Free range with garden and kids' sand pit?

[mamarose]

We are finally getting chickens this year, and I'm reading and learning and trying to figure out the details.

We have two acres, one of which was completely fenced for dogs when we bought the place 2.5 years ago. I always imagined the chickens would be able to run freely around within this fenced area and just go into a coop at night. However, within the fence we now have sort of sprawling veggie gardens and an 8x8 kids' sandpit. I don't really want to fence the gardens because they're not neat shapes and each year they tend to sprawl a little further.

Will the chickens get in the sand pit, do you think? Is it the sort of thing they'd take dust baths in? And if they do, will they poop in it? I've read some of the other threads about gardens so have a few ideas to go on there, but I do NOT want to be dealing with chicken poo in the sand pit. The cat's is bad enough. Any ideas?

We'll have to decide if we will be letting them out regularly before we can really figure out the size and placement of the coop and run.

Thanks for any advice.

Rose

 

[nzpouter]

yep.. cover the sand pit and say goodbye to your vegie garden....

 

[Kiwibird]

I mostly just let my chooks out an hour or two before sunset, and this reduces damage to gardens significantly compared with letting them out all day, along with reducing risks to the chooks from predators and traffic. Also, pekins (cochin bantams) don't wander as far, or uproot plants as much, as other hens I have kept. I think both their small size and the feathering on their feet play a part in this. You can have them in little grazing arks that you move around the lawn, and that way you can keep them on fresh grass even if you don't let them out (like when the strawberries are ripe).

I think the chickens will be very happy that you have a sandpit, unless you organise it so that they never find out!

 

[sotelomary]

I have found that chickens and kids don't mix. I have a daycare/preschool and used to free range the chickens during nap time. I then had to hose off all of the poop so that the place would be clean. Well, my water bill went through the roof! I had to fence off a small run behind a flower bed and our 6' fence. This was the only space I had in our small city lot. Now this is working out perfectly and they can free range all day!

Mary

 

[mamarose]

OK then. Thanks for the replies. Perhaps we will just build a big run within the fenced yard, or perhaps we could consider putting them in the half acre of forest we have. It is not fenced, and my husband thinks we need them within the fenced area to be safe from predators. But our neighbor has chickens who roam free at times, into our yard even, so as long as they had a really secure coop and run, perhaps they would be OK free ranging in the forest for part of the day? Oddly enough, that would make it easier to find them a spot where they'd get some sun, because most of the sunny spaces within our fenced yard are devoted to garden.

Hmm, more thinking to do, obviously. Thanks again for the input.

Rose

 

[mamaKate]

Hi mamarose !

I think the forest idea is great if you don't mind walking that far for chicken chores and have no plans to heat the coop. My guys stay under the trees at the back of the yard all summer. They really hate the hot sun and only run through it if they think I'm bringing treats. Enjoy, Kate

 

[Lesa]

I would think they would be much safer in the area you already have fenced in...Could you put up a fence around the garden and sand areas? It wouldn't have to be huge- I would say an ordinary 3-4 foot garden fence would do the trick. Letting chickens range in the woods, sounds dangerous to me. It sounds like you have a good set up, it just needs a little rearranging...Keep us posted.

 

[Bantimna]

Quote:
Great Idea Rose

.
ETA: Welcome to the BYC

Enjoy!
Sibone

 

[sparkles2307]

We free range our birds... and even with 20 acres of front lawn they managed to find my house and garden in about 2 days... little buggers! So, DH is going to get some livestock panels and fence off the entire back of my house so that my future patio and both gardens plus the sandbox will be protected. Should be easy, just have to fence 3 sides and the house will be the 4th side! We will have to figure out how to make it high enough for the chooks to not jump over.... but I am seeing the potential for some beautiful vining flowers all over the walls of my garden!!!!

 

[mamarose]

So I think what we're going to do is build a 40 sq ft coop and 100 sq ft run for 8 - 10 chickens inside the fenced area. We will get some of those metal stakes you can just pound in, and with leftover fencing we have, we can create temporary larger pens of several hundred sq ft, which we can move every week or two to a different part of the yard. That will be their change of scenery for at least a few hours each day, since I really don't think we can properly free range them. We will also build a chicken tractor at some point, for a few at a time to actually work the garden at appropriate times. Does that seem like it will work?

The forest idea might work in the future, but as my husband pointed out, he still has a lot of trees to take down in there. It's a fairly unhealthy stand of fir trees, all of which are 35 years old whether they're 6" in diameter or 2'. There's not much in the way of understory. On the advice of an aroborist, he's been working on thinning, and we use the wood as our primary source of heat, but there's plenty more to do. Having a coop even on the edge of that would make it that much more complicated to fell without causing damage. The forest is no further from the house than the backyard, though, so in the future we may move them out there. Our 2 acres are a big square -- the south half is a fully fenced rectangle, accessible from the back of the house. The front half is split into two squares -- in front of the house is landscaped and contains a pond, and the other half, our "Half Acre Woods," is on the east side of the house.

Thanks for the welcome and the advice!