open run size for 5 hens?

[woodlumn]

Hi there,

The coop is nearly done and I'm in the process of finalizing the electric fence plans. And that brings me to my current question...

We plan on buying some electric poultry netting so that the chicks will have a decent yard to wander and eat from. We're planning on 5 hens. Space is not much of an issue. We are trying to decide between a 40'x40' fenced yard or a 20'x20' yard for them to scratch around. Ideally, we'd like them to get most of their food from this area, and will supplement as needed.

Is 40'x40' overkill for just 5 birds? Obviously, the 20'x20' set up is less expensive and probably easier to deal with. Would we be moving a 20x20 frequently? The area is mostly grass and weeds.

Thank you for your thoughts on this!

PS - may I tack on one more question? The coop is an a-frame and I'm concerned that there might not be enough space between the "walls" and the roost. They have plenty of headroom, but will only have a 12" gap to fly/jump through on either side of the roost. The roost is about 18" off the floor of the coop. Is that 12" gap going to be enough for medium-size birds?

 

[Bear Foot Farm]

Is 40'x40' overkill for just 5 birds?

Not if you expect them to get a lot of food from there.
You may want to divide it into sections and rotate them around so they dont kill areas, and so you can replant things if necessary​

 

[woodlumn]

Quote:
Not if you expect them to get a lot of food from there.
You may want to divide it into sections and rotate them around so they dont kill areas, and so you can replant things if necessary

Good to know. Thank you!

 

[Makenziejh]

I have five chickens an a fairly large fenced in back yard. its 42x60 and its a nice size for our chickens they have enought room to run around and scratch. As long as the fence is tall enought then I think a 40x40 would be fine

 

[teach1rusl]

I would use the entire space. I have five birds. Their coop is large (although not like YOURS...lol), and I still let them out to roam our fenced property. Because they have a lot of space, there is still grass in their run (although it's not plush). And they have not hurt the yard one bit (well...they formed a dust bath area along the house, but in their defense my dogs started digging there first). I don't even think you'd HAVE to section off areas with that much space.

As for the 12 inches thing, I'm not sure. That is a tight space. If you lowered the roost about 4-6 inches, how much more space could you gain???? They would still be able to walk under at 12-14 inches high, and wouldn't need to use their wings at all to get up there.

 

[woodlumn]

Thank you for the replies!

The electric net fence will be 48" high (poultry net from Premier). I'm sure it will keep the neighborhood dogs, and raccoons out, but I also hope the chicks will not want to fly out and take a walk through the garden. So the 40'x40' it will be!

About the roost height: It wouldn't be too much trouble to lower it a bit. Should I be concerned that it will then be lower than the nest box? The roof of the nest box does slope, but it will then be the tallest object in the coop. Also, I found out yesterday that the breed we'll be getting is Black Sexlinks, which puts the roost and clearance into perspective (too bad I have no perspective on this!)

Might as well toss a couple of coop pics up here..not quite finished but it will be this week!

Framed:

The coop opens on all four sides. It has two "soffit" vents, four inches wide that run the length of the coop on either side of the floor, and ample ridge ventilation. The "low" window on one end of the coop is so that breezes won't blow on the sleeping chicks, and the other end has a 14"x14" window up higher. With the big window that you're looking at, a salvaged storm window can be hinged and latched for cooler weather:

The latches are bolts threaded through the framing from the inside out, with nuts holding doors shut.

Here it is this morning, with it's fancy metal ridge cap (a piece of metal roofing that has been hanging from an old shed for years):

 

[woodlumn]

Quote:
Just wondering if anyone had any more thoughts on this...words may have been lost in the pics

 

[patandchickens]

Regarding the roost, you can *try* it that way but IMO there is a decent chance you will have to lower it somewhat. Not much you can do about it ending up not-higher-than the nestbox, A-frames are just hard to furnish and use.

Regarding the run fencing, I'd suggest going with the smaller area BUT moving the run from time to time so they can be rotated onto a fresh area and the 'used' area be allowed to rest.

HOWEVER BE AWFULLY CAREFUL about this plan of (if I understand correctly) having *only* electronet between the birds and the predators. All electric fences fail sometimes, for all sorts of reasons. Electronet especially, since it is prone to grounding out and sagging and blowing over, and works poorly or not at all in ice or snow. Remember that poultry farmers using electronet generally have it *inside* boundary fences that are already relatively predatorproof, which is much safer than having dogs etc wandering up to the electronet on a regular basis, and even with a good perimeter fence you can still lose chickens from time to time (more of an issue for the backyarder with 5 chickens than for the farmer with 5,000 chickens).

At the very least, make real, real sure you tie back the corners (and perhaps some of the run posts) very well so wind doesn't bend them over; and keep WELL mowed under the fence (move before mowing!); and get a good DIGITAL fence-tester and use it every morning before turning the chickens out.

I wouldn't actually do it myself, though, not without good nonelectric fencing *too*.

JMHO, good luck, have fun,

Pat