No wire fencing required for chicken run?

[Birda]

Hope someone can help.

My backstory: I'm 67yrs old. Kinda desperate. I have always worked for myself and never had a "real" job. I have been poor all my life but it's not been too bad overall, even though I have no retirement, a money pit for a car, and don't own this trailer that my nephew lets us stay in for free. (Thanks Joe) I make ends meet on $550 per month with a little bit added in the form of government food assistance. We visit the local food banks but we get more black beans than anything. The occasional can of tuna or spam comes in real handy late in the month. Currently my family of four can not afford to eat the whole month. We resort to eating ramen the last week or so before my benefits come in. In order to try and not starve the last week of the month, we have decided to try and raise some chickens to help supplement our diet in the form of eggs and meat. We have some locals who will donate a some birds. I have some wood scrap that might be enough to make a coop. Problem is that wire fencing is so expensive! I'm afraid we are going to have to do something else.

Is there any way to give chickens room to peck and eat grass and stuff without using a wire fence? How did the pilgrims do it some 300 years ago without wire? We have to have something strong and covered because there are dogs, hawks and coyotes all around.

Sometimes u can find free dog kennels on Facebook market place, u can use that depending on the size. The chickens will be easier to move with that as well for they will tear up the gras. Just keep their wings clipped and nails trimmed so they can’t fly out and don’t hurt each other. And u can put old milk crates in for laying boxes with some pine straw or hay and wala easy coop. Good luck

 

[Judy Todd]

My brother-in-law kills rabbits all the time for meat and they're fine. If you live that far out then nobody's gonna know the difference if you shoot a deer. And squirrels are also good meat, just throwing that out there.

I agree with that. When my family waas young, we were tight for money, because we both were in school. We hunted year around for rabbit and squirel, deer in the winter. We also raised veggys, saved the seed. Alway had something to eat. Not to sound preachy, but the black beans you mentioned are so high in protein it is crazy. A bowl with some greens is a perfect meal. I eat beans every day, I also raise dry beans, save the seed, and grow potaotes, save some to plant the next year. I have not bought bean seed or potatoes for years. I am 84 and still plant enough veggy to feed me for 8 months. One pk of lettuce seed lasts me for 4 years. Just some ideas on how to get by.

 

[Judy Todd]

I kind of like the quail idea. It might be easier to pull off in a smaller space. And you don't need a run, I think.

And have you considered rabbits? No eggs, but lots of protein with a breeding pair or trio.

Wow, You remined me, yes, rabbits are such a great idea. We raised them, got the hutches for free, 2 does, had one buck in a separet cage, usually butchered a dozed young at 9 weeks. had more then enough to eat. The does are bred fairly soon after that, so more then one batch a year. Great protein for little work.

 

[Melissa67137]

Hope someone can help.

My backstory: I'm 67yrs old. Kinda desperate. I have always worked for myself and never had a "real" job. I have been poor all my life but it's not been too bad overall, even though I have no retirement, a money pit for a car, and don't own this trailer that my nephew lets us stay in for free. (Thanks Joe) I make ends meet on $550 per month with a little bit added in the form of government food assistance. We visit the local food banks but we get more black beans than anything. The occasional can of tuna or spam comes in real handy late in the month. Currently my family of four can not afford to eat the whole month. We resort to eating ramen the last week or so before my benefits come in. In order to try and not starve the last week of the month, we have decided to try and raise some chickens to help supplement our diet in the form of eggs and meat. We have some locals who will donate a some birds. I have some wood scrap that might be enough to make a coop. Problem is that wire fencing is so expensive! I'm afraid we are going to have to do something else.

Is there any way to give chickens room to peck and eat grass and stuff without using a wire fence? How did the pilgrims do it some 300 years ago without wire? We have to have something strong and covered because there are dogs, hawks and coyotes all around.

Ok,I am on disability myself and get a tiny amount of food assistance. My advice, watch Craigslist and FB Marketplace for old chain link dog kennels. Sometimes people have them for almost nothing. Then get basic chicken wire to start with and put across the top with a tarp over it. As you can get the hardware cloth and wrap the chainlink run with it.

That is exactly what I did and have slowly gotten it better predator proof over the last couple years. I have now moved it all up against a storage shed and made it better. The first picture below is how it started,the second is last winter, and the last is my pallet coop I made.

I also used wood pallets to build my chicken coop. They were free, only thing it cost me was the time, energy, and screws to build it.

