Would a dog run make a suitable home for chickens?

[NeverQuiteSure]

Very similar to this one

We thought it could stand on the grass with a 'pathway' of paving slabs around the edge to deter foxes from burrowing under. It would be too heavy to move around the garden but the chickens could, in theory at least, come out (or perhaps move into a portable run) during the day.

Would it work? Obviously we'd need to build perches into the indoor bit. What other modifications might we need? We had 3 chickens in mind, but may want to add more later if space allows.

TIA

Be prepared to clean this out very regularly to stop flies, smells and rats. This is winter and summer! the grass inside the run will be destroyed in a very short time and you will get fed up of constantly cleaning it. the portable runs are a much better idea for this reason. foxes burrow so the only sure way to keep them out is to extend the fencing under ground or to put chicken wire on the bottom of the run. if you are a new chicken keeper then would suggest you go for a much simpler option first to see if it suits you.

That'd be fine.
it's a similar - ish set up to what we have.

You will need to let them free range a bit to increase their space imo.

You will need to put them away at night - you could put a sliding hatch over the door.

Thank you both!

Mummymeister - can I ask what set up you'd recommend, we are very novice! We have a good sized garden, but the downside of this is that we'd find it hard to completely chicken proof it. We're not precious about our flower beds though, and the few veggies we do have could be easily screened off. Someone is at home on and off most days, so they would be guaranteed at least a few hours out of the run every day even in winter. We have a few people who have said they'll check in on them and feed them once a day when we are away/on holiday but whatever housing they have would need to be large enough for them to stay shut up on those days.

I should add that we are rural and the garden backs onto fields.

VerySmallSqueak - how often do you clean yours and how much time outside do yours get?

Best to clean as you go alone (poo picking) and a good living area clean out every few days.

Mine go out for a few hours to pretty much all day.

You could keep them shut in that set up while you are away but someone would need to come and shut them away in the house bit at dusk and let them out of it in the morning.

You will also need to make nest boxes in the house part.

Thanks! Do yours free range around your garden when they are out?

If we fixed wire under the run (I.e. fox proofed it) would they put themselves to bed when we're on holiday? I don't think we'd get someone to come twice a day.

Yes,and bear in mind they will be persistent buggers when it comes to new and innovative ways of getting to your veg patch!

I have never fixed wire under a run to stop the fox.I've always shut the chicken house at night,except on rare occasion.
Chickens will automatically put themselves away when it gets dusk.

If you have a good secure run you could leave them to go to bed alone,but remember it takes a lot to provide real security against the fox.I am sure there are others that successfully work by this system.

But whether you are there or not,day or night,a fox taking the chooks is a chance you will need to reconcile yourself with.

If a fox takes them despite taking all reasonable steps to prevent it, I could live with that. 'Tis life. However, I would feel awful if they were taken because of my all too frequent stupidity.

Depending in how well this year's veggies fare, next year's could always go in the front garden.

The run has been given to us (under 12 months old and in excellent condition). It's just a stack of panels at the moment so I think I might lo

..might look at ways I can hack it together in a more fox-proof and chicken-friendly manner.

Give it a go.
Adapt it to your needs.
Really it's only been the last few years that there seems to have been a real thing about what is right and wrong in housing chickens,with more and more companies trying to make a fast buck out of increasingly luxurious and bomb fox proof chicken houses.
For years we kept our chickens in an old garden shed we had adapted and it was great.We had it on a slabbed base and either let the chooks free range in the garden and the woods,or had them in an earth base run if we wanted them contained (like if we had chicks).
We did lose chickens to fox but never lost a single one from the run or from the chicken house when it was closed up.

I think sometimes it's worth a bit of a heightened fox risk to give the chooks a happy life and freedom sometimes rather than keeping them cooped up all the time in a highly fortified chookprison.

Mine are in a chookprison very similar to that dog run and seem happy enough. My landlord let me have the chooks but I don't think he'd be too pleased if they trashed the garden. I did feel a bit sorry for them not coming out on the grass for a scratch about so I bought them a portable run but they aren't as impressed with it as I hoped they'd be ungrateful wretches. They just stand about until I put them back in their normal woodchip-based run .

