gotten in overnight and not left. The motion lights I have seem to keep them away. Use carabiner clips on the latches on your coop doors. They can't open those.

Thank you for all you great advice! I do have motion sensor lights and will put in more around the coop and make sure they are getting into the coop at night. I appreciate your help! Well the two flocks are two weeks apart. Do you really think they may have trouble integrating into one flock? I really hope they will. The RI Reds are part of the younger flock. THey are with the barred Rocks.

 

[Marlinmabel]

Thanks!

Hello, and welcome to BYC! Good luck with all your plans!

 

[Marlinmabel]

Because it is a chickens instinct to scratch and dig. If they hit hardware cloth, it will cut up their feet and damage their claws.

If that is where they will be spending their days and the netting is well secured, yes.

It depends on your predator load. My setup has an attached run with a solid roof with the run walls made of well secured 1/2" hardware cloth and a 1/2" HC predator apron around the entire setup. All of this is plunked down inside a 1/3 acre pen surrounded by heavily charged poultry netting as I have quite the cast of predators around me including black bears and bobcats as well as multiple times a day fly overs by red-tailed hawks. If your run is strong enough to keep out your worst predator, by all means permit full access. I only permit unlimited access for my birds in the coop/run portion of my setup. I let them out into their pen every morning and re-secure the run every night.

I don't know without seeing it up close and personal. I am a builder by hobby so I am rather particular about how things are constructed. I only like to do things once so I don't mince things together.

They need a HUGE amount of ventilation. They are birds. Birds have delicate respiratory systems. Additionally, they get over-heated very easily and it can kill them so they must have far more ventilation and lots of deep shade during high heat. Not enough ventilation during sub-freezing temperatures traps moisture and chills the birds and causes frost-bite.

Birds are flock animals and stay together as flock. That is their preference and they may stuff themselves into too small of an area in an attempt to do that. When new birds are introduced, they would likely willingly segregate somewhat but their ultimate goal is to be with the flock.

If you top hinge windows, this will divert rain away from the opening.
View attachment 4087130

Don't put any of this in the coops. Coops are for night time roosting and laying eggs and occasionally for hanging out in during inclement weather. But if their run has a solid roof over it, they will go out. Because you only have netting, I would build a sturdy roofed structure under which to put their feed/water station. The chickens will dig their own dust baths wherever they want so don't worry about that.

Ok I will put their dust baths in their run. Wow your setup sounds awesome! Electric fencing sounds like peace of mind to me.
I will try to put a hard cover over their main run. I think I'll try to build a better main run for that and I probably should build a better coop that is bigger with more ventilation since the rooms I have will be so small. All your advice is so helpful, I cannot thank you enough. So glad I finally came here and asked. Best regards and thank you again, so much!

 

[Marlinmabel]

Welcome!! and that sounds like a great flock. I have RIR that are around 3 years old, I got new mixed flock about 22 weeks old now(barred rock, easter egger, olive egger, gold and silver laced wyandotte, rhode island blue). I've tried integrating them when they're out for walks but they mostly keep to themselves so far, they don't really fight but RIR can be funny about accepting new flock members. They seem to trigger on color, the gold laced wyandottes they seem to mind less cause they're closer in color but the other colored hens they do react to more. Over time they are starting to get along better. They want nothing to do with my surprise EE rooster, poor guy has been rejected - LOL.

Here's the PA state thread -
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/pennsylvania-unite.248345/page-8245

Here's the hardware cloth I use 1/4 inch only bugs can squeeze thru this, it's a little expensive and your delivery driver will hate you cause it's heavy! but I've found it to be very good value. It's sturdy and holds up extremely well in PA weather. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PPYX999?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

These are the staples I use to secure it to wood with either screws and washers or staples which are easier. The typical ones you find that say they're for attaching poultry wire are cheap and don't pound into most wood very well. You can also use zip ties to attach overlapping sections of wire if you don't have a wood piece to connect them to.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000E95IY0?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

Raccoons and hawks will probably be your biggest concern, at least they are for me here north of you. The bird netting should keep the hawks out. The raccoons can be deterred by securing the chickens in a protected run at night plus possibly installing motion sensor lights. They can reach thru to grab a chicken close to the fence and climb chain link or dig under it and rip thru anything less sturdy than hardware cloth but they typically only are active at night so locking up the chickens in a place they cannot get at them during night would be your best bet. Just check the yard for any that might have gotten in overnight and not left. The motion lights I have seem to keep them away. Use carabiner clips on the latches on your coop doors. They can't open those.

I really appreciate all your advice and will include these thoughts as I prepare for their move to the yard.