Thread: A chook house/pen

I think that the area you quoted is the the minimum required for something like "free range" classification but would be expected to be used for dozens and dozens of schools. 6 chooks in a 6 X 4 enclosure will be fine but as much room as you are willing to give them would be much better. My enclosure is about 8m X 4m and only holds two birds; the grass was knee deep when they moved in but 3 months later they were living in a dust bowl; I could not believe how destructive chickens are!

I hope you don't mind me asking, but why do want 6 birds? My two give me about 10 eggs a week which is fine for my family of three, you could be looking at 30 eggs every week!

Originally Posted by Chief Tiff

I hope you don't mind me asking, but why do want 6 birds? My two give me about 10 eggs a week which is fine for my family of three, you could be looking at 30 eggs every week!

No, maybe 2-4 chooks. I was just using some numbers to illustrate how small I thought 4 sq feet per bird is.

I've found that laying something like ringlock fencing wire on the ground (pegged to the ground) outside your chook run and tied to the perimeter fence is quite effective at preventing foxes and dogs etc feasting on chooks. Another thing to keep in mind is that foxes don't like climbing loose fences, so don't try putting up a "waratah" fence. Another thing you might like to consider is putting up some corrugated iron around the chook run, just tie it to the wire, the fox might be able to smell the chooks but the little vixen wont be able to see them.
Another thought just occurred to me, If your vegie garden is big enough, could you divide it up into sections so that you could allow the chooks into a section that is lying fallow. They could then turn over that area and also fertilise it and debug it.
Just my two bobs worth.
Cheers and enjoy your bum nuts and cackle berries.

Originally Posted by HUON

Another thing to keep in mind is that foxes don't like climbing loose fences

I've read that possums don't either.

Originally Posted by HUON

If your vegie garden is big enough, could you divide it up into sections so that you could allow the chooks into a section that is lying fallow. They could then turn over that area and also fertilise it and debug it.

My neighbour is a veggie patch guru, and he does this. Why dig it over yourself?

I'm planning a largish chook pen. An old aviary which is about 4m x 2m will be enclosed to be the sleep and laying area, while I will enclose with chook wire an outside area of perhaps 18 square metres. I will also enclose the top of the outside area as there are lots of ways cats could climb in. I was thinking of taking the wire down into the ground, but if I brought it down the side of the pen and then folded it back and ran it along the ground 50cm, I figure it would be far less digging and just as effective.

I'm hoping to get at least 8 chooks. My wife is a cake decorator and can use up to 60 eggs a week.

I just look for chook pens on Pinterest and Google Images.

P.S. The bigger the chook pen the less lawn or weeds you need to take care of!

Cheers,
Nathan.

I also have an area allocated for a chicken coop and have been scratching for months for a good workable design.

So, when you figure out a design Brett, just post it here.

Had a friend with quite a large chook run. When he built it, he did a fence about 6 feet tall, buried in ground to a shovel depth.

Some time later, the foxes pulled the wire put of the ground, and ripped the heads off 6 chickens.

He then reopened the trench and reset the wire, this time in concrete. Problem solved.

Another friend had a coop with a little solar powered door opener. At sunrise the solar hoodickey opens the door so the chooks can roam. At sunset, it closes the door. The chooks put themselves to bed.

Good luck !

Initiate Rant -

I'm just glad to hear you're keeping them in a pen. Everyone I know with chickens just lets them wander around the neighborhood like dogs. They eat valuable plants, scratch the soil out of pots, and just generally wreak havoc on everything.

And apparently that's ok...?

I mean at least drop off some eggs from time to time if we're going to chicken-sit for you while you're at work!

Rant: Complete

Luke when you start building your chook palace, consider making your egg boxes lower than the perches (they prefer to get as high as they can at night).
Also on the subject of whether to bury your wire or not, my thinking is that it will rust out in no time. The concrete idea does work, worth a go.
Something else I thought about to stop predators from digging under the fence is to use a product called geotech, something they use as erosion control on cuttings and embankments etc. Just tie it to your chook fence, lay it on the ground and weigh it down with gravel or even soil. If you've ever tried cutting the stuff you'll know how tough it is.

Sorry Luke, I meant fencefurniture, cava & Nathan. And yes the larger the run the less mowing, chooks are into bare earth policies, no grass allowed. Something else you could consider is to fence off a narrow patch in the run and plant some beneficial herbs, so that as the herbs grow through the wire the chooks can pick at them without destroying the plants. You could even put thornless blackberries, raspberries & Jerusalem artichokes behind the wire as well.

Foxes are one thing, but mice and rats is another.

We are on 4 acres, and you would be surprised at how much rat/mouse poison we go through without any chickens.

Originally Posted by HUON

Something else you could consider is to fence off a narrow patch in the run and plant some beneficial herbs, so that as the herbs grow through the wire the chooks can pick at them without destroying the plants. You could even put thornless blackberries, raspberries & Jerusalem artichokes behind the wire as well.

I like this idea and had been considering rhubarb. Even though it's leave are poisonous, I would have thought that chickens would be sensible enough to leave them alone - but then again they are chickens.

I'd also recommend laying a strip of wire mesh/netting (or geotextile) on the ground about 300 wide on the outside side and clipped/tied to the btm of the enclosure netting, also netting projecting out from the top of the vertical netting (only required if the top is open) and if that doesn't keep the foxes at bay electrify the fence.

Chooks do like to eat greens and dig/scratch so try to rotate them around different sections, something like a spoked wheel with a central hub (chook nesting home) but then individual areas could be opened up to allow them in or kept out of.



Pete

cava, I use automatic feeders, it stops a lot of wastage which seems to reduce the rodent problem which then reduces hungry snakes from hanging around.
Oh another thing, I also use automatic drinkers, it keeps the water fresher and cooler in summer.