No wire fencing required for chicken run?

[Smokerbill]

still don't make me understand how they kept chickens.

I understand they might shoot all the critters that might try to kill a bird.. they can't be on watch 24/7 I think they just had so many that it didn't matter if 20 got killed.. were 2000 more to take their place..

Chickens back then were were able to evade predators better than the production breeds common today. It was survival of the fittest, and that survival instinct of the ones that survived the predators was passed down through the generations.

 

[Smokerbill]

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.

If you can get online check out OfferUp. I found free fencing that I picked up locally in the past on that website. Got a bunch of free rabbit hutches, too. I took apart one of the hutches and used the wire mesh on my coop and run.

 

[SourRoses]

A few thoughts:

You might see who in your area already has a lot of chickens... breeders I mean.
Since we've embarked on our breeding project we have more eggs than we can easily manage, to say nothing of cull cockerels, and got tired of the flaky people we were trying to sell eating eggs to. We have to feed eggs back to the chickens, and it makes me sad we can't find a way to donate them. The (essential) food safety laws make it impossible to give eggs to a food pantry and handing them out to homeless people wouldn't work since they don't have anything to cook on.
We've found people to take cull cockerels, but it would be nice to target those in need. Maybe, just maybe, you might have someone in a similar situation in your area.
You might also try looking at your local craigslist for people giving away cockerels. Just about everyone who keeps chickens has that problem at some point.

On the topic of cockerels, one thing you might really look into is getting the skills for humanely processing chickens. A lot of people want to process their own meat birds grown on their farm with their own feed, but it can be a big learning curve to doing it right and some people find they don't have the heart. Someone that can come out and process a bunch of birds on site for a share of the meat would be a blessing for a lot of people. Well, it would be for me, since I managed to slice through the tendon on my thumb when I tried to cull a cockerel, and now I don't even like to look at knives. So anyway... apparently there are workshops here and there teaching people how to properly process birds. Something to think about.

 

[Toothpick]

You should start small. 3 or 4 birds. Make sure you can feed them and keep them healthy enough to provide you eggs. Chickens can be kept in darn near anything. I think most of what you will find here are folks that love building out their runs/coops just as much as they love their birds. But you can’t afford that. So start small. Check your local Facebook marketplace for someone giving away a coop for free or dirt cheap.

Pallets are nice and all but they are what….4ft?? A chicken can fly over that easily.
This is 20 bucks on Amazon. 7.5ft tall, 100ft. It will hold the chickens in but will do jack all keeping the critters out. So shoot/trap any critters you see in your yard. If your chickens are truly a source of food then critters be damned. Stake it up with tree limbs, plastic garden stakes, around old tires, around the pallets, whatever you can find.

https://www.amazon.com/KLEWEE-Netti...ywords=poultry+netting&qid=1685339981&sr=8-10

A few birds will be easier to contain than a flock of 10. Let a broody hen hatch some and your flock will grow with little investment on your part. Eventually you will be eating the birds and eggs. You can feed them table scraps, or garden scraps. I don’t feed mine cracked corn at all. They are table scraps and layer feed. It’s about 17-20 bucks for a 50lb bag, lasts about a month, maybe. But if I couldn’t afford it then I guess they would eat table scraps and whatever else I could find. Chickens are resilient, you’ll find they require very little to keep them alive. We all just go nuts with care, food, coops, runs, etc because we have the means and it’s fun to talk about and see what we can improve on.

But if you truly are as tight on cash as you say you are and you really want to get some birds then a dog cage will work. I mean….where you think store bought eggs come from? Chickens in 1x1 cell blocks, if that. It’s not ideal but surviving on 500 bucks a month isn’t ideal either. Don’t be ashamed to do what you have to do to provide yourself and family with sustenance. There’s a reason chicken meat and chicken eggs have always been the cheapest in stores. They can be a very cheap source of protein.

 

[Toothpick]

Also, what’s your location? If you are close to me I’ll hatch some eggs for you. I’m sure anyone else here would do the same.

