Isn't 100 sq feet tight for run with all the "extras'

[bear0806]

you can get the impression chickens are out there with tape measures making sure they have the required room. Trust me, even if they had tape measures, they would not know how to read them. That 10 square feet is a general guideline that works well for many people. But it is just a general guideline, it may be overkill for many people but occasionally you may find that it is a little tight. It is not a law of nature.

One way to improve the quality of what space you have is to add clutter. Clutter is stuff that they can get under, behind, or over to break line of sight or get out of reach.

You made me laugh. I'm overthinking all of it and need to remember they are chickens after all. Thanks for the reality check. Liked the idea of clutter...like a little playground.

 

[Chipmunk Chicks]

We have a similar sized set of accommodations, sounds like. We started off with eleven and are down to nine after a fox attack. They were completely fine free ranging all day, every day, until it wasn't.

Since then, the nine birds are fine in the enclosure, but we also move it every couple weeks to let the grass regrow. Eventually we also had to put our three remaining female ducks in the enclosure too, after losing our drake. So we've got twelve birds in a 10x10 space most of the time, and everyone gets on fine. I will say that I found a dustbath to be completely unnecessary. They find their own dirt to mess around in, and it was just so heavy moving the sand around, I quickly decided not to bother. Even if they get a little wet some days with the ducks, they will generally find a dry spot to mess around in the yard as they make their way back into the coop. (Our coop is stationary and the run moves around, with plenty of open space in between. The chickens follow me into the enclosure in the morning and make their way back into the coop while supervised at dusk.)

We've only had one incident out of the blue, I have no idea what happened, but I made the mistake of putting both food dishes side by side and it must have caused an argument. One chicken had a badly pecked eye that healed just fine, though. Since then I always space out the two feed bowls on opposite sides and we've been good. I just do one for oyster shell tho, since I don't figure they're going to fight over that.

Mostly, I think everyone just needs to try things out and monitor their birds. If you see something going on that's working or not working, then you respond accordingly and adjust the setup. I think that's the most important thing is actually paying attention to your birds and not just ignoring the signs or cues they may be giving you. As long as you remain flexible you can totally just keep figuring things out as you go. This forum is a great resource for ideas of what to do if you encounter any other issues down the road, and what to do.

 

[Sammster]

Any pics available..I love to see how others set things up. Thank you.

Here you go, Bear. I hope these make sense. Please look past the shower curtains on the outside of the run. We have chilly rain, today.

This is the view from the man-door of the run. See that little coop? All 8 girls sleep in there, together - even though they have a larger coop that is also attached to this run. I don't know why, but they absolutely insist

That little playhouse is their "spa". They use it - but since going to sand in their run, they use other areas to bathe, as well

They climb on both of these structures, and also love playing around and under the tree roots, below the play structure

Notice the opening, below the pre-fab coop. It's suited with an automatic door (we actually have 3 automatic doors in this set-up). This leads to their outside chunnel. It opens at sunrise and closes at sunset - just like the coop doors.

On the ground, to the left of the man-door, you see a slate. It's covering the door to the larger coop. I block it when I'm cleaning because... curious chickens makes the job much harder. I clean both coops and the pen/run, daily.

This is the inside of the larger coop, that is currently, basically just a big nesting box - since they all seem to want to cram together in the little pre-fab coop

And here's the chunnel, that they have daytime access to

 

[bear0806]

(Our coop is stationary and the run moves around, with plenty of open space in between. The chickens follow me into the enclosure in the morning and make their way back into the coop while supervised at dusk.)

I would love to see a pic of your moveable run, if you are able. I'm a visual learner. I would like to see what you did that is so easily moveable. It is a great idea but it never crossed my mind that it didn't need to be attached to the coop at all times. How helpful this site is.

 

[rosemarythyme]

If you have the space and budget to give them more space, I would give them more space. I've never seen anyone say "I gave my chickens more room and it caused problems," but you will find with some flocks that the recommended minimum is too small for their liking.

 

[fuzzi]

Here you go, Bear. I hope these make sense. Please look past the shower curtains on the outside of the run. We have chilly rain, today.

This is the view from the man-door of the run. See that little coop? All 8 girls sleep in there, together - even though they have a larger coop that is also attached to this run. I don't know why, but they absolutely insist

That little playhouse is their "spa". They use it - but since going to sand in their run, they use other areas to bathe, as well
View attachment 3485650

They climb on both of these structures, and also love playing around and under the tree roots, below the play structure
View attachment 3485665


Notice the opening, below the pre-fab coop. It's suited with an automatic door (we actually have 3 automatic doors in this set-up). This leads to their outside chunnel. It opens at sunrise and closes at sunset - just like the coop doors.
View attachment 3485672

On the ground, to the left of the man-door, you see a slate. It's covering the door to the larger coop. I block it when I'm cleaning because... curious chickens makes the job much harder. I clean both coops and the pen/run, daily.
View attachment 3485676

This is the inside of the larger coop, that is currently, basically just a big nesting box - since they all seem to want to cram together in the little pre-fab coop
View attachment 3485683
View attachment 3485684
View attachment 3485685

And here's the chunnel, that they have daytime access to
View attachment 3485690
View attachment 3485691

I have a plant stand like the "play structure" in your coop, and I'm not using it. For plants.

How did you stabilize it?

 

[Sammster]

I have a plant stand like the "play structure" in your coop, and I'm not using it. For plants.

How did you stabilize it?

Actually, I have 2 structures. And one of them IS a plant stand, that I had sitting in its original box, for something like 2 years
It is tie-wrapped to the pen walls.

The other is this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08RS8MX8V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[fuzzi]

Actually, I have 2 structures. And one of them IS a plant stand, that I had sitting in its original box, for something like 2 years
It is tie-wrapped to the pen walls.

The other is this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08RS8MX8V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Good ol' zip-ties!

I think I'll take the stand and some zip-ties out to the run, later, see if I can make it work.

I keep adding new structures to the run:

The pallet A frame is their nightly roost.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

This is all my busy free stuff in the run, logs are magical

 

[Chipmunk Chicks]

I would love to see a pic of your moveable run, if you are able. I'm a visual learner. I would like to see what you did that is so easily moveable. It is a great idea but it never crossed my mind that it didn't need to be attached to the coop at all times. How helpful this site is.

Wow! Everyone has these beautiful runs! We are planning to build something real big and pretty like that when we move, but for now, we are making it work with something more temporary. There are absolutely more easily moved "chicken tractors" you can do. We just inherited a free 10' dog enclosure, and bought a canvas roof for it. My husband also bought four trailer wheels that crank up and down, but hasn't managed to make time to weld them on yet. So it takes two people for that reason, and we just use a couple of hand trucks. Note the bare spot next to it. Lol Blame the ducks. But anyway, we just reseed whenever we get around to it and it bounces back.

Main low perch is just a 4x4 on a couple cinder blocks, higher perches are a salvaged wooden ladder cut down and doubled up, and I use a little spare wood and bricks to stabilize and protect the nest box from the elements. For that, I use a rectangular detergent bin, which works perfectly with a nesting pad tucked in. I know I have pictures, but I couldn't find one just now...

Poor ducks are a little limited on their pool accommodations for the time being, but they do just fine.

Under this tree is a favorite dust-bathing spot.

Duck hut pictured in the distance. Yes, we carry the girls back and forth twice a day. Haha