Size of run for 50 chickens?

[drdolittle]

How big should an enclosure be for 50 chickens (plus a few Roos) full-time use?
We currently have 24 layers and two roosters that are free ranged. They "generally" stay in the fenced in area for our goats but as it's warming up they are jumping the 4 ft. fence. We had issues with a neighborhood dog in the past and apparently that dog is wandering further now that it's warm as we lost a layer yesterday. A huge "improvement" now that we have a fenced in goat pasture- previously we lost 5-10 layers at a time. However we are very frustrated with this dog and losing layers & the time, money ect we've put in to them plus future earnings from the eggs we sell. Hence we are considering an enclosure. We will also be expanding our coop to house 25 more chicks we are getting in April. It seems to me that the run would have to be HUGE to give each chicken the proper sq. ft space. I'm not sure how feasible that would be and I'm concerned they will quickly dig up the area, eat all the bugs and then while they'd have space they still wouldn't be getting the full benefits that being fully free range gives them. Any suggestions?Thanks.Liz

 

[gsim]

Quote:

Rule of thumb is 10 s ft/chook. I did 80 sq /chook for mine, and now I would like it to have been bigger. So I have around 1900 sq ft for 23 chooks. No way to keep a blade of grass alive in there either. Had to spread a little over a ton of coarse sand thru to have a nice walkway to coop. 6:1 slope, so mud no problem no matter how wet it gets. Three shade trees and two sunny areas too. Mine is open to sky, but I have large resident crow population here so hawks are chased off as quickly as they show up, at least 99% of the time that is.

 

[drdolittle]

so 50 at 10 sq ft would be 500 sq ft or a 20x25 area-definitely sounds small for a full time enclosure. at 80sq ft it would be 4000sq ft or about 63x63 and closing that in.....wow might as well fence our 5 acres

hmm how likely is it they'd learn it's safer to stay inside the fenced in area? (or I guess that our neighbor will keep his dog off our land?lol)

 

[mightieskeeper]

I would return his dog with a lawsuit for the birds he killed. I hate pet owners that are not responsible.

 

[Morri]

Maybe you could get a trained guard dog... i no they can be expensice but so would a huge pen!! plus that way u can be sure to keep them all safe and keep that dog away!! Goodluck anyway and i hope u dont loose any more precious girls!!

 

[They Call Me Pete]

5 sq ft would be more than enough outside and 2 sq ft inside. That's what I have and mine are very happy