Our Chicken Tunnels, Coop, and Run Setup around the Garden 

I’ve got a friend who literally lets his chickens and rabbits free range in his garden. I have no idea why they don’t eat his garden but they don’t. They only eat the bugs and weeds. He lets them out everyday and then they go back to their hutches every night. It’s the damndest thing I’ve ever seen.

I'm sitting in my apartment in Stockholm, being an operating technician, scribbling down tips from you if I ever just - dump it all and move out into a place where I can have chickens… Lovely garden and setup!

Great video! Love you chicken tunnels! I've never had those I garden the way my Mama taught me. Our chickens free range with me every evening after work in warm weather, about 8 months out of the year where i live. I work in the garden and they scratch and peck at the bugs and weeds I throw them. I have a combination of raised beds, some gravel in between and ground plantings. My method is to put up chicken wire when everything is getting started. Everthing gets it...in the ground and on top of the raised beds and the chickens learn this area is off limits with discouraging hand claps and shooing as well. When I take down the chicken wire 2-3 weeks later they pretty much leave everything alone. If they come near the plants I give them the Southern Mama "AANNT" and they turn right around. This training time is worth it because they really keep bug/pest populations in check. Bugs are more destructive. I have some stumps, perches for them too in the garden. I also have 3 compost piles on the ground that they love. They turn it for me and get lots of worms as a treat and added bonus for me they add some chicken poo to the compost. Chickens can be in the garden free ranging successfully you just have to set boundaries with them. Just like with EVERTHING, without boundaries destruction will follow.

Your husband did an awesome job building the chicken pen, great ideas for the yard birds and your garden. love it!

I can't wait to try this system in some of my gardens. I usually have to stop allowing my birds free range from mid-April to Sept. because they WILL scratch everything to smithereens and help themselves to anything they like. It is bad enough to have pheasants and quail dust bathing in the corn and squash, but they have taught the chickies to jump up for corn and other small grains, and I can forget about having lettuce and peas. This seems like a good plan to keep the chickens busy where I want them, and they will love the grasshoppers and weeds I scare up.

Awesome, I'm sold, I bet this will be a god-send for dealing with my 2 annual grasshopper infestations. Soon as the rains get here thousands of grasshoppers from the fields swarm my gardens and landscapes.

this is such a smart set up for ANYONE to have if you own chickens !! good job !

I watched some time ago, plus 6 months back and today i just received funding for my little chicken project. Thank you so much for the inspiration.

Great idea. I learned the hard way about letting the chickens into my garden area. There are dangers in the garden for chickens. Tomato plants are toxic and beans. A peacock is the only bird I've seen go through a garden and only eat insects and bugs. They don't touch the fruit or vegetables. A chicken damages the fruit or vegetable and eventually rots on the vine or bush. My girls loved fresh pepper leaves. Almost destroyed my entire pepper plant row.

To having a chicken tunnel beside a garden of sorts. Is so amazing to see with the new hen hut.

I loved how the chickens follow her around, very charming.

What a fun idea, instead of fencing myself and my front door in and giving them 70 acres to roam, I could create some more boundaries with benefits. Well done, and thank you for sharing!

To make a very strong fertilizer put a big drum up on bricks/cinders so you can put a bucket under neat it, make it lean a bit forward so the drips fall in the bucket, make a small hole 3 fingers on the side of the drum up from the bottom and fill the drum with chicken manure and dead leafs , every time you need to fertilize the plants pour a bucket of water in the drum and let it drip out of the bottom hole in to the empty bucket.

I know very little about chicken farming, but your tunnel/run seems to allow them a lot of opportunity to not feel cooped up. They seem happy and their help with weeds is great.

Keeping weeds down around fencing is actually a regular problem in gardening, since weeding tools often get caught in the fencing, and may damage fencing over time. Making chicken tunnels around the garden seems like a great way to reduce perimeter weeds, and feed the chickens at the same time.

What a gorgeous place you have there. It took a lot of TLC and love I am sure. Thanks for sharing...

The way you did the chicken tunnels to serve as cleaning out boarders like that deserves a nobel prize for the exceptional ingenuity in fulfilling important functions that would be accmplished any other way. The protection of the chickens is great but way it makes a yard border and serves in the multiple important purposes is genius.

Finally a chicken 🐔🍗 advocate A generation of baby 🐥🍼 chicks 🐔 will thank you

I don’t have chickens yet. If I ever get them I’d like to do this. It’s something that i never wouldn’t thought of.

when I was a kid we always got 200 chick's on the farm every spring.. the chickens , ran freely on the farm. We let them out ofvthe chicken coop in the morning and shut them up at night. never had a problem.

