Chicken runs are really essential for the health and happiness of all of your chickens. It will give them the chance to roam around, flap their wings and scratch about the place in a nice secure environment. Chicken runs are very easy to construct and they take just a couple of hours to build using basic materials. Below, I’ll outline some important things to consider when building a chicken run.

Space – It’s essential to give your chickens plenty of space to run about and scratch around in. About 5 feet for each chicken is fine, more is better of course. Some people let their chickens run wild, which is fine but makes finding the eggs a bit of a problem. It’s best to put the chicken run on fresh ground so they can scratch for fresh insects worms etc. This will also help keep disease down and will manure your backyard too.

Protection – Make sure you have a parameter fence dug in about 12 to 18 inches deep and about shoulder height to you. Make it simply with timber posts and heavy gauge chicken wire and this will deter all but the most determined of predators.

Chicken Coop – Have the chicken coop easily accessible from the chicken run so that if the weather turns bad your birds can come and go from the chicken coop as they please. There’s no point having a chicken run if the birds are going to be stuck outside and exposed to the weather with no access to their coop.

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