Chunnel Wire
What are the Top Pros and Cons of Chicken Chunnels? Given that space for keeping chickens is a premium in the suburbs, I recommend the use of chicken chunnel. I find these structures to be quite helpful when it comes to providing chickens with more space in your backyard. So, I present to you a simple solution that will help your birds move around in a confined space. Chicken chunnel or rather a chicken channel is the ultimate solution in this case.
What are the top pros and cons of chicken chunnels? This simple structure comes with a lot of benefits to you and your birds. A chicken chunnel has some disadvantages as well. And that’s exactly what we are going to discuss in detail.
Chunnels, also known as chicken tunnels or simply channels, is a great addition to your backyard flock. These tunnels are in the form of a fenced chicken ‘highway’ running around a designated area within the yard. Depending on their size and design, chicken chunnels can be rotated periodically to cover different locations. Below are the top pros and cons of chicken chunnels that you should know.
Pros and Cons of Chicken Chunnel in Your Yard
Pros of a Chicken Chunnel
Chicken Chunnels Give Your Chicken Freedom to Explore
- When you set up a good chicken chunnel, it will give your birds absolute freedom to explore their surroundings. In the process of discovering the world around them, your chickens will also find their favorite treats.
- During their time inside the chunnel, chickens can easily find insects, worms and some edible plants without ruining your yard. This is an ideal situation not only for your birds and your flower gardens but also for you. These structures will help protect your gardens and other ornamental crops from an invasion of chickens on free-range.
Chicken Chunnels Allows you to Let Out Your Birds at Specific Hours of the Day
- Chicken Chunnels enable you to take out your chickens at a specific time of the time. Also, these structures help in restricting chickens to certain sections if you don’t want them to move around.
- At least, they keep your birds in one place while they are foraging unlike letting them roam. In other words, chicken chunnels help you to control the movement of your birds in your yard and keeping everything in order.
Chicken Chunnels Can Help Keep Your Grass Tripped Down
The best thing about chicken chunnels is that they are mobile. This means you can move them from one place to another within your yard. In the process of relocating these tunnels, you will help keep your grass tripped down. - On the other hand, moving these structures will prevent any given section of your yard from getting worn down throughout.
- After your birds are done with eating all the tasty edibles in their chunnels, you can move it to another location. Moving your birds to a new place will expose them to fresh plants and bugs to supplement their diet.
- Additionally, the old path gets a chance to rejuvenate before the birds are brought back in a few days. If you have enough chickens in your small yard, they can also act as lawnmowers to keep your grass short.
Chicken Chunnels Protect Your Birds from Predators
- Even though these structures give your chickens some freedom to move around, they also protect them against predators.
- Chicken chunnels are usually constructed using mesh wire to keep the chickens confined to certain places. This allows them to forage for their favorite meals throughout the day while under protection from dangerous predators.
- These chicken tunnels are usually sturdy and will not allow larger predators to access your birds. That is why they are a perfect choice to keep your flock of chickens safe when free-ranging. Most importantly, they are easy to construct as well as moving them around your backyard while keeping your birds safe.
Chicken Chunnels Help Control Weeds and Pests in Your Backyard
- One of the top pros and cons of chicken chunnels is keeping down weeds and insects in your yard. To begin with, this structure allows your birds to deposit ‘fertilizer’ at the exact place it is needed. Chicken manure contains essential nutrients for certain crops to thrive including weeds.
- As your birds forage inside these tunnels, they feed on various vegetation they come across. At the same time, they scratch the ground to uproot these plants or weeds while looking for their favorite edibles.
- Whenever they find worms, bugs, insects and small animals such as mice, they don’t spare them either. In the long run, they help you get rid of many pests that may be hiding in the soil. Additionally, they prepare the soil for the next planting season.
Chicken Chunnels Require Less Space
Far North Welded Wire 14 Gauge
Space plays a significant factor in raising chickens, especially on a free-range. Unlike other domestic animals, chickens don’t require a large area. That’s why many people raise them in urban areas where space is limited.
- With chicken chunnels, you can still confine your birds in small areas in your backyard. These structures control the movement of your birds in a designated area of your choice.
- In addition, they allow you to have full control of your birds at any given time of the day. When it is hot you should ensure that your chickens get enough shade to keep them comfortable while walking up and down these tunnels.
Chicken Chunnels Keep Your Birds Active and healthy
- Even though chicken chunnels confine your birds, they also help them to stay healthy and fit. These tunnels provide your chickens with enough space to travel all around the perimeter in search of food or water.
- While moving from one location to another, your chicken remains active all day long. This acts as some form of exercise that helps them to stay active, alert and happy throughout.
Cons of a Chicken Chunnel
Chicken Chunnels Can Destroy Your Lawn
- Chickens have a nasty habit of scratching at anything around them. Even though this practice helps them find food, it can also destroy your lawn. This happens quite often if you fail to provide them with opportunities to roam and scratch the ground in other locations.
Chicken Chunnels Need Your Attention
- Since chickens like to create dust and scatter loose soil around them, you’ll have to pay attention to their chunnels. Keeping an eye on your bird while inside these tunnels can be a tiresome task. Also, this task will involve making sure that the places destroyed by scratching the ground are leveled to look good.
Chicken Chunnels Require Your Commitment
- If you are a busy person, you’ll find it difficult to keep up with your birds while they’re inside their chunnels. To make it worse, you will have to determine the right time to move these tunnels from place to place. This is another time-consuming exercise that you will find somehow challenging.
Chicken Chunnels May Interfere with the growth of Certain Plants
- Although these tunnels accommodate more birds, they can also have a great impact on the growth of certain plants. As mentioned earlier, chickens scratch the ground and in doing so, they end up uprooting some crops. So, there is a possibility of causing plants such as grass not to grow again for quite some time. This can change the entire outlook of your lawn or yard.
Chicken Chunnels Make it Difficult to Collect Manure
- Unlike when your chickens are in their coops, collecting droppings can prove an exercise in futility if they’re in tunnels. Furthermore, some tunnels are too small to enable you to access the droppings. Additionally, your birds are on the constant move, meaning that they will scatter their droppings all over their designated space. This denies you a chance to effectively collect manure
Chicken Chunnels Will Interfere with Egg Collection
- Given that your birds will be moving up and down the tunnels, you may not account for the eggs laid. This can be quite frustrating especially when you don’t have time to monitor your chickens while roaming.
Chicken Chunnels Encourage Your Birds to Eat Harmful Plants
- Now that your chickens are only limited to forage in specific areas, they may resort to consuming dangerous plants or harmful chemicals. If you are not careful, such plants or chemicals may affect their health and cause death.
Related Questions
How many chickens can you keep in one chunnel? It depends on the size of the tunnel and the number of birds in your backyard. Most importantly, these structures are large enough to accommodate a large number of chickens at once.
Which is the best material for constructing a chicken chunnel? Chick mesh wire is the material of choice when it comes to designing and building chicken chunnels. The material is light, takes less time and requires less labor when making chicken tunnels.
In Conclusion
Chicken chunnels are important structures for your chickens on a free-range. They protect your birds and keep your yard organized among other uses. With that in mind, you may use them to confine your backyard chickens when free-ranging.
Below is a Pinterest friendly photo…. so you can pin it to your Chicken Board!!
