Need some opinions on my "run" idea

[blakeh1]

I recently had my first ever attack. Something got 4 of my 6 chickens that I free ranged so I am going to do what I said I wasn't and make them a so called run.

I live on 200 acres but my house on one acre fenced in with small gap welded wire. The problem is the 9 week olds that I have and am going to get again can squeeze thru it. They always stayed close but like I said today lost 4 of them.

Instead of making an actual run I am thinking of going along the bottom of my one acre with this http://thd.co/QT4PZq. So they can still technically free range but they will be confined to the one acre by my house.

What are your thoughts? Hawks don't seem to be a problem only coyotes and foxes.

 

[nbenevento]

That may keep them in assuming their wings are clipped and can't fly over 3' high. It will not keep a fox or coyote out though. A fox or coyote will have no problem jumping or even breaking through it and they will do it with you standing there. Losses are unavoidable when free ranging in any kind of way. You need Fort Knox if you want to guarantee there safety.

 

[bj taylor]

real sorry about your loss. even knowing the risks, it's hard.
mine free range too. so far no disasters, but I know any day can be the day. it's just a risk i'm willing to take because I don't want them locked up in a pen.
right now I don't have a rooster. I will feel better when I get another one - hopefully a good one.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Your chickens won't be able to get through your welded wire fence when they are older- so your fencing will be just for when they are youngsters. That is a large expense that won't pay off in the long run in my opinion. The plastic fencing won't make them safer from predators when they are older, since you already have fencing up, and predators can chew through the plastic.

If you can reuse the plastic fencing by using it to wrap seedlings or bushes on your land in little cylinders then that would be great.

Home Depot has a plastic fencing that is 1/2 the price-
http://www.homedepot.com/p/YARDGARD-40-in-x-25-ft-Garden-Fence-889250A/202024123#.UZ7V5D4eWSo

How do I know this? Because I almost bought the same one you are thinking of buying and ended up buying this cheaper stuff. I use it to make little circles around my blueberry bushes in the chicken runs. It doesn't look like it will last for years and years in the sun, but then neither does the plastic poultry netting.

I would recommend that you make them a run, for a few reasons:
for when you go on vacation and so your "chicken sitter" won't have to round them up to care for them

for when it is an emergency and you need to get your chickens closed up, you'll be out of town for a couple of days with no sitter and you want them safe

for when you know a storm is coming and you want them to stay in the run but not closed up in the coop

for when you notice a pack of dogs or hawks hanging around the area and you want to keep them safe for a few days

Even free ranged chickens should have a run set up for them ideally, for many possible reasons.

 

[blakeh1]

Your chickens won't be able to get through your welded wire fence when they are older- so your fencing will be just for when they are youngsters. That is a large expense that won't pay off in the long run in my opinion. The plastic fencing won't make them safer from predators when they are older, since you already have fencing up, and predators can chew through the plastic.

If you can reuse the plastic fencing by using it to wrap seedlings or bushes on your land in little cylinders then that would be great.

Home Depot has a plastic fencing that is 1/2 the price-
http://www.homedepot.com/p/YARDGARD-40-in-x-25-ft-Garden-Fence-889250A/202024123#.UZ7V5D4eWSo

How do I know this? Because I almost bought the same one you are thinking of buying and ended up buying this cheaper stuff. I use it to make little circles around my blueberry bushes in the chicken runs. It doesn't look like it will last for years and years in the sun, but then neither does the plastic poultry netting.

I would recommend that you make them a run, for a few reasons:
for when you go on vacation and so your "chicken sitter" won't have to round them up to care for them

for when it is an emergency and you need to get your chickens closed up, you'll be out of town for a couple of days with no sitter and you want them safe

for when you know a storm is coming and you want them to stay in the run but not closed up in the coop

for when you notice a pack of dogs or hawks hanging around the area and you want to keep them safe for a few days

[COLOR=FF0000]Even free ranged chickens should have a run set up for them ideally, for many possible reasons. [/COLOR]:cd

Thank you for the advice. I guess I will just bite the bullet and make them a true run. All of your reasons make perfect since. I am a first time chicken owner, I know they will still be happy outside in the run, but I just wanted to see of I could make the free ranging work.

