Building a chicken moat/run around the garden in stages.

[Serenashome]

We are getting chickens this year! So we have a lot of work to do before they get here. We are getting chickens for eggs initially. However, everything we add to our property needs to maximize its potential and be as self sustainable as possible. So chickens like to clear weeds, eat seeds, and eat bugs. Solution: Build a chicken moat around the garden and let them work for me. Less weeding the perimeter of the garden, less bugs in the garden, less weed seeds that get into my gorgeously composted top soil. All this with the added benefit of eggs and potentially chicken dinners! So how we are planning to accomplish this will be detailed below.

I would love input and ideas on how to better accomplish this too! Also pictures of your moats and runs would be awesome!

Below I am going to attempt to give you enough details to see not only where we are in the project but hopefully help someone do something similar if they are on a budget like us.

We have a 42' by 50' raised bed garden. With 3' pea gravel walkways between each 4' by 10' bed. There are 15 beds in order for us to have a really good 5 year crop rotation. There is also a 36' perennial bed at the top of the garden which butts up to a pole barn. It took us one year of planning, followed by one year of buying materials a little each month to make the garden a reality. It is not yet finished and we are in year three. This year we add the fence (chicken moat) and kiwi and gourds with trellis'. So the garden has been a piece by piece three year project.



Above is a picture of a small portion of the garden. That fence is temporary. It will become the chicken moat!

So this is what we started with. I am planning to post updates as we work on the rest through this spring, summer, and fall. Next I'll post our temporary coop and the first piece of the moat.

 

[Serenashome]

Step 1: Get a coop chickens can live in for the first year.

So we bought a prefab chicken coop off craigslist for $100.00. Here's what we started with:


This will be their home for one year (four chickens) before we start building a coop inside the barn for them.

Budget being what it is we have to do everything in little pieces and little pieces take time. So this year is the fence, next year the coop.

This is what the coop looks like with a $30.00 investment of 2 quarts of paint, and 2 decorative L brackets.


Same prefab coop, but now it looks presentable and in the future we can use it for babies, introducing new chickens to the flock, separating out chickens who need to heal, or a nice time out place for those chickens who need a minor attitude adjustment.

Step 1 is done! Yay for progress!

 

[Tumbling K]

something I do, when running fencing like that. if the ground is uneven, or not level, run the fence first, and steeple to the posts. then run the bottom board along the ground. run a string line along the top wire of the fencing, use a line level, and adjust the height keeping it level, and hopefully, the fence that falls above or below the line is not more than half the top board width. plan on the string being the center of the top board.

 

[aart]

I've no idea if they will be a problem. I know we have them. Don't snakes steal eggs?

Truthfully we've no idea what we are doing on a fairly regular basis. hehe

They can but...it's not too common.


Well, you don't know until you know, right.
That's why I would encourage you to do things in a way that can be easily modified.

ETA...my coop is fort knox, but run is much looser....
.....safe for daytime, specifically hawks, but I'm home 90% of the time and yard is fenced.

 

[OEF5]

Hello everyone! I'm the one helping with this project! That's me in the photo of the panel, we don't do "small" very well.

 

[yyz0yyz0]

Here's a link to a Mother Earth News article about incorporating chickens safely into a permanent garden.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/home...s/chicken-manure-fertilizer-zm0z13amzkon.aspx

Some very interesting ideas, hope it's not too late for your project if any of it is useful for you. I love the ability to let the chickens into some garden beds but not others.

I dont' have a setup like this so my girls are on lock down from early spring when I start planting till the gardens are well established and can handle some chicken stress.

 

[Serenashome]

Got a few hours after work yesterday and before the rain today to get some work done so here's an update:

Picture 1: The location to the right is our barn and raised bed garden (don't judge me yet it's not cultivated I'll get there)


Picture 2: 4x4 Post next to the barn and string to get it all set right. The run part of this will be 3' wide and there will be a 3' walkway for the garden so we are working on the exterior part of the moat first.



Picture 3: First panel set it is 6' wide to accommodate the 3' run and 3' walkway. You will notice the post by the barn is higher. There will be a roofed section of the run along the barn that will cover the coop door and give them shade, as well as rain/snow protection.



Picture 4: three of the 5' panels that will be the exterior section of the run are set. The gap you see at the corner is for the gate to get into the run from outside the garden.



In a previous post you see the panels being built in the barn. So we set the 4x4s, screwed the panels to them and added temporary 2x4s as support while the quikcrete dries. The upside of this technique is we can build a panel and add on to this fence a little at a time as money allows. Also, when we have yucky weather we can work in the barn building panels and gates and not lose that much time. That's all we got done before it began raining hard enough we had to give up. More updates coming as we get more done

 

[Serenashome]

Step 2 planning and designing a chicken moat.

This is easier said than done and became quite the great debate between my husband and I. So many ideas in this forum alone! How do you choose one that works for you? Seriously, you guys are brilliant and I'm so glad I found you.

We took a step back and asked ourselves what we wanted to accomplish.

So Step 1 of step 2 is getting your priorities straight.

Priority 1: Good eggs (Good eggs come from healthy chickens) So a safe healthy environment is key.
Priority 2: Utilize chickens skills to our advantage (weed clearing and bug eating)
Priority 3: Build a fence for the garden (already on our list of things to do)
Priority 4: Aesthetics. It has to fit into our landscape and look like we meant to do it this way.
Priority 5: longevity. We do NOT have time or money to redo this once it is done, It has to function correctly the first time.

 

[Serenashome]

We decided to create a chicken moat by creating 6' tall by 5' wide panels which we will set into the ground with 4x4 posts. This will be the exterior fence. A chicken moat or run takes two fences. So we will be building another one on the interior as well and then covering the top to protect from hawks and eagles. We can make each panel one at a time in our barn and store them until we are ready to start sinking posts this spring. Each panel has 3' tall hardware cloth on the bottom and 3' of welded wire with holes that measure 2" by 4".

If anyone wants dimensions or how we cut the boards let me know. Here are three pics of the fence panel as we put it together.


So we cut the boards and the wire laid out and squared the frame. Then we stapled the wire to the frame. This is built with 1x4 treated lumber. In this picture there are two boards in the middle, the top board is not attached yet.


Here you can see the hardware cloth stapled to the frame. on the bottom half of the panel.


Here we have added the welded wire to the top portion and added the boards on the top of the wire to give us a sandwiched frame around the wire.

So we will continue to make these panels through winter until we have enough to create the first section of run for the chickens to use this year. The run will be three feet wide and however long we can make it as money allows. we will then continue to add on as we can until it is finished.

More updates coming as we continue. This is as far as we have come today.

 

[Tumbling K]

panels sound like a great idea!!

hopefully the terrain they will be set on, is pretty dang level.......