How to Build a Chicken Run Part 2: What I Wish I Had Done the First Time
The run seemed huge when the chicks were young. Bigger would have been better. But glad we encased the entire structure in hardware cloth.
I did a lot of research before setting up my little yolk factory. Through books, shared information on the terrific Backyard Chickens website, and talking with friends, I gathered as much material as I could before designing and building out the space. My goal was to make chicken-keeping here in Blackberry Land as positive an experience as possible. Safe for the birds, easy to maintain, and not an eyesore. For the most part, I’ve succeeded, but looking back there are things that could’ve been done way better.
The chicken run is covered with clear, corrugated roofing panels to let in light while keeping out rain and debris. It’s been a great solution, but I wish I had incorporated greater overhangs of the material for protection against heavy, slanting rains. As I’ve mentioned before, wet chicken runs are stinky, so in order to prevent that from occurring in our wet winters, I’ve had to come up with a few post-build hacks to keep things dry. More on that in my Weather Protection Hacks post.
As noted in Part 1, the entire chicken run is lined in hardware cloth. Top, bottom, and sides. That keeps the birds safe from predators. What I should have also done was add an 8-12” collar of hardware cloth around the base perimeter to discourage tunneling beneath the chicken run. Why? Because soon after the run was operational, crafty rodents discovered there were bits of chicken feed to be had if they pulled away the mulch and dirt from beneath the floor of the run. They actually excavated several inches of dirt and mulch that formed the floor of the run through the hardware cloth and moved it beyond the perimeter of the run! To counter their offensive, the run now features a random assortment of ceramic floor tiles sandwiched between the hardware cloth base and the dirt/mulch floor. Crazy, but it worked. I should add that feeding less feed, in order to get the girls to clean up every morsel was also tried, but didn’t prove effective in stopping the tunneling once it got started.
When my chickens were in their first few months, their chicken run seemed huge. But as they grew to maturity, their 9’ by 11’ space got cramped for the 5 of them. Daily free-ranging hasn’t always been possible, so in hindsight, I should have made the run bigger, along the lines of 3 square feet per bird. I’ve corrected that error since with the creation of a “chicken tunnel” or “chunnel” as we like to call it. More on that here :)