kip mcdaniel

Thanks again, everyone. A lot of good thoughts. I'm in Nashville, CJ.

Helpful thoughts. Sounds like both of you are suggesting that I think of landscaping issues for the whole back yard with chickens in mind, and then use the entire area as a "free range" (of sorts) for the hens, rather than rotating smaller paddocks, right? You mention that our existing fence might work to hold them in. The wooden part of it has slats with gaps of 2 1/2" Is that big enough for chickens to escape through them? The wooden part is also 42" tall. But it sounds like you're saying I'd still need to string more wire fence along the top of it to increase that height, correct? I like the idea of being able to use the existing wood slat fence, as it would be more attractive than putting up moveable electric mesh or whatnot. I just ordered a book called Free Range Chicken Gardens from Amazon. Maybe this will help me think through the suggestion you both seem to be making, to use the entire yard at once (with a permanent coop, I'm assuming).

If anyone else has additional thoughts/suggestions, I'm all ears!

Kip

I'm a confused newbie. I've been researching getting backyard chickens for the last few weeks, and after about 50 hours of research, I'm more confused than ever. So I'd love some advice from you experienced owners.

I read Paul's Chicken 2.0 article today, and I really like the theory of it, but I'm worried that it won't work in our situation. We have a 1/4 acre backyard that is pretty skimpy in terms of vegetation (see pic below). A little grass and weeds and that's it. Not much for a healthy chicken diet, I would think, even though we're only planning on 4-6 hens. So, I'm concerned that they wouldn't get much of a healthy diet, but I'm also concerned that even with rotating say 4 different paddocks, they'd still reduce what little grass we have to just mud. Am I justified in my concern? Any good solutions to this?

I've also considered the chicken tractor method, but I'm worried that 4 or so hens will still reduce our lawn to just mud, even if I move the tractor every single day. Also considered just having a permanent coop (where you see the playground below) and having a traditional chicken run that I keep mucked out and with fresh hay.

Would love advice, thoughts on any of this. Definitely want to avoid just having a big muck of poo and mud in the backyard.

Thanks much

Kip