Bruce
Herd Master
Welcome @Lereg
Since you are starting from scratch, I would try hard to follow the advice of some of the smarter people here and fence the perimeter first. Now that may not be the entire 20-30 acres, depends on the makeup of it. For example there may be some forest for cordwood or hay fields where you don't expect to house animals. You can cross fence after to make pastures as you start to bring in animals. And if you are new to all these types of animals, it probably would be a good idea to start with one or two types and once comfortable with their needs and demands on your time and wallet, add another.
Chickens are an easy first choice since they don't really need anything from you but food and water. No hooves to trim, teeth to file, piles of poop to pick up. I have a lot of pine shaving depth in my coop, just rake through it every morning. The chickens hang out in the barn alley all day if they don't want to go outside (ie, if there is white stuff on the ground out there). Otherwise they are outside all day as they please and go back to their coop of their own volition at night. I have lost a couple to foxes, near the end of April in the later afternoon. I'm thinking that is when their kits are born up here but there isn't an abundance of their natural food yet. They had to get pretty close up to the house and barns to get the hens. I also lost one to a coon (my fault!) and ASSUME its 'sister' was taken by a coon when we weren't home.
My girls stick to about 100' from any building and they do seem to prefer areas that have been mowed rather than tall wild plants. Maybe they feel safer if they can see some distance. HOWEVER, I have had some wander into tall weeds looking for tasty bugs so it isn't a given that they will stay in shorter vegetation. But another HOWEVER, they are still within about 100' from a building, their preference.
My understanding of sex links is they lay like machines but burn out fast, I've not had any. I don't know if some of them are decent dual purpose crosses for eating (cockerels) or making soup when they stop laying. If you are planning to keep your flock up by breeding your own replacements remember that sex links will not breed true since they are by definition a cross between 2 different breeds to yield a sex linked chick. You can, of course, make your own by choosing the proper rooster and hens.
Regarding chickens and runs: The generally accepted MINIMUM for a run is 10 sq ft/bird and that doesn't come close to suggesting "free range", just enough for the more dominant ones to not beat up too much on the less dominant ones. For 30 birds that would be a space 10'x30'. Looks big on paper (and the budget!!), not so much on the ground. They will decimate anything growing in a permanent run of that size in short order if that is the only outdoor space they have. You can get portable electric netting for chickens and move them around as you please. There is still a threat from avian predators but otherwise they should be fairly safe out there during the day and they can have a much larger area than they would with a permanent run. They will also fertilize more of your land You can have a permanent run attached to the coop for times you want them confined but not stuffed in their coop.
Again
Since you are starting from scratch, I would try hard to follow the advice of some of the smarter people here and fence the perimeter first. Now that may not be the entire 20-30 acres, depends on the makeup of it. For example there may be some forest for cordwood or hay fields where you don't expect to house animals. You can cross fence after to make pastures as you start to bring in animals. And if you are new to all these types of animals, it probably would be a good idea to start with one or two types and once comfortable with their needs and demands on your time and wallet, add another.
Chickens are an easy first choice since they don't really need anything from you but food and water. No hooves to trim, teeth to file, piles of poop to pick up. I have a lot of pine shaving depth in my coop, just rake through it every morning. The chickens hang out in the barn alley all day if they don't want to go outside (ie, if there is white stuff on the ground out there). Otherwise they are outside all day as they please and go back to their coop of their own volition at night. I have lost a couple to foxes, near the end of April in the later afternoon. I'm thinking that is when their kits are born up here but there isn't an abundance of their natural food yet. They had to get pretty close up to the house and barns to get the hens. I also lost one to a coon (my fault!) and ASSUME its 'sister' was taken by a coon when we weren't home.
My girls stick to about 100' from any building and they do seem to prefer areas that have been mowed rather than tall wild plants. Maybe they feel safer if they can see some distance. HOWEVER, I have had some wander into tall weeds looking for tasty bugs so it isn't a given that they will stay in shorter vegetation. But another HOWEVER, they are still within about 100' from a building, their preference.
My understanding of sex links is they lay like machines but burn out fast, I've not had any. I don't know if some of them are decent dual purpose crosses for eating (cockerels) or making soup when they stop laying. If you are planning to keep your flock up by breeding your own replacements remember that sex links will not breed true since they are by definition a cross between 2 different breeds to yield a sex linked chick. You can, of course, make your own by choosing the proper rooster and hens.
Regarding chickens and runs: The generally accepted MINIMUM for a run is 10 sq ft/bird and that doesn't come close to suggesting "free range", just enough for the more dominant ones to not beat up too much on the less dominant ones. For 30 birds that would be a space 10'x30'. Looks big on paper (and the budget!!), not so much on the ground. They will decimate anything growing in a permanent run of that size in short order if that is the only outdoor space they have. You can get portable electric netting for chickens and move them around as you please. There is still a threat from avian predators but otherwise they should be fairly safe out there during the day and they can have a much larger area than they would with a permanent run. They will also fertilize more of your land You can have a permanent run attached to the coop for times you want them confined but not stuffed in their coop.
Again