New here, seeking advice!

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Hi and welcome to BYC :frow We're so happy you've decided to join us:ya

Mine live on pasture inside a 4' electric fence and have shelters to go into at night for added protection. I have little shelters scattered around so they have hiding places from aerial predators. And they can all fly over the fence without even thinking about it. My brat pack refuses to go into their shelter at night and instead sleep with the turkeys and at the crack of dawn they are out and about wandering the property. Amazingly enough, they all seem to be very predator aware and I haven't lost any of them.
 
Thank you all for the suggestions! I think what we might do is try and build onto the coop that we bought. The coop already has nesting boxes, so what we want to do is basically just add on a long, walk in run. Has anyone ever built a run or have the plans for one? Is it difficult? Super costly? Suggestions? Thanks all!
 
:welcome

I suspect that your chickens (once old enough) won't go over the 5' chain link. Not because of the height specifically but because at that height they are likely to want to land on top before going over. I have some chickens that will fly up to the top of a 5' high square metal tube gate ... even when it is open. Yours would not particularly care for the inverted V wire at the top ... probably.

Minimum run size depends on the number of chickens you have. I would think it easier to build a surrounding fence than try to tack onto the TSC coop. I think if you look through the coop building threads, you'll see a lot of runs as well.
 
I keep a flighted but predator savvy breed of chicken who have absolutely no problem flying up to the rooftop of my house about 13 feet. However, they have never left the property. There is only a 6 foot chain link fence keeping them here. Everything they need is here, protection dogs and cat plus food and plenty of forage. Loads of cover from our winter raptors and of course a couple of humans who enjoy their company too! The only worry I ever have for them is when they roost at night in their coop. It is secure, but anytime I want to handle them I go in at night and they are absolutely incapable of protecting themselves with the lights out.
 
ChickChickHorray said:
Thank you all for the suggestions! I think what we might do is try and build onto the coop that we bought. The coop already has nesting boxes, so what we want to do is basically just add on a long, walk in run. Has anyone ever built a run or have the plans for one? Is it difficult? Super costly? Suggestions? Thanks all!
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A Run is basically only a fenced in area of land with or without overhead cover. You can use that TSC 2x4 welded wire for fencing if you like at least that is what I use for mine but the chicken don't use the run they just run the acre they have inside the fenceline. And yell at us from the porch.
 
We free range out and at night they roost on 10ft stall walls. I have tried fencing them and it was laughable!

If you don’t want to free range I would build a run. I would suggest welded mesh fencing over chicken wire, better predator protection. We use it on our quail run with chicken wire over top.

Good luck! Owning chickens is a blast!
 

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