Was wondering who else uses large flight cages to house their chickens?

[Nichola Farms]

We built a large 30ft x 30ft x 10ft high flight cage (what we call it), it's more like an aviary than a chicken run. We house our pet chickens in this same enclosure with our pigeons, turkeys, ducks, and geese. We decided on baseball field netting similar to what they use in the big aviaries at theme parks and zoos. We hung the netting almost like a circus tent shape using steel aircraft cable and steel poles. This worked great for our pigeons as it gives them space to fly. I was curious if other people use this same method or if most would consider this overkill?

 

[Sally PB]

Can you post a picture?

 

[aart]

I was curious if other people use this same method or if most would consider this overkill?

I've seen quite a few 'runs' covered with netting.
Most are not 10' high, rather just high enough for the keeper to move easily underneath.
The height of top netting might be the difference between a 'run' and 'flight'...
..could also just be chickens don't really fly like other birds.

 

[Florida Bullfrog]

When true, pure, red junglefowl are kept in captivity, they’re usually housed in aviaries, being in effect wild pheasants.

 

[Meg22]

Lovely idea for a breed that likes to fly. My chickens don't get more than 2 ft off the ground and generally only fly if they think they are missing out on treats. Once my daughter was sat on a wall about 4 foot up and one of the hens decided to fly up to sit with her. She flew straight into the wall.

 

[Penpal]

The only people I know with such aviaries raise pheasant. If it works for you, then it's a good idea.

 

[Nichola Farms]

Can you post a picture?

Hi Sally, I sure can! I'll take a picture tomorrow morning when i go out to feed and post it.

 

[Nichola Farms]

It's good to see everyone's thoughts on this, I really appreciate the feedback. The reason for the flight cage originally was to provide our pigeons with a large enough area to get some flight time. We used to allow them out once a day, now we only allow this a few times a year because of all the flying predators in our area. Anyone interesting in seeing the process of how we built it can check out the videos here:

(part 1)

(part 2)
The flight cage has changed and been upgraded since these videos were first posted but they will at least show how we set it up. After deciding on the size and realizing the room that could be used by the other animals we made the decision to use it to house the chickens and water fowl as well. Had we only housed the chickens we may not have gone with such a tall design and floor space. We also allow our chickens, ducks, turkeys, and geese to free range the grass fields so everyone is getting plenty of space to explore and graze.

 

[Nichola Farms]

Hi Sally, I sure can! I'll take a picture tomorrow morning when i go out to feed and post it.