& How we DOUBLED our Chickens’ Run size in just 1 Day!
Why Choose Panels?
A panel style chicken run is a great solution to many obstacles that typically stand in the way of folks wanting to get chickens, or expand their runs. It is a great solution if you:
- have an easement
- are renting
- plan to move
- want to rotate your chicken run and garden space
- like the idea of a movable chicken tractor, but are on a larger scale
- want the flexibility to expand your run
- desire to change run’s shape, or relocate chickens to another area on your property
Panel styles are easily adaptable to nearly any situation. It’s easily move-able, fairly lightweight since it comes apart, and can be reconfigured to different shapes and sizes easily!
First off, if you haven’t gotten chickens yet, or yours are still in the brooder and you’re wondering what to do next, don’t sweat it- read this. If you have grown ladies who need some outdoor room now, read on.
How Much Space is Required?
The next thing you’ll need to do is determine how big your run should be. Minimum outdoor space for a chicken run is 4 square feet per bird, with a minimum of 2 square feet per bird in the coop. We recommend allowing much more room inside and out if possible. Happy chickens lay more eggs, have less diseases, are less aggressive, and have lower incidences of pecking, injuries, and cannibalism. We allow about 8 square feet per bird in the coop, and a minimum of 15 square feet per bird in our run. Once you know how big you need to go, you need to determine the ideal location on your property.
Our Path to Panels
So, to make our chicken set up make sense, ya gotta know a bit about my little oddball property. We are in the back of a cul-de-sac and our house is on the edge of the development. So, we have a very tiny, awkward wedge of a front yard, but a big, sort of triangular backyard. Along the two long sides of the backyard we have an easement area where we can’t build any permanent structures. It’s about a four foot drop down from the main yard, but it’s like 20 feet wide along two sides of the yard, so a lot of space. And my husband and I wanted to be able to utilize it.
When I bought the house, there was a fence which was barely holding back about ten foot high blackberry brambles that covered the entire area. Clearing that away and digging out the stubborn roots was step one, really. A battery powered hedge trimmer proved to be the best tool.
Local Codes, HOA restrictions, etc.
Step two for us was figuring out how to comply with the city’s easement and not have any permanent structures which the city could make us tear down (cuz that would suck), while still utilizing the space. My husband talked to our city hall about animal restrictions within city limits, coop size and location.
I checked our HOA restrictions on livestock and other animals, and verified it didn’t have any regulations regarding back yard builds. We decided to build our coop just under the size requirements that would have required a permit, and just above the easement area.
Assembling the panels
To be able to make our chicken’s run easily movable (so as to not be considered a permanent structure) we measured the space we wanted to enclose. We decided that four foot wide panels, six feet high, would work well. We made one special panel with a door for humans to access the run, in a frame the same width as the other panels, so we could easily reconfigure it later if we wanted.
We framed enough panels to enclose the entire space, then stapled chicken wire to cover all the panels. On the door panel we followed the same pattern and then cut out as needed to make the door functional. A battery operated stapler and power grinder with a metal wheel saved a lot of time and hand soreness on these parts!
Next, we screwed the panels together, one by one, using dirt or rocks to build up as needed from below so the panels sat upright evenly on the ground. This is also important to prevent chicken escapees. We did have to add a few wood pieces after the initial install to stop our sneakiest chicken escapees, due to our uneven ground versus the little scratching machines.
Because our coop to run area included a four foot drop, my husband built a little ramp out from the coop to the run enclosure. He added a frame to it, and wrapped it in chicken wire to create a tunnel. We then cut holes in the chicken wire to accommodate the chickens’ ramp entrance from the coop. The final step was using baling wire to secure the panel’s wire to the tunnel’s wire so it was all safe for our girls.
Topping it Off
We took the added precaution of adding a poly-type netting over the whole shebang because we get lots of hawks and eagles in our area. They will prey on chickens (and chihuahuas, so protect all your small animals!). Adding a rooster to your flock can also help protect them from predators, but we still prefer the added protection of a net over the run for our ladies. Not all neighbors, HOAs, or city regulations will allow for roosters, either.
While this maybe wasn’t the easiest or fastest method of creating a chicken run, it was definitely the perfect solution for our property, and one that I would use again if I ever set up another chicken run because…
When we wanted to expand our run, all we had to do was disconnect one side’s panels, add in more end panels on each end, and reassemble the side again. So, we started with 16′ x 16′ enclosure, and by adding just four panels (two on each end) we DOUBLED our chickens’ run in just one day!
