We knew we needed a new chicken enclosure when the wire was hanging so low the chooks just hopped over it. We also had to electrify the outside to stop our dog from busting holes in the chicken wire. She was after the layer pellets, not the layers, thankfully!
Each time they escaped, the hens would dig up any newly-planted seedlings, and leave evidence of their visit all over the decks, and front door area (read: poo).
We gave up completely on trying to catch and return them. The hens became speedier at running away each time.
So, we needed a sturdier fence that was taller and more intimidating to the chooks. We needed to intimidate them from trying to fly over. We also realised we can’t use a hot wire on the top, because being birds, they won’t be grounded when they touch it, and therefore won’t get a shock.
To the right of the old enclosure was an area of the garden with old trees and long grass that wasn’t quite part of the garden. The low-lying part floods in winter when the creek breaches its banks, but there is enough high ground that the chooks will be safe.
So what did we need in a new enclosure? Here are a few things we have included.
The chook house
This was actually a 3 room rabbit hotel, but is now a 2-room chook house with an internal-access laying room. It has mezzanine floors inside each one to provide more space and reduce competition for perches. It is staked in place with steel Y-posts (or waratahs) because of the ridiculously strong winds we get here. We recycled as much as we could in this process. We only modified the rabbit house minimally as it was already pretty suitable. The posts for the fence were given to us for free, and we quartered them with our chainsaw at home. We only had to buy the chicken wire as we didn’t have enough left over. The chicken wire from the old enclosure will be re-used to make something similar in the same place, just with taller fencing.
Shade and shelter
The existing trees are so important in this new enclosure. The old chook area didn’t have much shade, and the small trees I have planted will take a few years to grow.
These trees have many low-hanging branches which will offer sheltered roosts for those fussy chooks that don’t fit in with the chook-house crowd. It is also very important to have a lot of shade in summer, as the chooks will seek out any kind of shade to shelter from the heat. They need a lot of options for shade, too. If they all shelter in the same small area, they will end up heating each other even more.
Predator management
I once lost five young chickens overnight to a mystery attacker. They were in a smaller cage on the lawn, and were all happy and healthy the day before. By morning they were all dead and there were a few feathers everywhere. They were about eight weeks old. I have only ever seen two stoats and a weasel within 10m of our house, and we didn’t have a cat at this time. My guess was one of those nasty creatures came and killed my chooks. It was wasteful and disheartening. We also have a feral cat problem. So, we set some wooden-box kill traps around the fence lines, and I am looking at buying the gas-powered bolt trap that you can mount onto tree trunks for possums and feral cats. This is part of a bigger plan to bring back more native birds to our block.
The chicken trailer option
I’ve always dreamed of buying a cheap, old trailer (you can get one for under $200) and build a mobile chicken house. That way, we could move it around and the chickens can help deal with the manure from the other animals.
Because we released dung beetles a few years ago, this might not be a good idea for us. I don’t want the chooks eating my precious beetles before their population is large enough to make the poo disappear.
The other potential set back would be the wind. I have seen portable cabins on wheels get rolled away in the strong winds we get around here. A chook trailer would be no match. I can’t really be out moving it as soon as the wind picks up.
A mobile hen house would otherwise be a great idea, just in an area that doesn’t have such strong winds.