Jason, welcome from another BYC newbie.
I haven't introduced myself yet. Here goes:
N Central MT, lots of space, the predators are mostly airborne but there are coyotes. 2 dogs and a cat were here before the chickens (2 Ameracauna, 4 Buffs, a Banty. They were raised together and at 12 weeks seem bonded, no issues beyond occasional posturing.
We built a mobile run using irrigation pipe, 2x4s and wire. It has doors at each short end and docks to the roost/coop which is also mobile. Tricks: use pneumatic tires, make people sized doors and forget chicken wire, use hardware cloth or 2 layers of galvanized wire, offset.
Our hoop run was built for 4 chickens (this was before the chicks came home). It is 4x10" but with 6' clearance the chickens can use the vertical space. When the two units are docked together they have plenty of room. Just in the last few days they've had the option of scratching about the yard, chasing grasshoppers or whatever. They stay out 1/2 hour and head back to the run. We are still fine tuning but I'm pleased with ow it all works so far and the girls seem content.
One thing we did right at the beginning was convincing the herding pup that these were HER chickens. She's protective.