I will still let them out when I'm around but looks like the run is going to be my best option

 

[suzannec]

We live in Ennis too! i have a completely (in most cases) secure run that i can let my chickens into during the day or have open if we are gone. But then when i am at home i will let them out of their coop so they can run about. If it is bad weather I keep them in the chicken house. We did have a run area that was open on top, and lost 3 in one week! you never know.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

You can free range but not without some losses. You can however hold your loses down to a bare minimum by being both alert and defensive to the extreme. I had three, one acre enclosures or runs that were cut off from each other by three cross fences but that could be combined by opening two of the three cross gates. These runs included one open area that I kept for baby chick rearing as well as my garden. There is nothing better than a few hundred baseball size chick to keep the bean and tater bugs under control. The down side is that chicks soon graduate to eating bean blossoms and tomatoes. I penned my hens in this area after they hatched out chicks and had raised them to about 10 days old. The brood hens were confined in 4' X 4' coops, but the chicks always knew where to find mama. The chicks could come and go as they pleased but the hen was anchored it place by the coop.

The only fence was 8 feet tall and was made by hanging one inch by three foot tall chicken wire on 12 foot red cedar fence posts sunk two feet into the ground, with an additional 5 feet of two inch chicken wire above and attached to the one inch chicken wire with soft wire ties or hog ringers. That left two feet of naked fence posts sitting taller than the fence. I know that this isn't hen tight but it is mostly hen tight. Part of the perimeter fence as well as some of the cross fencing consisted of 7 to 8 feet tall pens I keep roosters in. The main reason I think that the hens mostly stayed inside is because the hens couldn't see how high the thinner two inch chicken wire extended. I can't remember any hens who directly tested the height of the two inch chicken wire but quite a few would fly on top of the roosters pens then hop down to freedom and return at feeding time or at Sundown. There was also a brace of registered red bone coon hounds living outside who patrolled and guarded the approaches of my runs.

My biggest predator by far was the great horned owl. After that the three chicken hawks but mostly the sharp shinned or 'blue darter' hawk who can be pure murder on young chicks. I remember catching, some skunks and a few possums, then there was one mink who killed a half dozen roosters before I killed him, some snakes and that's about it. After the crops were laid by or the harvest was in, every man and boy old enough to know what moonshine tastes like spent a considerable amount of time coon and fox hunting with hounds. Then about Thanksgiving, trapping season opened and depending on the price of fur, the foxes, coons, etc never traveled far if they wanted to keep the hair on their back. Many folks also quail hunted and that means that every hawk, fox, and stray cat IN sight, was shot ON sight, usually at the land lords' urging. And lastly almost every house had a few so called "yard" chickens roosting in the trees and the folks living there persecuted every chicken eating varmint they saw. When the coyote made it this far East is when I went to electric fences out of necessity. Also I was too far off the beaten path to worry about any stray or non-existent neighbors' dogs.

So if it takes a village to raise a child, it also requires a whole community to free range a chicken.

 

[perchie.girl]

I think everyone has said it pretty well. I have to add that you will have to assume you will loose chickens periodically so Having a bit larger flock would be to your advantage.

I am a single person living on eighteen acres of remote desert land. When my flock got up to thirty birds thats when predation and growth leveled out. I had no run at all. But I did have a place where I could lock them up completely secure at night. Here I dont have a coop but I had a space that was just large enough about sixteen feet by twelve Made of Chainlink panels.... and Yes a roof of chainlink with a cover of Silver light reflecting tarp.

I cover the chainlink now with hardware cloth after I found out how raccoons can remove body parts through the wire. Only in areas where perched birds roost and around the bottom.

Its all coming down this spring in a massive coop move and rebuild whereupon I will have a Tin roof on it as well as a 50 x 24 run covered with aviary netting.

BTW I also found that running Guineas at the same time helped with predation. The chickens learn to recognize the Guinea Fowl alarm call and head for cover if they can. Works only in the day time though.

AND yes I had eggs coming out of my ears.... LOL. Exttras can be hardboiled and chopped up shell and all and fed back for a treat.

deb