New chicken run

[coopobot]

Hi all.

I was a member here a few years ago when i first had chickens. Sadly the fox had them away on christmas day a few years back when i left the neighbour in charge whilst away. Anyway... im back now and in the process of building a new run, at a new house.

This time it has solid foundations, a full metal caged run that measures 3m x 3m and will hopefully be a lot more predator proof.

However, the new house has more trees, more birds of different varieties and the neighbours have dogs. The new run will have to incorporate two decent sized Conifer trees So my main questions are:

1) Will the dogs barking annoy / scare the chickens?

2) How bad / dangerous is it if other bird poo gets into the run and the chickens peck away, tred through it etc?

Im based in Birmingham, England.

 

[aart]

1. They'll get used to them, unless they are constantly trying to get at the birds.
2. Best to keep wild birds out of the coop and run.
They carry pests and diseases that can infect your chickens.

The new run will have to incorporate two decent sized Conifer trees

Curious how you are going to build a secure run with large confers inside of it?
Got pics of the site?

Welcome Back to BYC! @coopobot
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[coopobot]

Thanks for the reply. The dogs wont be able to get near the chickens, they will be secure next door out of sight. They just bark a bit here and there.

The trees have their branches cut up to a decent height. So the lowest branch is about 8 foot high. The run is metal framed. It will be built up around the trees and then a netting over the top of it. Put into place in a few pieces and tied back together around the trees.

No photo available at the moment as its not built.

the wild birds wont be able to get into the run, but there poop will. Which is what im worried about / questioning?

 

[aart]

Put into place in a few pieces and tied back together around the trees.

Ah, that sounds good, have seen that done more than a few times.
You don't have raccoons, so that's good!

the wild birds wont be able to get into the run, but there poop will. Which is what im worried about / questioning?

I'm really not sure about the droppings, sorry.
Trying to think of a way to monitor just how much is entering the run.
If it's a LOT, might have to do something about it.

 

[coopobot]

Thankfully no racoons over here. Just the pesky foxes to be aware of.
thanks for your help aart. Appreciate the responses.

 

[aart]

Thankfully no racoons over here. Just the pesky foxes to be aware of.
thanks for your help aart. Appreciate the responses.

Tho grey fox can climb pretty well, more so than red fox.
...and ya'll do have stoat over there, they can get thru pretty small 'holes'.