Raccoons regard chicken wire as merely dental floss....I use 1/2" hardware cloth.
Sorry for your traumatic loss. I lost my flock of three Barred Rocks to two Labrador Retrievers, but others to foxes and raccoons. Now I have electric netting.
Sounds very nice. The only comment I would have is about the chicken wire. If you have predators around, especially raccoons, you'll have problems. Raccoons use chicken wire as an appetizer and dental floss. Chicken wire keeps chickens in, but will not keep predators out! For predators, you...
In my little 4-chicken tractor I find a pitchfork is fast, easy and effective in removing the bedding. I use my own timothy straw mostly. After the pitchfork gets most out, I use a short handled hoe for the rest.
So sorry to hear about your loss, and I know what it's like. A few years ago, two dogs (nice, friendly retrievers) killed my Barred Rock hens and rooster. Best thing for prevention of this sort of occurrence is to invest in electric netting. It's saved my flock from foxes and raccoons, as...
Waayyyy too much bedding in the nesting boxes! 2-3 inches works just fine. My hens like to "feng shui" new bedding. I like straw much better than shavings, stays dry, lasts longer, and I harvest it myself.
After losing chickens to dogs (the most, although lots of people deny that dogs did it), foxes, close calls with raccoons, I bought electric poultry netting. It's light and readily moveable. Not long after I put it up, my wife heard a very loud yelp, looked out the window, and there was the...
Does anyone know of a substance I could put on the back of one of my Bielefelder hen's head? The rooster seems to be destroying all the feathers on the back of her head. Is there something I could put on her head that would not harm either one of them but would discourage him from pulling the...
Hi!
I live in Nova Scotia, in the Annapolis Valley. Presently, I have a Bielefelder rooster; one pure Bielefelder hen; one hen who is 1/2 Bielefelder and 1/2 ??Orpington??; one hen of mixed ancestry, greybarred; and one little hen, part Silkie and Chantecler (alledgedly) very pretty, with...