We have a 6 foot chain link area that is partitioned off for our chickens, ducks, guineas and turkeys. We also have coyotes, raccoons and birds of prey in our area, (a mated pair of coyotes and their pup live in a ravine that runs along our property). We have been unsuccessful shooting or trapping them. Since we live in a desert climate we have no sheds inside of our fencing for the birds. What we do have, are the roosting, nesting and rooster closets enclosed with tarps on the fences and overhead. Overhead the entire enclosures are covered in chicken wire, as well, so that nothing can get in, by climbing the fence, and nobody can get out. We have also sunk 12" wide boards into the ground all along the base of the fencing. As time goes on, we plan to replace the overhead tarps with plywood and asphalt shingles. We will also enclose, on the outer sides of the pens, where the roosting and nesting areas are with plywood.. These areas of the pens will only be small areas, as in our climate it's not so much our needing to keep our birds warm as to keeping them cool. The enclosures afford shade in the summer and keep the rain (such as it is) off them in the winter. You sound like you have a good plan.....do put in a ceiling of chicken wire or hardware cloth to keep the unwanted critters out and your critters in. You would be amazed what you can do with a bit of chicken wire, hardware cloth, duct tape and tarps. Also, we have several inches of sand on the ground in our enclosures. It makes mucking out the pens much easier as all we need to do is scoop with a horse manure rake that has 1/4 in. hardware cloth attached; much like a cat box litter scoop. Hope this was helpful and I didn't run off at the mouth, too much.Hello all!
We are new to this whole chicken thing. I am hoping to get some input from some experienced chicken people.Below I have inserted a picture of the shed we plan on using.
Ok so we are going to turn our old garden shed into our coop. It was initially going to be the kennel for our daughters 4 huskies, but I digress.Anyway we have a 6 foot high chain link fence around it that we are going to partition off part of for the run. I know we have coyotes, red fox, and a hawk that likes to sit in one of our pines and view the surrounding fields. We are not going to be able to put a top on the whole thing because there is a rather large pine tree behind the garage (larger building in the photo). And with the shed/coop having a rounded top I am kind of wondering how to go about "topping" off the area directly behind it which will become the run. We currently have leaner arms and chicken wire running along the perimeter of the kennel. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Also I am wondering if it would still be considered "free range" if we allow the chicken access to the rest of the kennel area which extends behind both the shed and garage to the opposite side of the big pine tree?
None. In the past when we allowed them to free range we had some losses to coyotes and raccoons. A couple of months ago the coyote pair, that lives, nearby jumped our 4 foot back yard fence, came onto our courtyard and made off with one of our cats. But, so far they have been unable to gain access to our chickens, ducks, guineas and turkeys. I did forget to mention that all of the 6 foot chain link fencing has 1/2 inch hardware cloth on the bottom 3' of the fencing, making it impossible, especially for raccoons, to reach inside the fence.
