I have two considerations for making the moat only 3 or 4 feet wide.
First, there is an issue of garden space. My closet permanent raised
bed is 8 feet inside the 8 ft perimeter fence. I want to leave enough
room between the interior fence and the bed to be able to push a large
wheelbarrow through and mow if need be. That dictates that the widest
moat I could entertain would be about 4 feet across.
My second consideration is not what the grasshoppers can do, but what
the hawks, eagles, and owls will do. I have lost quite a few birds to
hawks and golden eagles. The hawks are ever present; the eagles come
and go depending on the year. This year looks to be an 'eagle' year as
I have seen 3 already. Since the moat is uncovered, I was hoping that
the smaller width would discourage swooping predators.
In deer
> country, the moat at six feet wide is designed to intimidate a deer
> from making the leap. I suspect Wonder Woman wants the eight-foot
> fence to stop the deer.
LOL, yup, when we replaced the fencing, I went back to the 8 footer
because I am sticking with what works.
Two six-footers will do the deed if the width
> is six feet.
Unless I bite the bullet and go buy some 6 foot dog fencing, I think
it's too late for me to do that.
> All that said, the square footage of a successful chicken moat
> depends on the size of the flock. If the poultry patrol is
> insufficient in number to keep the weeds gone, the moat becomes
> ineffective as a clean edge for the garden. It does keep the hens
> happy. And happy hens are half a homestead made. So if you, like
> most, would rather experiment with your own design, why just charge
> on! Don't say I didn't warn you.
In this case, it's less about experimentation than trying to make do
with what I have. If I go with my original plan of a 3 foot moat around
the garden, that will give me around 980 square feet of moat, not
including the covered 12x8 chain link dog kennel(which will most likely
be used for turkeys and not chickens in the future) and the coop which
will mostly be for roosting and laying eggs. At present, I have 25 2
month old pullets and 8 hens, a rooster, and maybe 8 or 9 chicks on the
way. I've got a broody barred rock whose eggs should hatch later this
week if I can keep the snakes out of there. So basically, counting a
good hatch, I should have 40 birds isolated in about 1000 square feet of
total space, which is 25 square feet per bird...
More thoughts??
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