Portable/Collapsible chicken run

[BGinVA]

I do raised bed gardening, mostly 4'x8' boxes, but a couple of 4'x4's. I have this idea since I'm so stretched for time and I can't get my kids to weed well and reliably, that I will put the chickens to work this fall and again in the spring before I plant. Prolem is I can't let them free range the garden areas as its not too far from a shared driveway and its on the side of the yard the dogs stay in. So what I have in mind is some sort of portable collapsible chicken run that I can leave out by my garden and bring the chickens down to work the beds periodically before planting and after harvesting. Anyone have any good ideas? Also am I correct that I would need to remove all of my tomato plant stalks & leaves before they do their work because they are harmful to the chickens? Is there anything else in a typical garden they shouldn't munch on?

 

[SunnyAlberta]

From experience, your dogs may be the biggest challenge. What type of dogs do you have? Size?

 

[Mtn Laurel]

My garden sounds similar to yours. We have a number of beds - some raised - with walking paths between. Our beds are all different sizes as it began as a flower garden. I later decided not to plant what I couldn't eat!

Our girls are an integral part of our gardening plan. As our beds and walkway's are not a uniform size, we use movable metal stakes and 4 ft. poultry netting to put them into whatever beds need work. We can configure it to fit each individual area. Deer netting makes an easy top to keep them from flying out and preventing anything else from flying in.

The dogs could get under poultry netting easily if not supervised so you'd need to make sure they didn't have access to whatever area you have the chickens in.

 

[BGinVA]

I'm not too worried about the dogs, while the dogs will be able to see the chickens, they can't get to the actual beds because they are on an invisible fence that they won't break. I'm pretty confident of that, as they will stand at the border of the line and bark at deer and flocks of wild turkeys that occasionally land in our lower yard and the cats can walk the perimeter of the invisible fence and they don't break it for any of that. But if a chicken left the garden area and happened to cross into "their" yard it would definately become chicken dinner for the dogs. One is a 7 year old Husky and the other a 13 year old Cocker Spaniel.

 

[mickey328]

Right now, while the coop is being built, our girls are in a portable pen. We have some poles we pound into the ground after weaving it thru some 3 foot wire fencing. The yard is privacy fenced, and our dogs watch but don't do anything so we aren't too worried about anything getting to them. We move the pen every 3 or 4 days so they don't scratch it bare. They did escape the last time we moved it and headed straight for the flower beds and mounds of mulch, LOL...we let them have at it for half an hour or so and then had a rousing game of "chase the chickens"...thank goodness we only have 6!

The coop should be done in a few days and it will be movable as well as an enclosed run...we'll continue to move it every few days. Once the garden's done, we'll put up another portable pen and let them have at it! We'll pull the big stuff...like the tomato plants...I know the leaves are bad for people so I won't take the chance with the girls.