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Well Leghorns can be flighty and may not stay in a 4' fence. If you could build a taller fence possibly and/or a covered run, they, or any breed might be fine. The larger breeds seem to be the most docile.
Silkies might be a good option since they don't have the type of feathers that are very conducive to flying, but they do go broody often.

You could order pullet chicks from a hatchery and get the breed(s) that works best for you. Some hatcheries ship year-round. Shipping to you might not be a problem if your weather is mild.

Thanks for joining! Welcome to BackYard Chickens!
 
DobieLover said:
Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.

I wouldn't worry about the chickens scratching up dust. The traffic will do that.
If you put up a 4' fence, do not have a solid top rail as that will permit the chickens to just jump up to the top rail and over. Most fences have solid top rails to make them sturdy. You would need to put up an extension of chicken wire so the birds had no place to land.
Most heavier breeds would be fine with the level of confinement you are describing. Australorp, PBR, Wyandottes, Wellies, etc.
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Re: pollution, I would expect the chickens to tear out the grass, and then there's exposed earth for them to scratch at all day. I'm not sure yet what best practice is for supporting chickens who have to live with exposed earth....
 
bwaaack said:
Re: pollution, I would expect the chickens to tear out the grass, and then there's exposed earth for them to scratch at all day. I'm not sure yet what best practice is for supporting chickens who have to live with exposed earth....
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3 or 4 chickens, depending on what they were, wouldn't be able to destroy a 500 sq' lawn, especially if you provide them a dustbath or two.

If it started, you could use some chicken wire to keep them in half that much space to let the other half of the lawn catch back up, then trade which side they are on.

We don't know your layout there so I'm just spitballing an idea lol.
 
Debbie292d said:
3 or 4 chickens, depending on what they were, wouldn't be able to destroy a 500 sq' lawn, especially if you provide them a dustbath or two.

If it started, you could use some chicken wire to keep them in half that much space to let the other half of the lawn catch back up, then trade which side they are on.

We don't know your layout there so I'm just spitballing an idea lol.
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I've seen 3-4 chickens in a space about the same size before (I measured mine but not the one in my memory) and they had torn up their whole yard. I'm guessing this means I need to focus on chickens from this guide without foraging capability?

update: I reviewed the guide and it seems like foraging capability ≠ ok with close quarters, because the first bird from that list with non-excellent foraging capability that I looked up, the sumatra, the first result I found said that they don't do well with close quarters.
 
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