I don't know anything about keeping chickens (chooks, as I called them growing up in Australia) but this looks like a really cool idea!
I don't keep chickens but I like that idea. They're still free ranging but protected at the same time as are the veggies. I wonder if it's easy enough to get them back in the hen house at night? I presume the house and cages could be moved to wherever you wanted to put them too.
Eileen, the runs/cages in the picture looks easily moveable. They don't look dug into the ground or anything. So yeah, I guess you can configure them pretty much any way you want. As far as getting them to the hen house, won't they find their own way back? I mean, don't chooks just go roost somewhere once it gets dark?
I haven't a clue Ronni never having experienced keeping chooks but I'm sure Marlingardener and others will set me straight.
"don't chooks just go roost somewhere once it gets dark?" Oh, yeah--in trees, on the roof, any place that is difficult to get them down and into a nice safe coop. Chickens are not Mensa candidates and don't understand the concept of nighttime predators. Those wire runs are a very good idea, and hens would certainly enjoy them. The only problem I can see with the wire runs in the photo is that chickens dig. I mean they could put Welsh tin miners to shame! They dig at any edge--our inside coop is lined with bricks so they don't dig their way out, and the outside coop is lined with 4'x4's for the same reason. We have a chicken tractor (basically a moveable cage with two wheels that gets trotted about like a wheelbarrow) and I put three or four of the ladies into it to weed and fertilize garden spots. If they do manage to get out they simply head for the outside coop to keep the other chickens company. I only let them into the tractor or a few to free-range when I am out and can keep an eye on them. Now, about eggs. In the photo there would be no problem finding the eggs. However, free-range chickens lay eggs in the most inaccessible places possible, then they stand around and giggle while the human contorts him/herself to get the eggs. Yes, I do love my hens, but some days I wonder why!
This is a pretty neat little play pen as well. Put it right in the backyard. Seems like a fun way to raise some chickens.
That wouldn't work for me. I have too many chickens. I would need miles of that cute little fence tunnel. LOL
