I have seen one hole inside their coop area. I think that's where the big one came in because it was a big hole! I do have hardware cloth along the edges but he just came up at the wrong place! I found one of my chickens running around with one in their run area, which has a few holes in it.
Can you put them in something at night to protect them? A tarp is not going to do it, and pretty soon you won't have any chickens left. How many do you have? If you can't build something yet, I would run some sort of electric fence around them. Even if you only turn it on at night.
I don't think the link Firbrd attached is the same as what you are talking about. I have them all around my house - they look like slow bumble bees. They are boring bees, they tunnel into untreated wood and lay eggs. When they hatch, they chew their way out, not back out the original hole! My...
Mine eat them, unless they are too big to swallow. I know that's gross. I've taken them from the chickens when I see them, but who knows what they do when I'm at work! I found a large dead one in their coop over the weekend, I assume he was too big to swallow.
The sun does not reach inside the coop during the day now that it is fall. And since I recently had a hawk scare they have not even been out in "their" yard. They were out Saturday morning and I was inside and heard all four of them making quite a ruccus. I went out to see what was up. The...
Where our coop is in our yard it does not get much sun in the fall / winter. Are there any artificial lights that simulate sunshine? I know vitamin D is important for them. I don't want it for better egg production, they do just fine but I know they need some sunlight. The front of the coop...
pbarr - beautiful coop! How old are your hens now? And how high is your ramp? Ours is 3 feet off the ground and my girls are 1.5 yrs old. They only come part way down and then jump and they all got minor bumblefoot. Do yours go all the way down or jump off the top?
Thanks! This is what we started out with:
It got old fast bending down into that little door to clean their run! And covering the added run with a tarp so it stayed dry. Then this happened:
It was our gazebo that was over the table on the right.The new one can stand up to this and much more!
Here's the coop my husband built last summer. We repurposed the door and windows from our house.
This summer I added curtains and an awning to keep them cool. The sun beats right in in the afternoon. What a difference it makes!
Not sure if you can see the top curtains, but I found...
I would think the red light is interrupting their sleep. You should get a heated waterer. I have one and it works great. I actually tried a heat lamp when it got below freezing, and it did look like the things you described!! But one morning I went out and one of the girls had gotten their comb...
Yeah, I get those too, that's a great description! Nothing abnormal that I can tell, they still taste great! I mix layer feed with yogurt to give them extra calcium, they never cared for oyster shell.
She is walking normal, no waddling or limping. She did fly off the ramp last night from about three feet up and I thought she lost her balance because she fell onto her chest.Her neck looked a little large but then I thought that was because her head was not up all the way like the other two.I...
I have three hens and one rooster and they all get along just fine. Over the weekend I noticed Belle sitting off by herself, not pecking and scratching with the others. Every day after work I let them out into their yard and they are always on my heels to get out into the grass. When I let them...
Hi Tony. I have brown eggs too and once in a while get some that look like that. I'm not sure why though. Mine get layer feed plus yogurt every morning.
walling, here is some very useful information someone on this site passed along to me. I have three hens, sometimes I get 3 eggs, other days 2 or 1.
Egg Math:
Chickens are both predictable and fickle.
The rule of thumb is they lay an egg every 25 hours, but different
breeds and for...
I'm just curious - why would you have a rooster and no hens? I would get some hens, but you may need to re-home one of the roosters - i'm not sure what the ration of roosters to hens should be but I am pretty confident it is not 2:0!
I have to agree with everyone's posts here. Definitely hardware cloth to keep them safe at night and close them in at night, trust me you will sleep better!! You really don't know until you live through it so enjoy it! Oh and if you happen to check on them and they look like they broke a leg or...