My husband and I have wanted to get 3-5 chickens for 4 years now but our kids were so young we weren't quite ready to take it on. I would really like it to happen this year, but now that I've started researching I'm just so overwhelmed. I'm a very thorough person and I hate 'experimenting' I want to get as close to right as possible the first time. I'll give our situation and hopefully someone can help us at least narrow down what we should and shouldn't start looking at.
Situation
We live in rural Minnesota on 10 wooded acres. As far as predators go, you name it we've got it. Racoons, foxes, coyotes, wolves, bobcats...I don't know about aerial predators, I can't figure if the heavy tree cover would be worse or better for that.
When we bought the property there was already an area about 20X30 that is surrounded by 5 ft chainlink and has wide gate for entrance. I think they said they kept a few goats in there. It's just sitting there useless and I keep thinking that it could be useful for chickens somehow but there's no way I can cover it.
Questions
If we put a coop in there, would they just fly out? Or in the case of a predator would they be able to just run into the coop to safety? Or would smaller predators be able to just get in the way the chickens do? I'm assuming so. I could just lock them in there at night but not sure how that would work if we are going to be away from home for an overnight.
I also thought about having a smaller, predator proof coop/run contained within the chain link. I could keep them in that when we're not around and let them run around in the less secure chain link during the daytime perhaps?
Last question would be, if I do the above, should I get a mobile coop/run? Is it reasonable to think that I could roll it out of the chain link into other parts of the yard, open the whole thing up and let them run around free range while we're working out there supervising? Or should I just not worry about getting a mobile one and just 'let them out' of the chain link area when I am able to watch them?
The last thing is, the chain link area is about 50 yards from the house, on the opposite side of our pole shed, so most of it you can't even see from our main living area. Part of me wonders if I should just forget about the chainlink and build a small coop and run closer to the house for convenience, but I just really wanted them to have a lot of room during the day when we're home but not necessarily outside to watch them free range...
I know some of these questions sound silly as I imagine this is pretty basic stuff, but I just can't wrap my brain around all of it and don't know what to expect. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks,
Linnea
Situation
We live in rural Minnesota on 10 wooded acres. As far as predators go, you name it we've got it. Racoons, foxes, coyotes, wolves, bobcats...I don't know about aerial predators, I can't figure if the heavy tree cover would be worse or better for that.
When we bought the property there was already an area about 20X30 that is surrounded by 5 ft chainlink and has wide gate for entrance. I think they said they kept a few goats in there. It's just sitting there useless and I keep thinking that it could be useful for chickens somehow but there's no way I can cover it.
Questions
If we put a coop in there, would they just fly out? Or in the case of a predator would they be able to just run into the coop to safety? Or would smaller predators be able to just get in the way the chickens do? I'm assuming so. I could just lock them in there at night but not sure how that would work if we are going to be away from home for an overnight.
I also thought about having a smaller, predator proof coop/run contained within the chain link. I could keep them in that when we're not around and let them run around in the less secure chain link during the daytime perhaps?
Last question would be, if I do the above, should I get a mobile coop/run? Is it reasonable to think that I could roll it out of the chain link into other parts of the yard, open the whole thing up and let them run around free range while we're working out there supervising? Or should I just not worry about getting a mobile one and just 'let them out' of the chain link area when I am able to watch them?
The last thing is, the chain link area is about 50 yards from the house, on the opposite side of our pole shed, so most of it you can't even see from our main living area. Part of me wonders if I should just forget about the chainlink and build a small coop and run closer to the house for convenience, but I just really wanted them to have a lot of room during the day when we're home but not necessarily outside to watch them free range...
I know some of these questions sound silly as I imagine this is pretty basic stuff, but I just can't wrap my brain around all of it and don't know what to expect. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
thanks,
Linnea