We just picked up 6 chicks and 2 ducklings yesterday, so exciting!! I have a coop down at my family’s farm that we still have to get, but I’m questioning the run. Eventually I want a beautiful permanent coop/run setup, it’s just not in the cards for us right now. So, how have you gone about setting up something temporary that is still very safe, not a total eye sore, and cost effective? This run will still need to work for us for at least 3 years, so it still has to be somewhat sturdy.
My initial thought was t-post with goat paneling and chicken wire, but confused on configuring a point of entry for myself with that method? If we used wood posts we could build a door, but that feels more permanent than we’re looking for. Just looking for ideas to be bounced around as I feel I’m overthinking this lol, thanks!
by AmazingCranberry8122
6 Comments
Check out Chicken tractor. Has two wheels on one side so you can move it around the yard. Easier with two people or a tractor/4wheeler, depending on your size
You can use a chain link fence gate or build a gate out of wood and hardware cloth. That’s what we did. There are hinge adapters designed to attach to t-posts.
T-posts don’t really feel “temporary” to me, but then neither does “last at least 3 years,” so I think it’s probably a good solution. Only more temporary thing I could think of would be a chicken tractor and/or electric poultry netting with step-in plastic posts.
You have a brooder set up already, right?? If not, that needs to be your first priority.
Chicken tractors are easy and simple. What’s cheap is going to be what you have lying around…old dog houses, recycled fencing, etc.
The simplest and most flexible option is a premier one electric net with a charger. It’ll cost a few hundred and one charger can handle ~6 nets depending on how much grass is contacting them to pull voltage down. You’ll probably need a dozen or so step in posts unless you have very flat ground and/or buy the fancier net with stiff verticals and closer spacing between the posts. You can step over these fences or pull up one side and walk through.
The next best option is t posts and cattle panels with chicken wire run along the bottom.
Neither of these options will stop aerial predators or little guys like mink.
You could make a hoop coop run, where you make a frame and then bow cattle panels over it in an arch. That could be made predator resistant and easy to manage but it’s a limited space.
I dont know if this is an option in your area or not, but with the cost of materials so high these days, we bought an old coop/run for cheap on marketplace/craigslist and modified it to be safer against predators. I have found that tons of people are getting rid of their old coops right now because its chick season, and we saved several hundred dollars on lumber alone by buying a beat up old coop and fixing it up. The biggest expense was replacing all the chicken wire with hardware cloth.
Chicken run or a chicken coop? If you’re buying tposts and hardware cloth, then you may as well price out your final run because the price difference may not be that significant.