Great design and I love the wonderful little touches you added! Thanks for sharing your page with us
New Hampshire Coop and Run
- Thread starter DraigAthar
- Start date
DraigAthar-You have a GREAT set-up. Can you expand a little on your electric fencing? I live in the city and want to let my girls 'free range' for a while each day, and that looks like the way to go. Do your hens fly over the fence? Please elaborate.
Super designing job!
Very cute coop! I love it! Especially love the flower beds. I think I'll have to do that with mine, too!
AlienChick
Crowing
I so want to plant a garden coop!
LOVE your ideas.
Those sunflowers are gorgeous!
Great job!
LOVE your ideas.
Those sunflowers are gorgeous!
Great job!
Wow that looks great! Your girls sure seem to like it
Beautiful!
I'm so jealous!
- Thread starter
- #19
Quote:
Thanks! The fence is 'electro-web' portable fencing. I bought mine at Premier 1 online, but it's available from several suppliers. Here's a link to the specific one I bought, I like it because it has narrower spaces between wires so grown birds can't slip through them: http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=44079&cat_id=139
The girls generally respect the fence. We left it on under supervision when they first had it. We watched to make sure no one got tangled or hurt when they ran into it. Initially they tried to squeeze through it a couple of times, until they each got zapped once or twice. After that they stayed clear of it. The fence is meant more to keep predators out than the chickens in, but it works both ways. It doesn't protect against hawks, of course. And a determined fox would figure out how to leap over it. But it's better than nothing! And once the hens figured out to stay inside of it, we felt better about leaving them outside while were elsewhere in the yard. If Brian's out mowing the lawn, for instance, he might not have line of sight with the chickens but he's still happy to leave them out in the fenced area because a fox isn't likely to come around when he's out on the mower and the girls will stay put inside the fence.
They have flown over it once or twice, but it's always been for a reason. They know the sound of the scratch bucket when I shake it, and once I shook it before I'd stepped inside the fence. One of the girls got overly excited about the scratch and flew right over the fence toward me! But then she flew right back in again once I stepped over it with the scratch. Another time was recently, after we'd pulled all of the plants out of the garden for the winter and it was just bare earth. The fence was still surrounding the garden, but there wasn't much there for them to do anymore with all the plants and bugs gone. And the ground was semi-frozen that day, so they couldn't even scratch much. One hen flew over the fence and ran toward the trees behind the garden to scratch around in the pine needles for grubs. Three other hens figured out they could follow her, and we had to round them back up again. So we moved the fence to include some grass and a tree, and they haven't flown over it since. If they are happy with what's inside the fence they have no reason to leave. But I always have a back-up plan - if they get too good at flying over the fence, I'll trim their wing feathers so they can't fly as well. They don't need to fly to get to any part of the coop and run, so I'd be okay with grounding them. But I haven't needed to yet!
Amy
p.s. don't use this kind of fencing with chicks! I waited until mine were mostly grown to introduce them to the fencing. smaller birds can slip through the spaces in the fence and might get caught and zapped repeatedly, not good!
Thanks! The fence is 'electro-web' portable fencing. I bought mine at Premier 1 online, but it's available from several suppliers. Here's a link to the specific one I bought, I like it because it has narrower spaces between wires so grown birds can't slip through them: http://www.premier1supplies.com/detail.php?prod_id=44079&cat_id=139
The girls generally respect the fence. We left it on under supervision when they first had it. We watched to make sure no one got tangled or hurt when they ran into it. Initially they tried to squeeze through it a couple of times, until they each got zapped once or twice. After that they stayed clear of it. The fence is meant more to keep predators out than the chickens in, but it works both ways. It doesn't protect against hawks, of course. And a determined fox would figure out how to leap over it. But it's better than nothing! And once the hens figured out to stay inside of it, we felt better about leaving them outside while were elsewhere in the yard. If Brian's out mowing the lawn, for instance, he might not have line of sight with the chickens but he's still happy to leave them out in the fenced area because a fox isn't likely to come around when he's out on the mower and the girls will stay put inside the fence.
They have flown over it once or twice, but it's always been for a reason. They know the sound of the scratch bucket when I shake it, and once I shook it before I'd stepped inside the fence. One of the girls got overly excited about the scratch and flew right over the fence toward me! But then she flew right back in again once I stepped over it with the scratch. Another time was recently, after we'd pulled all of the plants out of the garden for the winter and it was just bare earth. The fence was still surrounding the garden, but there wasn't much there for them to do anymore with all the plants and bugs gone. And the ground was semi-frozen that day, so they couldn't even scratch much. One hen flew over the fence and ran toward the trees behind the garden to scratch around in the pine needles for grubs. Three other hens figured out they could follow her, and we had to round them back up again. So we moved the fence to include some grass and a tree, and they haven't flown over it since. If they are happy with what's inside the fence they have no reason to leave. But I always have a back-up plan - if they get too good at flying over the fence, I'll trim their wing feathers so they can't fly as well. They don't need to fly to get to any part of the coop and run, so I'd be okay with grounding them. But I haven't needed to yet!
Amy
p.s. don't use this kind of fencing with chicks! I waited until mine were mostly grown to introduce them to the fencing. smaller birds can slip through the spaces in the fence and might get caught and zapped repeatedly, not good!
I love the first pic on the page where you can actually see the stars in the sky
Great job!
Great job!Similar threads
New posts New threads Active threads
-
Threads with more replies in the last 15 days
-
There is a time and place for shenanigans. (edit: THIS is that time and place)- Started by azurbanclucker
- Replies: 452
-
Caged Bird and Parrot Thread!!!!- Started by ShrekDawg
- Replies: 372
-
This is what a balanced layer feed with no treats delivers- Started by Perris
- Replies: 122
-
-
Our first call duck incubation adventure (hatch-a-long)- Started by MrsWinterWheat
- Replies: 90
-
