Make a Chicken Run

October 28th, 2009 Posted in Home Improvement

A chicken pen or run is the protected open area attached to the hen house, where the hens can roam safely while they forage, hunt for insects and get some sunshine. It also keeps the chickens away from your prized flowers!

Pens are intended to give poultry plenty of room to move about because overcrowded birds tend to stress themselves more easily and can stop laying. Chickens need space, the more the better, although this will depend largely on the backyard.  The hen pen should have plenty of green vegetation growing in it for the chickens to forage, otherwise you will need to feed them on a daily basis.  Remember that chickens also need access to water, because they sweat easily especially in warm weather.  If their beaks are open and their wings splayed, they need a drink.

Hens are placid animals that are easy targets for many types of predator, including raccoons, weasels, foxes, hawks, rodents and neighborhood dogs and cats.  You must provide proper protection for your hens, so your chicken run must be designed to give them a safe environment while they go about their daily activities.  

There is nothing complicated about a hen pen, but it has to be well-made. For instance, if the wire mesh is not buried sufficiently in the ground, rodents will be able to burrow under it and get into the hen house.  No fresh eggs for breakfast for you!  This is where you should think about getting some  tips and advice from experts knowledgeable in how to build a chicken house run and keeping and rearing chickens.

Check the perimeter regularly, because it is quite common for foxes or dogs to work away at the wire over time to make a large enough access hole.  We positioned our coop and pen so that they could be seen from the kitchen table, a lesson learnt from sad experience.  

You might want to think about installing some sort of drainage for the chicken pen too. Over time hens can make quite a mess, which will be aggravated by wet weather.  If possible, try to site the run on slightly sloping ground, which will help to overcome the problem.  Some chicken keepers put tarpaulins or even permanent roofing over their runs  but this can be expensive and is not really needed if the pen is big enough.

Another alternative is to build a chicken tractor or portable chicken coop, sometimes also known as an ark. This is a small structure, usually triangular in cross-section, which combines a coop or nesting box with an attached run.   The tractor can be moved around to give the hens a constant source of new insects and vegetation, and to save your yard from being scratched bare.  It also gives your garden free fertilizer!  However, because the tractor has to be moveable it tends to be quite small, perhaps 6 to 8 feet long and 4 or 5 feet wide, so is suitable for only 5 or 6 chickens at a time.  A chicken tractor is very cheap and easy to make, however, so you could consider having several dotted around your backyard if you have many hens.  

It pays to get expert advice before making a hen pen, unless you are experienced in space, feeding, shelter and health requirements for keeping hens. Putting up a chicken run is very straightforward but, if you don’t know what you’re doing, it is so easy to underestimate what your hens need to survive and prosper.  They will pay you back with a regular supply of lovely free-range eggs.