Sorry Folks, Wally World is Closed

[CoopersFarm]

Hi All,

Hope this message finds everyone in good health. I have a one-acre property that I have allowed 8 chickens to turn into their own amusement park complete with slides (the alpine embankment), moonwalk (the blueberry patch), and Scrambler (or what's left of the species tulips I planted).

I currently have a coop where they sleep safely and some fenced in areas that worked for a while until the one little ringleader taught the others to use the compost pile to launch themselves over the fence. I want to immediately close the park for cleaning and repairs and limit their all-access pass to 2-3 hours a day going forward. I have two options:

1) build as temporary a (run for just day use) as possible (I am tearing down the house in the fall so this would be moved/demo'd) with netting or chicken wire or something. I know, it will not be predator proof but i have a hardware cloth fence around the entire property and this is not for sleeping. (Arial predators could be an issue). Question is - how big?

2) Build a chicken tractor to move around on the lawn. I would like the lawn to be mowed but not destroyed.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Adam

 

[Mtnboomer]

What size is your yard? You will want to move a tractor so that it takes a minimum of 30 days to cycle back to its original location (assuming that you get adequate rainfall to aid in recovery).
So the 10sf/bird min tractor will need to be moved once a week (or as needed to prevent over grazing). Thats 4 moves min. So you will need 320sf min to use a chicken tractor without over damaging your yard.
Personally, I would choose the permanent run. If you have space for a 10x10' area, enclose it and predator proof it.

 

[CoopersFarm]

Ok thanks for the info. Very helpful.