- ✓Know when and under what conditions to let the chickens out
- ✓Set up a run with shelter, shade, water and a fence
- ✓Protect the flock from predators and from diseases coming from outside
When to let the chickens out?
Not before 4 to 5 weeks. Before that age, the chicken is still fragile: it stays in the house, where heat, water and feed are under control. The run is an option, not an obligation: a coloured chicken also does very well in a house.
Before opening a run, check four conditions:
- The farm is fenced and protected.
- The house stays open to the chickens as a shelter, day and night.
- The ground is dry and well drained, with no puddles where the chickens drink dirty water.
- There is no backyard poultry or other animals around the farm.
Setting up the run
- Shelter: the house, accessible at all times. The chickens go back in at night and are shut in.
- Shade: trees, hedges or shade cloths. A run in full sun with no shade is a heat-stroke trap.
- Water: drinkers in the shade on the run too, washed every day and filled with cool water in the hot hours.
- Fence: strong wire mesh, with no holes or gaps underneath, checked every day.
The naked necks are the most comfortable on a sunny run: with fewer feathers, they lose heat more easily.
If space allows, divide the run into two parts used in turn: the grass grows back and the ground rests between two uses.
Predators
On a run, chickens are exposed: birds of prey by day, snakes, rats, dogs, cats and thieves at night. A single night without shutting the house can cost part of the flock.
- Bring the chickens in and count them every evening, then shut the house.
- Clear the bush around the fence and the house: snakes and rats like tall grass.
- Control rats permanently, without leaving feed lying around.
- Record the missing birds every evening: a figure that keeps coming back signals a gap in the fence.
Biosecurity on a run
The run brings your chickens into contact with the outside. Biosecurity becomes even more important than in a closed house.
- A single age group per farm.
- Footbath at the entrance, few visitors (with a register), clothing and boots kept for the farm.
- No backyard poultry nearby: they can bring in disease.
- Dead birds collected every day and destroyed far from the house.
Coloured chicks are not vaccinated at the hatchery. A flock that goes out on a run and stays several weeks on the farm must be protected according to the protocol of your area's veterinarian: tell them your chickens go outside, and they will take it into account.
On the run, the chicken pecks at grass and insects. But the growth targets are obtained with a complete feed: keep the ration in the house and keep weighing every week.
For the entrepreneur
- ›Fence and protect before letting the chickens out: a fence costs less than a flock decimated by predators.
- ›Install shade and water points on the run before the first flock.
- ›Tell your area's veterinarian about the run so that they can adapt the flock's protocol.
For the technician
- ›Count the chickens every evening as you bring them in, shut the house and record the missing birds.
- ›Check the fence, the water and the shade on the run every day.
- ›Keep the footbath clean and keep backyard poultry away.
The 3 questions to ask your technician this week
- How many chickens came in this evening, and are any missing?
- Does the fence have a hole or a gap under the wire mesh?
- Are the drinkers on the run in the shade and full of cool water?
Key points
- •Outdoor run possible from 4 to 5 weeks, if the farm is fenced and protected.
- •Shelter, shade, water and protection against predators: the four conditions.
- •The chickens are brought in, counted and shut in every evening.
- •No backyard poultry nearby; footbath and few visitors.
- •The run complements the feed, it does not replace it.