I think this is only a concern in warmer climates or if you're working with very deep litter. (Or in the case of commercial operations: provide heating) Mealworms used for feed are generally of the T. molitor species, they don't really propagate very well below 15°C/65°F.
Speaking from...
Any dog small enough to fit through a pop door (e.g. terriers) would be deterred by sufficiently high perches inside the coop anyway, no?
More crafty day-time threats like a weasel or the rare raccoon would probably not be deterred by this by itself.
Like SunHwaKwon I worry certain chickens...
Don't know about this, afaik the breed has been around in the Netherlands since at least the end of the 19th century. You might be mixing them up with the bantam form, that almost went extinct before it was picked up again.
If you're not particular about the breed you want and are looking for an alternative to online orders, I agree with the above posters: any local contact will be far more reliable.
Most layers on farms never come close to a rooster (since there's no commercial reason to keep them in your flock)...
I wish, but any breeding plans will have to wait a few years :)
I'm going to get a small flock of Breda next year and I've been doing some research, looking around and asking breeders. It's a shame the breed is so uncommon.
Bredas are very rare in the Netherlands, too.
Wageningen University keeps a list of Dutch Heritage breeds and estimates there's about ~100 adult Breda hens that are used for breeding this year. It's a rough estimate so take it with a grain of salt and it excludes animals kept by hobbyists...
Just going off my intuition, anything that would be easy to clean the way PVC is, would be because it's so ultra-smooth and therefore slippery.
So it might be tough to find. :p
The perch doesn't need to spick-and-span, you probably just don't want whole drops of poo clinging to them.
Pouring boiling water over any plant will kill the above-ground parts. It is 100% ecological and you don't have to make contact with the ivy. If you repeat if somewhat regularily eventually the roots will die off.
Edit: Oh, but if you want something to kill the roots -now- it's probably not an...
I don't know about sand, I'd imagine the fine particles will still just clump up with the grass.
I imagine what's happening is usually the clippings you put in get turned by your chickens and it just gradually dries out evenly, but the excess water is making it clump together. Adding 'brown...
A discussion about the effectiveness of LGDs doesn't seem very relevant considering OP has already stated another dog would be difficult for them.
Where are you located? What kind of predators are you facing?
A friend of mine kept turkeys with his chickens as a protection for hawks. They would...