Funnels aren't just good for "Tin-man" hats!

[Chris623]

Quote:
I got the plastic netting framework finished and installed, so there won't be any little chickens flying around my shop.

I can rest easy until I'm ready to introduce them to their new coop and run.

 

[insiderart]

Whoa Chris... you just teasing us with locked photo boxes of what we might see???? If the content wasn't copyright protected?

 

[Chris623]

Can you see the pix now?

 

[kcfuerst]

Very, very nice set up; I like! So calming and rustic. I do have a question tho.... if I were a weasel, or a snake, or a skunk, could I grab one of your babies through that fence? Or even sneak inside for a delicious dinner? Oh my goodness I hope you will reinforce your fencing to be predator proof. Can't have you losing any precious cargo. I'm worried about safety.

 

[insiderart]

Looks great.... look at them in there giving you the stink eye!

 

[Chris623]

Good question, K8tieCat.

I raise llamas and the entire property is fenced in pens made of Hog panel. (which is what you are seeing in the sunlit portion of the previous photograph) My chickens will free range during the day and will be able to freely move throughout the property by going through the large holes in the fences. Their run, though made of the same panels, is covered tightly with 1/2" hardware cloth, as is the portion around and under the coop. At night-time, the chickens will come home to roost and the large door to the run closed behind them...............enclosing them in a totally predator-proof enclosure. When they go up to roost inside the coop, I'll close the pop door and only mosquitoes will be able to get inside at that point! I've made it so even blacksnakes can't penetrate the enclosure. Nothing will be able to dig under the enclosure or coop because I have 1" x 2" wire fencing underneath. So, if a four-legged critter comes onto the property, the chickens will be able to high-tail it inside any of the pens and be safe, or even head back to their coop, which was built inside the pen where my female llamas preside. All in all, I think I've done my homework, thanks to all I've read here on the forum and from discussions with several friends who are in the chicken business for a living. So all the weasel, snake, skunk, or raccoon visitor is going to be able to do is salivate as they watch a missed meal pace back and forth on a roost behind a 1/2" hardware cloth covered window!

 

[Chris623]

Sure glad I made the netting top for the brooder when I did! Just in the nick of time!

I've been hand feeding the girls to get them comfortable with me being around. Today, while sitting beside the brooder with my hand being "attacked" by 8 or so chicks, two of those disengaged from the eating frenzy decided it was time to fly up and sit on the side of the brooder (tub) and check out the "real" world. 19 days old and they already yearn for the big world!

 

[write2caroline]

My son was getting the stuff to put the chix out in the coop - he took off the wire brooder cover and left the room - when he came back he found the girls on the brooder edge looking at him quizzically- "what"? He had been in Germany for a month with School exchange program and missed all the fun - I told him they can fly but I don't think he belived me...Well the girls are now safely in the coop and the brooder is all cleaned out for the new chicks coming Monday or Tuesday. So he is not really going to miss all of the fun.
Cal
JAX FL

 

[Shared Acres]

Cute!