Need input on Run Design

[valentinebaby]

Go to My BYC Page under my tag on the left - you can see pics of hardware cloth - it's the most durable cloth you can use - stock panels probably last longer, but the holes are too big with all the critters I have roaming around this area. Do not use chicken wire (larger traditional looking) as it will rot faster and raccoons can reach through it. I'm not sure how long it will last, but I know it will last longer than chicken wire (aka poultry netting).

 

[Judy]

Jimmy, I believe hardware cloth and rabbit wire would be the same thing. They call it wire mesh around here. Comes in 1/4" and 1/2" squares, and maybe more, don't know.

I love these ideas. We will be doing something similar; right now the overall area is fenced, but there will be dividers in time.

Another thought: if you garden, you can use one of the areas for a garden. Pre-fertilized! I've seen plans here for only 2 runs, rotated between chickens and garden annually.

 

[Judy]

Quote:
Right, regular chicken wire fences chickens in or out, not much else.

Although my fence looks like chicken wire but it is 19g galvanized, as strong as hardware cloth or welded wire. Has 1" holes but I have electric outside it as well.

 

[jdcallahan]

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Woah! cool coop! Mine will be not so fancy, I like the windows. Yep, that's the wire stuff I was thinking of .. good to know, I'll use that instead.

 

[jdcallahan]

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I see you have 44 chickens, that seems like a lot to manage to me. I'm planning on sticking with my 15 layers but I may pick up 25 meat chickens at a time to run in chicken tractors (Pending MAJOR discussion with my vegetarian daughter)

I'm looking forward to seeing what the chickens like best, in the spring I'm gonna plant something that gets big fast like collard greens in one of the runs, let it get taller than the hens so they get that 'jungle bird' effect.... gonna try and have fun with them... maybe pumpkins for the fall..

I'm stuck here until May 2010, so I've got lots of enthusiasm & ideas but I'm not able to put hammer to nail or shovel to soil before then.. they say patience is a virtue.

 

[valentinebaby]

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Patience is something I should have practiced better! I made up my mind the 1st of March that while I had time at home, I was finally going to put a coop in. I spent only a week drawing out plans and ideas and spending time walking around the back to find a spot that wouldn't be too close to our main "entertaining" deck. The next week I finalized my plans, started collecting a few materials, and on Thursday picked up 12 chicks. On Friday I spent the whole day just leveling the concrete desk posts. I knew, even though I had never built anything before, that you had to have a level foundation or the rest was going to be pure H---! And the real problem is that my entire property slopes down to the 2 creeks that border it in the back.

So I think it's a good thing you've started planning and by the time you get home, you'll have all the kinks worked out. I had to work those out as the building progressed. I would recommend, however, that you have the coop at least 1/2 way done BEFORE you get the chicks. They grow so darn fast, and I was under so much pressure to get the coop done and ready for them outgrowing their temporary home and that's what blew my elbow and shoulder out.

Today, I'm going to see if I can undo the hardware cloth on the top of the run - don't like the way it sags, but I used roofing nails to apply the cloth and it's going to be a bear to get those pulled out w/o hurting the cloth - that's where I should have used more patience! I was so concerned with the girls getting nailed by one of the owls or hawks around my yard, that I put the top up quickly w/o thinking it through too much. Oh, well...live and learn!

 

[valentinebaby]

PS: Forgot to mention - you really should purchase the old book that I've listed on my BYC page. Not only do I use it more than any other chicken book I have for chick info, it's also chock full of gardening and other livestock info. Thought it might help you on your rotating garden. Another BYC'er found it on alibris.com fairly cheap, but I just checked and they've sold the 2 copies they had. I just purchased another of Charles Boff's book off of ebay - a more comprehensive gardening book he put out.

 

[jdcallahan]

Ok, thanks to the magic of visio, here's a basic plan. I'm thinking with the sq footage involved I may even be able to squeeze 25 hens in... I'm pretty smitten with the buff orpington breed, so that's the size bird I'm looking at.. would that be too many?

 

[patandchickens]

I could not read dimensions on your sketch, sorry, but if it is drawn to scale and each run is truly only a bit larger than the coop, if you only used one run at a time) it's already non-ample run space for just 12 chickens, I'd be concerned about 25 feeling quite crowded.

It would be a good idea to set two additional posts so that none of your runs have narrow acute corners (as they all do in the upper right and upper left corners of the layout right now)... those corners are just *asking* for trouble in various ways, including but not limited to chicken A cornering chicken B there and administering a severe clock-cleaning.

Another possibility might be to make the periphery of the run all the same distance from the coop, and then make up one or two moveable panels that could be attached at different points to cordon them off from some of the pverall run space. Since it doesn't take all that much to keep chickens in (as opposed to keeping predators out) this would not need to be heavy duty or cumbersome; and would give you more flexibility as to how and where to divide the runs for rotational purposes.

Honestly though, with those small areas, I'm not sure how much it's really going to be WORTH trying to rotate runs and replant with cover crops and all that. They won't get more than a few days' "use" out of the cover crop when put into the next run section, before it is all extinct again. I wonder whether, unless your pens are going to be MUCH bigger, it'd be better to just give them full unlimited use of the whole area such as it is, and find other things to entertain/feed them with.

JMHO, good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[jdcallahan]

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Hi Pat! Thank you Thank you for the info. this is gonna be my first go at raising chickens and I'm learning that I still have a LOT to learn.

The Coop is 12X8, so 96 sq feet.. the north & south runs each have 110 sq ft and the west run has 132 sq feet. I was thinking I needed 4 sq ft per bird, which I got from searching the posts on this forum... You are saying that that would not be enough for 12 birds??? So I guess the question I'm needing answered is one that has been asked before... how many sq ft are needed indoors and how many outdoors. I've seen answers from 2 to 5 listed here... I haven't built yet so now a great time to get this figured out. I do not see my laying herd ever growing beyond 25 birds and I'm willing to start with half of that and build it up later if that's better.

I'm not completely sold on the three runs, if it's better to just make two larger ones or even just one big one, that's fine with me, I'm flexible and I want to build it right the first time.

I had no idea the tight corners were an issue, would more of a circular design be better?

Thanks again for all the input. keep it coming

Jimmy