I will be moving to a new house with property, so I will have plenty of space for chickens. I will probably need at least six pens. I would like to know what size and what material to use. I’m thinking 2” chain link, but I don’t know if that is a good material. Also wondering how long and wide, 20’, 30’ long and how wide?
Also wondering if there is a good breed of dog to guard the chickens from predators. I mean to have in the main area.
TIA
Congrats! I'm sure your very excited!
Size will depend on how many birds you will have in each breeding group. When you are breeding, at least in my experience, you really want to make sure everyone is content and happy to get the most eggs! So I always try to err on the side of larger than I think I need. Plus...I usually have a few more birds than I planned anyways, so I always works out! And a happy chicken is a productive chicken!
Will you be locking them in a secure coop at night? I'm assuming chain link is for the run. Chain link is nice, because it is heavy duty and will keep larger predators at bay. I find is very hard to work with in my building projects, so I tend to use welded wire for runs and pens (look up "welded wire fencing" on
Tractor supply and you will see what I mean). I like the stuff as it is decently priced, and easy to work with. It attaches to run frames nicely, and I can use it to fence larger areas for ranging. IMO it looks nicer than chain link when used on a pen.
Do note though, neither chain link nor welded wire will keep out small predators. Mink, snakes, etc can still get through. I use the stuff for the run, but use hardware cloth for any coops where they will be overnight, to make sure its 100% predator proof.
Don't know how many birds you want in each pen, and your width will depend on that. BARE minimum is like 10sq ft of outdoor space per bird, but personally my bare minimum would be double that, around 20sq ft. The more space the happier!
As for dogs, will they be WITH the chickens, or just in the surrounding area, but no direct access to the birds?
If you are wanting one to stay with the birds, look for the livestock guardian breeds. Any dog can kill a chicken, and if you want the dog to have free access to the birds, be prepared to do a lot of training, and you may loose a few birds. Don't train a LGD on your expensive breeders. I would get some chickens you don't care much about to train them until they are past the puppy test phase. There are lots of great LGD breeds. Some of the most common in the US are anatolian shepherd and great pyrenees. Both are awesome dogs, you will have to do some reading to figure out what will best suit your needs.
If the birds will be in pens and the dog will not have direct access to them, things will be much easier. You could go for a breed that isn't bred to be with livestock. IF your only purpose to getting a dog is to let it be outside 24/7 and protect the birds, I would still recommend a LGD breed, as they will be the most effective protectors of your birds.
I saw someone mentioned border collies and Mcnabs. Both are great dogs...and I know a lot of people have had great success with them around poultry and keeping critters away and stuff. I personally have had the opposite, and my herding dogs were terrible guardians. So not all will be good. The nice thing with them is they are very trainable. But many have a high drive, and that isn't a good mix with chickens. All mine have wanted to herd the chickens to death. Now with lots of training, they are allowed into the chicken areas with me...but I would never leave them alone with a flock of chickens. Unless you want a pet border collie with a side benefit of predator deterrence...I would go for a breed more suited to protection. A little border collie would also be terrible against larger predators.
Well hope this helped a bit, sorry it's so long, I just kept typing!
