Silkies, in addition to being delicate and vulnerable to predators, aren’t great fly catchers. Their vision is generally not good due to their crests. Some of the other Bantam breeds have feathered feet, Cochins, D’Uccles, and others. They are probably going to be hardier too.
You know what...
I live surrounded by national forest, and we have lots of bears. My run has a solid roof on it, my coop and run are encircled in five strands of 3.1 joule hot wire, all coop and run openings are secured with locking carabiners, and are also surrounded by bear unwelcome mats. I also only keep...
Here in Colorado sometimes chickens feet do freeze. Chickens can lose toes to frostbite.
What kind of perches are you using? Can they hunker down over their toes to keep them warm? I use smoothed 2x4s with the wide sides up so that the chickens can warm their toes.
How is the ventilation in...
I'm in Colorado, surrounded by national forest. We have bears, mountain lions, lynx, bobcats, coyotes, weasels, mink, foxes, skunks, raccoons, hawks, owls, and the occasional Golden Eagle. Sigh.
I also live in the Colorado Rockies, 8,700' up and surrounded by Pike National Forest. We protect our coop and run with 5 strands of hotwire powered by a Parmak charger that puts out about 3.8 joules. As we move into fall we'll add unwelcome mats in front of the external nest boxes and the coop...
If you click the link in my post it will take you to their site. An email will usually garner a pretty quick response.
They are based in Washington state. I have owned the door about six months. It took less than thirty minutes to install, including unboxing it. You can run it off the power...
I own one. I love it. It's beautiful, functions well, and has been very reliable. Joe, the owner, has been incredibly responsive, and has even been working with my husband to help him hack the door so it will do even more fancy tricks. I really can't recommend it strongly enough!
Www.coopgadgets.com