Chicken and Duck Run What Materials

[Evolvingspirit]

I' planing a 25x25 ft run in a shaded area. 576 Sq ft
I now have 9 chickens (1 male) 5 ducks ( 1 male)
I plan to get 2 pekin ducks for pets ( one male )and 5 or 6 for meat
Is the area enough for them to be happy?
My daughter nixed the idea of a electric fence I have all. The material.
She said how would you like to be in prison. Lol
So....... thinking about hay wire panels (hog panel) with hardware cloth 2 ft up. With areal netting for birds. polypropylene .
Is this a good plan. Any suggestions helpful. I'm a newbie, real newbie. Fagedaboudit. Lol
Blessings
Stewart

 

[Aunt Angus]

Do. The. Electric.

You won't be sorry.

 

[Aunt Angus]

But the area should be good. What size coop???

 

[Evolvingspirit]

Do. The. Electric.

You won't be sorry.

My daughter needs to know it is not psychologically harming the birds. What is your experience in that matter

 

[Evolvingspirit]

My daughter needs to know it is not psychologically harming the birds. What is your experience in that matter

What is your wire spacing

 

[Aunt Angus]

My daughter needs to know it is not psychologically harming the birds. What is your experience in that matter

My experience is that my electric fence has kept out raccoons, coyotes, foxes, cats, dogs, bobcats, maybe even bears.... I use it for my chickens and my goats. I use it in conjunction with the heavy duty bird netting. I love the peace of mind (except for mountain lions; no peace of mind with them). We seem to live in similar environments, so I imagine we have similar predator loads.

I think it'd be way less psychologically damaging than seeing flockmates gets eaten.

But I'm interested I how you do your whole set up. I am in the process of doing something in an area just a bit larger than yours. I have 12 chickens and 4 ducks. I plan to increase my flock size, too, gradually, as my older girls cease laying. I hope to get up to 20 chickens. I don't know that I'll add any more ducks, though. I love my ducks, but they are so messy - lol!

 

[Evolvingspirit]

Do. The. Electric.

You won't be sorry.

My coop is only 5x10 I guess that's why it's too crowed and the ducks are harassing the chickens, so I thought a large run

 

[Evolvingspirit]

My coop is only 5x10 I guess that's why it's too crowed and the ducks are harassing the chickens, so I thought a large run

I live in Boonville mendo County

 

[3KillerBs]

Welcome to BYC.

I live in Boonville mendo County

What state is that? If you put your general location into your profile people can give you targeted feedback on your question because climate matters a lot.

My daughter needs to know it is not psychologically harming the birds. What is your experience in that matter

Chickens do not have the mental ability to understand that a fence is electric. They just know that it hurts to touch it so they stay off it. In fact, only a couple of my hens have ever even touched the fence at all.

I got Premier 1's 48" Poultry Net Plus in the kit to make it simple for a complete beginner: https://www.premier1supplies.com/c/poultry-supplies/electric-netting-kits It's great for containing adult birds, but chicks can go right through it -- often without noticing the electric because feathers are good insulators.

I have raccoons, coyotes, foxes, opossums, and occasional loose dogs in this neighborhood. The electric fence run gives me peace of mind (the entire coop is half-inch hardware cloth).

Unfortunately, I do have hawks and since I move my netting and rotate grazing area I can't put up hawk netting. I do put up a lot of run "clutter" to give the birds hiding places. I haven't lost one yet but it will probably happen eventually.