I have 4 chickens, and I buy 50# of layer feed for $18 and it lasts 2 to 3 months, I also feel them veggie scraps...and I get 2-3 eggs a day.

 

[Smokerbill]

@teddyjames , I know you said that you didn't want to have to dress out rabbits, but that shouldn't be an issue for you. You need a sustainable protein resource, and I think rabbits would be ideal.

Rabbits don't need a run, just secure cages. Much less material needed than a chicken coop and run, and less worry about predators. You could go out and pick a lot of their feed during warmer months, so commercial feed costs would be reduced. You might even be able to go to the local grocery store, if there is one, and ask the produce manager if he/she would give you the throwaway produce they have to feed the rabbits.

 

[teddyjames]

Ok,I am on disability myself and get a tiny amount of food assistance. My advice, watch Craigslist and FB Marketplace for old chain link dog kennels. Sometimes people have them for almost nothing. Then get basic chicken wire to start with and put across the top with a tarp over it. As you can get the hardware cloth and wrap the chainlink run with it.

That is exactly what I did and have slowly gotten it better predator proof over the last couple years. I have now moved it all up against a storage shed and made it better. The first picture below is how it started,the second is last winter, and the last is my pallet coop I made.

I also used wood pallets to build my chicken coop. They were free, only thing it cost me was the time, energy, and screws to build it.

I have 4 chickens, and I buy 50# of layer feed for $18 and it lasts 2 to 3 months, I also feel them veggie scraps...and I get 2-3 eggs a day.

sounds about like me.. birds of a feather........... actually things are looking up! I lucked out and got a job installing a fence that will probably pay for materials for a very nice coop and run... Chicken mansion here I come!

 

[NameIwish]

The pilgrims had guns. They were also avid fur trappers.

Well, actually, the pilgrims had muskets - but not every pilgrim as muskets were not cheap. And while they might have been 'avid fur trappers,' they were not necessarily successful trappers. In point of fact well over half the first pilgrim settlements failed - decimated by disease, starvation and death.

 

[NameIwish]

I just have to say that in the long run, raising your own chickens for meat and eggs and having your own garden is gonna be cheaper in the long run. You can collect seeds from your first garden and never have to pay for seeds again, and hatching your own eggs from your own chickens is also gonna save you tons of money cause then you won't have to keep buying pullets. Also, I would go with something a little more than just cracked corn. Cracked corn by itself won't provide enough vitamins and nutrients for your hens to continue laying. But, it could work depending on what kind of foraging you'll have for them and if you're willing to mix some stuff into the corn.

Cracked corn's fine and works with free-ranging hens - has for ten years or more. However, back when eggs were only bringing in $3/Dz with 10 birds or so, it cost us more than that to produce a dozen - 50# cracked corn was $9.50.

The bags are good for construction, however, they can be taken apart to form sheets of plastic that (stapled to and supported on purlins about a foot apart) can actually serve in place of tarpaper to roof in a structure. We have a 24ft wood crib done that way (with a cheap HFT -free- blue tarps as the 'final' roofing material. Have used them on the walls of the coops to close off teh screen sides in Winter and to seal off the foam insulation on a garage door they would (otherwise) peck apart - do your hens like foam? They can also serve as 'floor covering' over the wire floor to hold the wood chips and poop 'till time to clean it all out. They're washable, too! And, the chickens? They don't care what keeps 'em dy.

 

[teddyjames]

Cracked corn's fine and works with free-ranging hens - has for ten years or more. However, back when eggs were only bringing in $3/Dz with 10 birds or so, it cost us more than that to produce a dozen - 50# cracked corn was $9.50.

The bags are good for construction, however, they can be taken apart to form sheets of plastic that (stapled to and supported on purlins about a foot apart) can actually serve in place of tarpaper to roof in a structure. We have a 24ft wood crib done that way (with a cheap HFT -free- blue tarps as the 'final' roofing material. Have used them on the walls of the coops to close off teh screen sides in Winter and to seal off the foam insulation on a garage door they would (otherwise) peck apart - do your hens like foam? They can also serve as 'floor covering' over the wire floor to hold the wood chips and poop 'till time to clean it all out. They're washable, too! And, the chickens? They don't care what keeps 'em dy.

Lol, now Its official. I have never thought about that. I will definitely use my empty feed bags to cover outside of coop and stuff more than likely!

 

[McChooky]

I got big blue pallets from a local food bank site before covid hit. They're very heavy and difficult for most women to carry.I had to have my cousin help me. I can't even lift them by myself.I had to drag them from one end of my!yard to the other.