Management Method for Your Poultry
You have a couple of options for managing laying hens and broilers (meat birds). Your selection of method might be determined by space limits, the number of chickens you plan to raise, and climate.
Chickens should have 10 square cubic each chicken if the coop is their only space, or 4 square feet per hen if they can free range within the day, or have a go to access within the day that lets them 10 square feet per bird.
Frequently, the more kind you could be by having spot for your hens, both into the cage and in the run, the more comfortable they will be.
A Coop and Run
If you're prepping to build a coop and run for your chickens, allow a minimum of 10 square feet per bird in the run. 4-foot higher hen line and metallic T-posts work correctly when it comes to long term chicken runs. You can also work with plastic step-in posts. If you're serious pertaining to predator cover, submerge the lowest part of the chicken wire 12 inches deep.
You can opt for to keep the birds entirely enclosed in a coop (and if you have severe winters, this may be the hens' selection once the snow flies). Or, you can have a birdcage that opens onto a fenced (and sometimes netted on the top) run. This is probably one of the best and most typical methods.
Chicken Tractors including Electronet
If you truly decide to raise your birds on field, but don't want them to totally free range, consider using a chicken tractor. This solution entails a movable pen, often labelled a chicken tractor that is floorless so the fowls can bite on grass.
In many cases the poultry tractor is the birds' primarily settling space - this method is certainly helpful for meat birds, which never wander far from food and water anyway and thus don't need too much "range.".
Or, a floored or floorless movable coop maybe used with electric net fencing, or electronet, around it. This is more usually used for bigger flocks and laying hens. The coop can include roosts and nest boxes, but still have the possibility to get transferred to fresh ground. The kennel area is also transmitted to include the birds' pasture to other areas of the farm.
Free Roaming.
Some growers just use a trailer or other long run or portable chicken coop and let the hens to range around it without containment whatsoever. Many of the time with free wandering roosters, you'll still really intend to block them in the cage at night. By producing roosts in the birdcage, you can improve the likelihood that they will all enter the coop once night time falls.
Some of the complications of free roaming your flock are that they may be more at hazard to predators. Unfortunately, a few lawns own border fence or an animal's defender dog or pet dogs to protect possible hunters of a free-roaming hen supper.