chicken coops/runs/tractors/paddocks/pens/etc.

Ours are in a coop and run. We let them free-range a bit in the winter, but when gardening season starts, they have to be penned. Otherwise, I get no garden produce for us! They do have a large run with netting on top to protect them from hawks and to keep them in.

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If there is just one paddock, then it isn't a paddock. it's a run. To be a paddock, there has to be at least four paddocks and each paddock gets at least 30 days rest between vistits from the chickens and when the chickens do visit, they don't consume more than 30% of the vegetation.

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Where are you getting your definitions? A paddock, in the traditional sense, is a turn out run for exercise. What you're talking about is a rotational system.

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We use a variety of methods, depending on the situation and time of year. My usually layers sleep in an
old house trailer, and spend the day either free ranging or in a 20' x 40' enclosure. They don't get to
free range when I have melons or tomatoes, or I won't get any.

When we raise our meat birds, they are in movable hoophouses. We used to move them very day, but
have found its more convenient to put electric net around the hoophouses and use them only as night
housing. Yesterday, this backfired a bit. We got heavy rains and the hoophouse door had blown shut
with the turkeys outside. The dog and I had to go out in the rain, where they were 'hiding' in a tiny
clump af tall weeds, and put them back into the house. I put new fluffy straw in the bottom and they wer
making happy turkey noises again before we left.

When I want to hatch a particular breed, those chickens are separated into a dog kennel until I have
enough eggs.

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Mine are usually in chicken tractors. They are all loose and free-ranging right now, but I need to go out tonight after dark and catch them and put them back in their tractors again. I lose too many to raccoons if they are out at night.

Kathleen

Well then, I'm sticking with the term "pen". My chicken PEN is a permanent enclosure that is 50'x50' with trees, lots of vegetation and a chicken house in the middle. I only have three chickens and a duck in there and it looks like a jungle because there's no way they can eat all the vegetation in the PEN.

Hubby is thinking about putting a pig in there so then we'll have a chicken/pig pen.

I always thought paddocks were for horses.

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