The zip ties are easy and work well but the sun will bake them and make them very brittle which means crafty fox and raccoons can rip them free and get in the smallest of openings. I had to make some very sturdy animal proof runs and coops for my chickens and on any fence mending I use wire or steel zip ties. I keep any sharp wire ends from sticking out which could snag and injure a chicken. Also have to worry about digging underneath any fence or runs. I always bend a 12” section of fencing or lay down and attach a carpet of fencing at the base of the runs or fence and bury it shallow topped with gravel to discourage digging. The rain eventually helps the gravel to sink into the fencing with the soil and makes for a non friendly digging attempt. I make some homemade tent pegs with thin ribar rods and drive them down 2’ deep in any section of run or fence that needs more ground support. I had an extra pile of bricks from a decorative wall I built and lined the base of the coop area to keep diggers out. One thing that is so important but very often overlooked that will greatly increase the lifespan of your coop is to take the time to apply flashing to any lumber that touches the ground. Get a roll of flashing and mold it to your lumber first before putting it together. Or…..you can use steel 2x4’s. My biggest problems have been from fox and raccoons but if your chickens are free range and the local hawks find out they can deplete your flock very quickly. I tried free ranging mine and once the hawks found out how easy it was they would hit them Hard.

Very clever ideas with the huge watering bucket and the tunnel with the dogs on the side of it! Thank you for this tour of your garden area!!

JILL very good for your chickens. you can make them more comfortable when roosting by having a wide board as chickens cannot grab a narrow board as small birds

Chicken are such engaging creatures.

Nice video, love to see yor chicken very comfortable and you manage them very well, you and your husband have very creative mind. This video is very useful for many chicken farners, thanks for sharing your practical practices and ideas, stay blessed and live happily 😊😊😊

I love that your coop matches your top! Beautifully coordinated 😍

That is a wonderful garden and chicken tunnels!

I love how your hen is following you inside the tunnel.

I had this idea about a Year and a half ago, to make tunnel runs around my garden... I never got aroubd to trying it so Thanks for making this video! This is awesome. Just motivated me to work on this! Blessings.

One of the slickest things that I’ve seen for chickens in a setup like yours, was a moveable fence. The rig was an open frame work, about 12’ long X about 6’ wide X about 4’ high. It was a long “box” outline made of 2X4s running around the top and bottom perimeters, connected with verticals at the four corners, and with 2X2 verticals midway of the long sides. Chicken wire fence was all around the sides. The enclosure was not fastened to the ground. Some breeds of chickens might need fencing over the top too? On one end, a wheel was bolted to both the left and right hand uprights. The wheels held up that end an inch or two above the ground. On the other end were handles. You could pick up the handles, and wheel the enclosure - with or without chickens enclosed - around the lawn. They would eat the bugs etc in an area for a few hours, and then get moved to a new area to eat bugs etc there. This helped to decrease bugs and increase fertilizer. I imagine it would be a good idea to inspect for eggs before moving the enclosure. Courtesy of Half Vast

I've been thinking about doing something similar for years. Glad to have stumbled on your channel... Beautiful perennial garden!

I LOVE this idea with the tunnels around the garden. So many great reasons for it!!!! I will for sure try to do this in our garden.

Tent pegs works for me, on my " oh I'll make a temp run here", also welded up a cage, 4x4x16 that has wheel barrow wheels on hinges, an a could of pipe handles, used chainlink, Google superstrut, it's used for running electrical in industrial building, lots of hardware available, it's cheap, also used it for a greenhouse, attach the covering with what's called " wiggle wire" here in Arizona wood get killed by the heat .

I like you storage area in the coop

Nice that you're chickens get to free range safely. Great job...

I am going to do this! What a fantastic idea. Thank you.

Love this! Thanks for sharing, your furry and feathered babes look so loved.. and your garden. Obviously your love shines brightly.

This is so cool and efficient. You can probably make the route interesting too.

Nice. I like the chicken tunnel idea. Thanks for sharing.

Brilliantly!! done. You may have just started a revolutionary change in that industry.

Beautiful place you have there! Might want to change that water more than twice a year.

I definitely want a chicken tunnel! But I’m planning on making it a D shape, so hopefully I can prevent breaches

Those high parts where you put the pine cones could be easily fixed with tent pegs, long ones will hold the wire to the ground once hammered in.

Great idea. I love it. My next project is tunnels, yay.

Very good idea and the hens are helping earn their keep and provide a valuable service!!!

