Chicken moats

Elizabeth · #1 02/14/08, 11:30 AM

Looking for ideas for a chicken moat. We will be building one around our garden this year. This is what we have planned so far-

Garden area is 120'x150'. The moat will be on two sides and one end of the area. The fencing will be 4' chain link. We will have lots of gates so that we can get in and out of the moat if needed. I am planning on using a deep litter system and rotating the chickens periodically. I have decided to build a portable hen house, similar to one which appeared on the cover of Countryside magazine a few years ago. The hen house will not be IN the moat, but will sit just inside the fence in the garden. It will be placed at the end of a path so that it will be easy to move as needed. It will have nest boxes which can be accessed from the garden area so that it will not be necessary to enter the moat to collect eggs. Gates will be installed at predetermined places along the fence so that when the hen house is in place the gate can be left open and the chickens can enter the hen house through the gap in the fence. Roosts will also be in the hen house, as will food and water.

I think that the only thing I haven't figured out is how to keep the chickens in the moat. The two fences will be approx 4' apart. I am thinking about installing a piece of 1/8" aircraft cable above the middle of the moat at a height of 6 or 7' and then draping a piece of flight netting over it so that the netting hangs down over the sides of the fence. I may add some shade cloth in a few areas and/or build a little roof for shade- haven't decided exactly what, yet.

Any ideas? Anything else I have overlooked?

Thanks in advance for any input.

Simpler Times · #2 02/14/08, 07:25 PM

Sounds neat. HAve you thought about some way to secure the chicken house at night from predators? Maybe line the floor with chicken wire and have a door that you can close after all the chickens are inside? Also, you say you can access the nest boxes without entering the moat/house. How about designing it so you can access the feed and water without entering as well?

Elizabeth · #3 02/14/08, 08:18 PM

ST- just outside of the moat will be a high tensile electric fence to keep deer out of the orchard/garden. The high tensile wire will be stretched on the outside of 4"x4" wooden posts; the outside run of chain link mesh will be attached to the inside of the wooden posts. Then, 4' from that will be the second run of chain link mesh. We plan on starting the electric fence low enough to keep small critters out of the area. The hen house will be on the garden side of the moat so we should be okay as far as predators.

Will definitely put the feed and water where they will be accessible from outside- thanks for the reminder.

Meg Z · #4 02/14/08, 08:57 PM

I recently posted pics of my chickenhouse/moat/garden set-up in the poultry forum, if you're interested. My garden is smaller than the one you plan. My chickenhouse is permanent, and the moat goes all the way around the garden. Most of my moat is 6 ft wide, although at one end it's 14 feet...the six plus the depth of the chickenhouse (8 x 20). My fences are four feet tall, and I have no trouble keeping chickens in at all...I just keep heavy breeds.

At any rate, the thread with pics is over in poultry. I don't know how to post a link to it.

Meg

edited to add...I think this is it.
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sho...d.php?t=232555

MaKettle · #5 02/15/08, 09:47 AM

Sounds nifty! There was one featured in Mother Earth some years back, and the authors swore they had no more deer damage in the garden.

Callieslamb · #6 02/15/08, 01:39 PM

a moat this year. Do you think you might need waterers in different locations with that kind of distance? I am just doing an "L" shaped moat this year. My garden is 100x75 and I am planning on at least a waterer on each end of the "L" as well as their regular one in their present run.

I was thinking I needed 10-20 feet depth, but I can see from the plans and pictures here that perhaps that is too large. Maybe I will narrow that down a bit. Thanks for posting about this!

rafter · #7 02/19/08, 11:38 AM

I haven't been around on a steady basis the past couple years, but Simpleman had a cool moat when he lived in the Ozarks. Is he still around?

fishhead · #8 02/19/08, 01:11 PM

What's the purpose of the moat?

That's a lot of fencing for very little square footage of chicken yard. An electric fence wire around the garden will keep the deer out.

Nancy · #9 02/19/08, 04:48 PM

I remember Simpleman's moat too. He had such a great place. Where are you Ernest ?

Nellie · #10 02/19/08, 05:02 PM

Yes, please explain what a chicken moat is...

Meg Z · #11 02/19/08, 07:53 PM

My moat isn't to keep deer out. It's to get the chickens to do bug patrol without being able to damage the garden itself. They manage to get a lot of the flying and crawling critters that head toward the garden. A side affect is no rabbits or deer have ever gotten in the garden...nice side affect, but not the purpose My inner fence is just poultry wire, so minimal expense on it.

I could fence the garden, and then fence a chicken yard separately, I guess. I don't like electric...electricity goes out. And it wouldn't keep out the rabbits, which would be a bigger problem for me that the deer. So it would still be a solid fence. Might as well get as much out of them as I can.

Off season, I let the chickens in to the garden. They are all the tilling my garden has ever had. When it's planting time, I just rake it back into beds and plant stuff...after I empty all the compost bins in there and let the chickens spread it for me. (everything here has to work, even the chickens) And I've never used any sort of chemical preparation on my garden...no fertilizer, pesticide, fungicide, herbicide....don't need 'em. Compost and chickens...I love it.

Meg

Elizabeth · #12 02/19/08, 08:25 PM

Thanks for your posts Meg. I did check out the link you provided- awesome setup. We are going to have mostly Light Brahmas, along with some ducks and geese, so maybe they are heavy enough that they will not try to fly out of the moat.

Another reason for the moat surrounding the garden is to (hopefully) keep grass and weeds from creeping into the garden from outside the fence. If we get the chicken/moat ratio right the birds should keep the moat free of any plants which might otherwise encroach.

fishhead · #13 02/20/08, 08:28 AM

We have quackgrass here and it will definitely creep under a fence and make a lot of work for you. I can see where the moat would prevent that if it were wide enough.

I'm putting chickens in my abandoned garden this summer to kill off the weeds and fertilize the soil so I can plant in 2009. I've got lots of goat bedding and old straw to add. Maybe I'll just dump it into big piles and let the chickens do the spreading like you suggest.

ann in tn · #14 02/20/08, 09:20 AM

I would like to get some chickens - ssshhhhh.....haven't told hubby yet

Thank you for posting pictures of your coop and moats. I am unsure what we will do. Probably won't be able to do chickens til next year as we need to build coop/fence.

sancraft · #15 02/20/08, 11:43 AM

Boy, I really like that. I think I'll incorporate it when we get chickens again.