 

[SourRoses]

But if you truly are as tight on cash as you say you are and you really want to get some birds then a dog cage will work. I mean….where you think store bought eggs come from? Chickens in 1x1 cell blocks, if that.

No. Torturing animals isn't necessary for survival, and they won't be very healthy long-lived birds either.

 

[Yardmom]

Chickens will home (come back at night) to your coop no matter what it is made of. They don't need a fence to be forced to stay in the area. Unfortunately it sounds like dogs would kill your chickens if they can get to them. Build with the focus of keeping predator out. Hopefully pallets or something someone is getting rid of will work. Also good luck with finding a way to feed them cheaply. Chickens use to be able to forage for most of their food, but unfortunately with dogs around this might not be an option for you.

 

[teddyjames]

Thanks for all the replies. I'll try and answer as many as I can.

Could I see a picture of where you're thinking to keep them?
Its not hard to picture a country scene with dirt roads and fields. This field just happens to have lots of people staying with lots of dogs. Its very rural with sights of bears, deer, opossums, raccoons, hawks and rabbits not unusual. Deer daily, bears we spot about twice a year, raccoons and such are always out and about eating all the table scraps the neighbors leave out. I must have lots of protection.

But the answer to your question of what'd they use instead of wire mesh, is: wattle.
I'm actually thinking of doing this since I will be locking them up nightly.

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.
Yes, I have done some re-calculating. 10 chickens (9 hens and a rooster) We can get birds no problem. I will let a few hens (if they go broody) hatch off some chicks for the frying pan later on. I look for about 1/4 lb of feed per day per bird supplemented with whatever I gather up for them. Think worms, bugs, grass, garden scraps etc. 100lb of corn should do good per month with some mash and other good stuff added in.

I have been killing birds for food my whole life. Not to be too graphic but I usually chop off the head with a hatchet and let it bleed out under a wash tub to keep blood off everything. (they really spray and flop around) I then dunk the carcass in boiling water for a few min to loosen feathers. Pluck the bird and burn off pinfeathers with a burning paper bag. Using a kife i start at the tail and split the bird up to the bottom of the breast. With one action of the hand I pull out all innards. Lungs, heart, gizzards, liver, guts. Then I either quarter it up for the pan, or leave whole for roasting. Its really simple for me, been doing it 50+ years

But if you truly are as tight on cash as you say you are and you really want to get some birds then a dog cage will work.
Yes. I know its possible but I'm not into torture. I know a local who keeps hens in separate 2x2 crates. They are miserable. I'd rather eat the stray dogs than do that.

Also, what’s your location? If you are close to me I’ll hatch some eggs for you. I’m sure anyone else here would do the same.
Thanks! I'm in south-western West Virginia. Getting birds are no problem and usually these types of groups are pretty helpful in this aspect. I have the birds covered

The amount of predators around here is insane. We have them all. There is no way chicken wire or any wooden fence going to protect them. I will have to secure them every night. The price for the good stuff (mesh fabric) is way too high. I will check out some of the internet sites like Offerup but this area don't use sites like facebook or craigslist because nobody has internet. If it wasn't for the gap in the mountains in direct line 20 miles away to a cell tower, I wouldn't have it. Yes that is how far out in the sticks I am.. lol.. Good day all!

 

[fat brown hen]

Its not hard to picture a country scene with dirt roads and fields. This field just happens to have lots of people staying with lots of dogs. Its very rural with sights of bears, deer, opossums, raccoons, hawks and rabbits not unusual. Deer daily, bears we spot about twice a year,

I hope this question does not offend anyone, but, uhm, if you are out in the sticks with lots of deer and rabbits, why not eat a deer or rabbit and skip the chickens?

 

[teddyjames]

I hope this question does not offend anyone, but, uhm, if you are out in the sticks with lots of deer and rabbits, why not eat a deer or rabbit and skip the chickens?

because right now you don't know if your killing a buck or a doe and could be killing off two fawns along with the doe. And if you get caught killing a deer out of season, its a huge fine and possible jail sentence. Thats why..
and if you kill a rabbit in the summer when they have rabbit fleas, it can and will make you very sick.