Just a word about people wanting chickens for eggs. 1st - provide several small boxes with a flap to cover one side. They tend to lay their eggs in darker spaces. If you find them laying eggs where you don't want them to, pick up the eggs as soon as you find them and if where they did lay was also dark but not in the nest, find a way to bring light into that area. Once eggs are laid if you allow the hens to brood they will stop laying during that time, so harvest all of your eggs daily. Layers tend to lay their eggs early in the morning. Do these things and you have better luck with egg production.

He did an amazing job!!

Wow!!! Thank you so much for the tour. I think you have great set up. I would love to try something like this when I move to my property. Amazing!!!

I enjoyed your video and I subscribed. Blessing and love from Helen in Ga.

You can also collect rain water with the barrel + roof with water pipe/frame that transport the water to the barrel.

Outstanding garden I loved it thank you really good idea

Love it, I was planning to do something similar for our garden once the house is built.

Very good idea, beautiful garden, thank you for sharing.

I love this! I especially appreciate the info on the hawks. We have a lot of hawks bc we are in the central fly zone.

Love the idea. Giving them more freedom And protection. Perhaps you can close it of a little and plant some grass or lettuce for them at the end part.

Articulately and succinctly presented. Good job !

Wow first time I've seen something like this. What a great idea. Like the set-up

You have a really nice set up for the birds. Thanks for sharing.

great idea. I was hinking about doing the same to connect my run to the garden for weed control during the non-growing season.

Have you considered an accordion hoop leading to a lightweight easily moved and staked down chicken grazer . Chicken wire !" size with PVC or CPVC 1/2 using 3 way and some 4way connectors for hoop house and you can put it together flat on the ground and then stake one side and then push from other side to raise hoop to elevation desired. The 4 ways are for bottom connectors once you determine width then you install hoop ends and bottom pipes to keep it in place and easily moved. Stake it securely each time you move to new location every 2 to 3 days and plant fast growing grass. Build the run as long as necessary and make hoops for run from !/2 in. CPVC Hot Water PVC type. Sorry about description if interested reply. You must close chickens indoors every night.

Now I want a chicken tunnel. I need chickens first though.

Wow that’s genius..like a chicken highway that maintains it self..👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻🐓🐓🐓

Nice video,and great Set-up. Nice place for gardening.

Absolutely amazing. Everything... & the chic's following you. Tranquility. I have a tiny garden - but two chickens coming soon. People with large property gardens here in Scotland - build houses for sale & profit. Soooo sad. Much love to all, from nr Limekilns 💛

Excellent video

What a great video. Loved it.

It’s beautiful, great garden too!

you all have a nice set up there!

Would have loved to see the waterer setup.

Great video 👍🏻 👏 👍🏻 👏 Great channel 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

This is the best chicken tunnel I've ever seen. You should lengthen it.

This is a good video and educational also. Love chickens they are good pets.

Cool idea chicken tunnels. They are bug eaters. Waiting at the door to get out to get to the bugs.

So cool great for weed control and give that extra walking space for pennies on the dollar . Can't show you an Acer run we built under netting for security reasons but this is great

That’s a great idea! I may try that with my free rangers some how 🤔

Thanks 👍 sounds and looks like a great idea, I'll try it...

What a brilliant idea. Thanks for sharing that. 🌟

Awesome!! Love this idea. My chickens would absolutely love this. Thanks for the inspiration!!

😂your shirt totally matches the coup. Awsome😊 I saw a dress like that, I should have bought it.

Pretty cute chicken chick!

What a brilliant idea! Thanks for sharing

Thank you for your inspiration. I will implement your chicken tunnels in my garden! I love your idea ❤❤❤

RE: Chicken Run… add mulch (and kitchen scraps) to the run. What the chickens don’t eat breaks down. In a year, dig down for top grade compost. Chickens turn and till it; and manure it as well.

"Rabbits and other predators." Must be a Monty Python fan. haha!

Journey with Jill, proudly South African? Neat grounds, sorted system, electric fence, Bushveld chickens, dead give away. X

This is wonderful, thank you

Great idea! Good job . Thanks

Love it. Thanks for sharing.

NICE JOB, excellent idea. Thanks for sharing.

What a great idea.We are definitley considering doing that

What a great idea!

That is a really good idea

Awesome idea!!

Have you considered getting a guard goose and letting them free roam a bit more?

Thanks. Great inspiration

Great idea. I may do that this spring. Great job!

love the chicken tunnels. great idea. Hope you don't mind if I use it.

We have devastating swarms of grasshoppers annually...I wonder if this would make outdoor gardening possible for us. The last two years grasshoppers ate everything in a matter of days

I think I would have cut it and rolled it and fastened it at the bottom to keep the chickens or predators from going under

That's so smart 🤓