Chickenlover4ever
In the Brooder
- Sep 21, 2023
- 7
- 16
- 19
Hi! Just looking for some advice on how to keep my ladies as happy as possible. For context, I have 7 pullets: 2 Barred Rocks, 2 Jersey Giants, and 3 Easter Eggers. They’ve been in their coop since mid to late October, respectively (there’s an age difference between the older 4 and the Easter Eggers so they got moved outside in a staggered manner). The coop I have for them, after lots of exhaustive research to find a decent one, has a run that’s about 10X3-ish. I’m concerned it’s not enough space for them and I’d like to free range them as we live on ~1.6 acres, but I want to be smart about predators and things. We have a half acre side yard and then a hilly sort of pasture area in the back that’s about an acre, and it backs up to some woods at the edge of our property line. We live in a quiet neighborhood at the end of a dead-end street so I’m not concerned about them getting hit by cars or anything, for the most part. My concern is about hawks or other wild predators, and also my neighbor’s dogs. Almost everyone in the neighborhood has dogs, though they are kept in fenced areas or inside as far as I know. HowEVER, the neighbors on one side of us (very close to where we currently keep the coop, I might add) have 3 Dobermans they keep in an electric fence, and I’m worried my hens will wander into their area and get attacked by the dogs, and of course I wouldn’t be able to help them due to the electric fence situation. I’m also concerned the chickens could escape into the woods at the back of our property too. So I’m really conflicted about what to do. I want my ladies to have enough space and be happy, but I don’t want to put them at risk either. In a perfect world, we’d either fence in our property or enlarge their coop/run, but I’m afraid neither of those options are in our budget right now. I guess what I’m wondering is if there’s a safe way to free range my chickens, or is it best to save up for fencing/additional run space? If you’ve made it this far on my rambling journey and have some advice to give, I’d sure appreciate it!!