How to Make a Chicken Grazing Box (Chicken Run Idea)
Come learn how to make a DIY chicken grazing box or fodder box. This fun and easy chicken run idea is a great boredom buster as it provides your flock with endless hours of entertainment, enrichment, AND nutritious greens.
Equipment
- heavy duty wire cutters or aviation snips
- Saw
- drill
Ingredients
- wood for a frame (2x4s or 2x6s)
- chicken wire or 1/2" hardware cloth for the top
- additional cross supports such as 2x2 or 2x4" boards, wood garden stakes, etc
- screws to assemble the wood frame, and wide-head screws to attach the wire
- chicken forage or pasture seed
Optional supplies
- soil and/or compost
- irrigation supplies
- removable cover
Instructions
- Choose a location in your chicken run that gets full sun to part shade, with fairly level ground.
- Construct a basic wood frame to the desired size and length. A box that is at least 4 to 6 inches tall is ideal (if going straight on the ground) or taller if you intend to add soil like a raised garden bed. Larger boxes will benefit from additional corner supports, such as short pieces of 2×4 or 4×4 inside each corner. See our detailed instructions on how to build a raised garden bed for more tips.
- Next, add soil and/or compost as needed. However, don’t fill it to the top like a regular raised garden bed! The soil level should be at least 3 to 4 inches (or up to 6 to 8 inches) below the top wire to allow space for the greens to grow.
- If you’re not adding additional soil to your box, loosen the existing ground by lightly tilling or working the top couple of inches.
- Sprinkle a generous amount of chicken forage seed evenly across the top of the soil, followed by a very light dusting of soil on top of that. Cover the seeds by no more than 1/4 to 1/2 inch of soil.
- We installed a basic drip irrigation system at this point (optional)
- Next, add cross supports across the width of the frame, spaced about every 2 feet to evenly support the wire.
- Cut the wire fencing cover to the size of the bed (or just larger) and attach the wire to the top of the grazing box frame. Pull it nice and tight as you do!
- To promote fast sprouting and growth, it’s essential to keep the seeds and soil surface evenly damp during germination.
- Most chicken forage seed should sprout within about a week. After a few weeks, the greens should grow tall enough for the chickens to reach and enjoy.
- Once all the fodder is eaten or dies back, either relocate the frame to a new location and start over, or simply re-seed the current bed.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!