Is it possible to make a run big enough to not be stripped.

[ChickenFan451]

We are getting fifteen chicks next week and I am working on the coop and run right now. I was planning on a run being about 150 sq feet and was hoping that would be big enough they wouldn't strip the land. I'm suddenly afraid that won't be enough. Should I be resigned to the idea that it will be stripped? Is there any way I could make a big enough run, without buying another acre of land LOL? Thanks in advance.

 

[NonnasBabies]

Are you talking about them killing all the grass and bringing everything down to dirt?? If so then I don't think there's any way to prevent it. I had 4 chickens completly kill the grass in a 21ft x 16ft in less than 2 weeks!!

Good luck!!

Missi

 

[chicnfarmer]

I think an acre would just about do.

 

[chickenwhisperer]

I been keeping my 35 chickens in a 3200sqft run for at least 3 months now, and I still have to mow.
The chickens are all about 4-5 months old.

Actually, the grass back in there has never looked better, growing thick and dark green.

I have also been feeding them handfuls of food in a few bare spots, so they can scratch and till up the ground, even those spots are looking good and gettin smaller by the day now.
Even the old bare-dirt pathway thru the yard is almost completely filled in now.


Itsa huge area I have tho, I dont know if it can be done in anything less . . .

 

[teach1rusl]

Unless they'll be out of the run part of the time ("supervised" freeranging), they will most like kill it. But at least since they're chicks now, they may not kill it till next spring

Really, 150 sq. ft. for 15 chickens is not a large run...that's the minimum general recommendation (10 sq. ft. of run space per bird). I do mow the grass in my run, but it's about 600 sq. ft. for 5 hens, so you would need a really large run for 15 chickens if you wanted to preserve grass...maybe 1500 sq. ft.

 

[patandchickens]

150 sq ft for 15 chickens is only 10 sq ft per chicken (i.e. you wouldnt want it any much *smaller* than that!), and will turn into bare dirt quite quickly no matter what you do.

If you had, say, a quarter or half acre for those 15 chickens, most of it would stay in reasonable condition, although the areas they frequent the most would still develop bare spots.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[ChickenFan451]

Thank you everyone for your responses. Pat, I do have a quarter of my acre fenced in and that is where I was planning on having them free range. Can I just use the quarter acre for their run? I can't cover a quarter acre, that would be nutty. LOL. I do have very small dogs (4-8lbs) that have never been bothered by the birds of prey so maybe the chickens would be okay. Should I chance it?

 

[YolandaT]

Chicken projects are like tattoos - in no time at all you'll want another one!

You could make your next project a "day tractor" so that you can occasionally move them to different parts of the yard. Its what I plan on doing. You can search this board for "day tractor" or "mini run" for ideas.

 

[patandchickens]

Well then, why not regard the run as a 'sacrifice area' and not *expect* it to stay green, and not worry about it cuz they will be going out onto the real grass

Good luck, have fun,

Pat