Run size

[Driley62]

I posted yesterday about a solar fence charger which was a ton of help from everyone I must add. But now I wanna ask about everyone's opinion about run size to equate the idea of free range. I read somewhere online that if you can't legitimately free range because of predators that an enclosed run with a square footage total of 250 per chicken is the "magic number" to get the same equivalent.

Does everyone agree or does everyone have different beliefs on that. I only own 1/3 acre so the idea of making a run thats 6,250 sqft is insane to me. I have three dogs that need space and a child with a second on the way that also need play space plus space for gardening and landscaping.

In time I could comfortably add maybe 500 sqft but not something that could be done overnight more like over the course of a couple years with the cost of material and work that'd have to be put in.

Thanks all!

 

[3KillerBs]

It's not a question I've ever really thought about. I have a vastly oversized run made from 100 feet of Premier 1 electric poultry netting that, until this year's additions, gave my 5 hens approximately 125 square feet per chicken. Even that much is not enough to prevent them from turning the run into a barren moonscape despite the fact that I regularly morph the fence around a core area in order to give them fresh ground.

While chickens benefit from having more than the recommended minimums and the more space you can give them the less maintenance you have to do, chickens don't need "free range" to be healthy and happy.

 

[Driley62]

It's not a question I've ever really thought about. I have a vastly oversized run made from 100 feet of Premier 1 electric poultry netting that, until this year's additions, gave my 5 hens approximately 125 square feet per chicken. Even that much is not enough to prevent them from turning the run into a barren moonscape despite the fact that I regularly morph the fence around a core area in order to give them fresh ground.

While chickens benefit from having more than the recommended minimums and the more space you can give them the less maintenance you have to do, chickens don't need "free range" to be healthy and happy.

Agree with everything you said . I just personally like the idea of giving them as much space as possible. I also like the idea because it helps(some) to cut back on feed costs. Before I lost my first hen to a fox about two weeks ago, I started to allow them to free range while I was home to supervise and I noticed a drastic decrease in feed consumption. That day I was outside with them all day. Went inside to take a break from the heat for 15 minutes and Mr. Fox came and took our sweetest hen Goldie (isa brown with a gold like complexion). I spooked him off without her in his mouth. So I tried avenging her death by using her as bait to take out the fox. I live in farm country northern ny so gun shots in the farm fields nearby is a very common occurrence. But said fox was too smart and didn't return so she was disposed of. Needless to say so my three year old daughter doesn't witness it they stay in their secured run. I know it's a part of life and plan on teaching her that lesson in time. I just dont want her to get nightmares over it. She loves the chickens to no end like our dogs. I just don't want her to witness something so violent at such a young age.

 

[Driley62]

It's not a question I've ever really thought about. I have a vastly oversized run made from 100 feet of Premier 1 electric poultry netting that, until this year's additions, gave my 5 hens approximately 125 square feet per chicken. Even that much is not enough to prevent them from turning the run into a barren moonscape despite the fact that I regularly morph the fence around a core area in order to give them fresh ground.

While chickens benefit from having more than the recommended minimums and the more space you can give them the less maintenance you have to do, chickens don't need "free range" to be healthy and happy.

Besides, the happier and healthier I can make them. The healthier eggs I get out of them. I sell my excess eggs at my job and people are loving them its almost to the point that I can't keep up. Between that and the fact I sell them so cheap($1 per dozen to cover feed cost). Im a prison guard for the state by professionso seeing the animals I care for that, "did no crime" so to speak is hard to see them caged even though it's rather large in a way lol

 

[Boise-girls]

Here's an interesting, research-based article on free ranging, including enriched aspects. It doesn't give square footage, but some useful information.
https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/how-to-free-range-chickens.html

 

[Boise-girls]

Also see https://www.backyardchickens.com/ar...secrets-from-the-evolution-of-chickens.73654/ on this site. I couldn't get it to link, but a search for "primal chickens" should work.

 

[Driley62]

Here's an interesting, research-based article on free ranging, including enriched aspects. It doesn't give square footage, but some useful information.
https://www.raising-happy-chickens.com/how-to-free-range-chickens.html

That was a good article. As I'm trying to locate a hen from my neighbors flock that at last chance was still alive from a fox attack. Unless the fox snagged her in the brush thicket as she ran in when I was trying to get them secured he didn't lose any this time.

 

[aart]

Between that and the fact I sell them so cheap($1 per dozen to cover feed cost)

Up the price......guessing that won't really cover your feed costs annually.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

"Free Ranging" isn't defined in the US based on square footage - and the definition that is Congressionally authorized is not what people think of, when they imagine "Free Ranging". Nor is "Pasture Fed". I wouldn't worry so much about the labels, and would recommend only that you provide them as much room as you reasonably can.

From a cost perspective, my birds range about 4.5 acres (you can see my flock in the sig below, usually runs 50-55 birds), of which about 1.5 acres is pasture of biodiverse polycrop (which is to say its been seeded with anything and everything I can get to grow on my property, not toxic to chickens or goats, which requires little care on my part). It saves me 20-25% on my feed bill.

As to the feed bill itself? I buy in (small) bulk, pay cash for the discount, 500# at a time. Assuming prices have increased for the sixth time in the last 12 months, I expect to pay about $115 after tax, or around $0.23 a pound. My break even on eggs, without cartons, is right around $5/30 eggs or $2.50 a dozen (licensing costs are a substantial part of that). While I am "underpriced" compared to almost everywhere in the country, I have a decided lack of customers for lots of reasons unrelated to egg size, quality, or freshness.

You probably want to go back and double check both your math, and your assumptions, on that break even price. It seems very low.

 

[Auntiejessi3]

I charge $3 a dozen, that covers my feed and any extras..ie pine shavings,oyster shell, grit. My 6 ladies have a little over 24sqft a piece in their run and they range our acre after I get home from work for a few hours and most of the day on weekends