I forgot to check back to this thread! Sorry

Well, we have decided to fence off an enormous run at the end of our garden and stand the dog run/chicken house on paving slabs somewhere within it. I have spent the last two afternoons painting the sections and DH and I will assemble it this weekend.

It still needs some alterations; we need to create a door directly into the 'hut' bit of the run (for easy cleaning and access to eggs), some further fox-proofing, plus perches and nesting boxes.

The chickens will spend the day outside in the fenced-off area of the garden and be shut away before dusk. When we are away for the odd week, the chickens will stay shut in the (ex) dog run. The entire run will be standing on paving slabs, so they'll have to go without grass and dirt when this happens, but we don't go away all that often and at least we can be sure that the foxes will not burrow under and eat them all. (I should probably add that someone will pop round once a day to feed and check on them...)

I'm hoping the cleaning won't be too onerous, but we'll see how it goes and make adaptations if needed. I'm considering restricting their access to the 'outside' section of the dog run to only when the weather is really bad or when we go on holiday, in order to cut down on some of the poo-scraping time.

House and run look lovely- but, not fox proof. Chicken wire isnt fox proof, paving slabs around the edge aren't fox proof and shutting them away before dusk isn't fox proof.

Can you tell that I lost my first two hens in broad daylight to the fox :-)

For us, the digging the wire mesh under the run and the electric fence around the garden at full charge has been the only thing that's fox defensive - we've had a fox chew through the electric fence whilst its on!

How many hens are you planning to have? i have 7 with a 50m daytime run and don't find the cleaning to be to onerous :-)

Electric fence

Just 3 hens to start with, maybe more later...

Thanks to the advice here, the paving slabs will now run under the entire structure (so the whole thing will be on a solid base). Will they still find a way to get under? The wire on the run is very heavy duty, but there are a few areas where the wood meets the wire that I worry a small fox could exploit, given sufficient time and motivation . I had planned to use regular old chicken wire to double up in those areas, but will use wood now!

Heavy mesh wire and heavy paving slabs should be fine.
How big would the run be? Omlet's website say's that a 2x1m is fine for up to 6 chickens which seems a tad on the small side to me and i can imagine the ground would get trashed.

Have you decided which breed of hens to go for? round here point of lay hens (approx 16-8 weeks) cost £6.50 (cheapest possible price for plain brown hybrid) to £22 (fancy hybrid laying blue eggs) pure breeds will cost a tad more but lay less.

The dog run measures 135cm x 315cm in its entirety. That's including the house bit, which I estimate to be around 90cm. The fenced off area of the garden is vast though and, on a normal basis, that where they'll spend most of their day.

No idea which ones to go for! Friends recommend 'Bantams' but, according to the book I have, even that encompasses quite a few options. What would you recommend? I want one that won't attack the children ideally!

I'd get hybrids over bantams. Rescuing chooks can be incredibly rewarding so if you fancy that, have a look at BHWT website.

Ours is roughly the same size as the one in your link, we've put some ramps and a dust bath area in it to give them something to do. We did put some turf in...which they wrecked in 2 days.

Ours used to free range until a neighbour lost her girls in a fox attack so I was quite worried about how they'd cope being "cooped" up (excuse the pun!) but they seem fine. We let them free range most evenings and a lot of them time they come out for a bit and then jump back in to their house and potter about in there.

Pick the poo out everyday and give it a good clean out every fortnight in summer (to avoid red mite) and every 4-6 weeks in winter.

Hopefully none of them would attack the children! unless you get a 'boy' stick to girls - hybrids will lay more but not live as long as pure breeds, bantams are just small - doesn't appeal to me.

My star layer / top hen in the pecking order is a regular brown hybrid hen, she pecked a grape out of the hand of my two year old yesterday - toddler didnt notice, so i think as long as you stick with girls they will get along with the children just fine - and they will love finding the eggs.

A dog run can be modified to serve as a suitable home for chickens with careful adjustments, focusing on security enhancements to protect against predators, provision of shelter for weather protection and roosting, ample space to support their natural behaviors, and environmental enrichment. These adaptations must include a secure enclosure, a coop for nighttime safety and egg-laying, and access to necessities like fresh water and feed. With these considerations, a dog run can indeed be transformed into a conducive living space for chickens, ensuring their well-being and safety.
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