Arizona Chickens

[chicksurreal]

see this is my issue.. im literally just off the prescott exit off the 17 and if anyone knows what it looks like right there im in the middle of nowhere.. i hear the coyotes almost every night and sometimes around 5am when i wake up.. i dont have alot of $$$ and i plan on free-ranging them during the day.. i thought about getting wolf urine and night predator eye solar lights... as well as the fencing from the local guy... we shall see on that tho... i just ordered this coop which i plan on re-enforcing and surrounding with dug halfway down cinderblocks and paving stones..


HMMMMM... JUST CAME ACROSS THIS... WONDER IF MY HUSBAND COULD CONVERT ONE OF OUR BACK PORCHES INTO SOMETHING LIKE THIS..... OR POSSIBLY OUR 14x20 NOT FINISHED SHED THAT JOE SMOE WHO LIVED HERE BEFORE US HALFWAY BUILT...

We definitely have predator issues around here, don't we?

It looks like you are getting it figured out though! I love the coop you ordered and if you reinforce it, that will go a long way to keeping your chickens safe.

What is the run covered with?

That second picture looks sturdy, if you can keep things from digging under or getting in from above you're pretty much set as long as they can't break through the fencing.

 

[Twinklin]

I did it! I caught up! Life got busy and suddenly I was weeks behind. Wow you guys talk a lot!

Happy to hear everyone is getting eggs now. From my six girls I've got three layers and I'm getting nearly an egg a day from all three. Of course those are the "after thought" hatchery chicks. My specials - the BCMs, my lavender Ameraucana and my silkie are nowhere near squatting for me. Just taking their fancy time, I guess.

So very awful about Sonoran Silkies' husband. My husband climbs outside too and this sort of news just scares the living daylights out of me. I hope she has a lot of family and friends around her right now.

You might have seen on the BYC Facebook page the photo I took of my nesting box. I'm pretty pleased my silly idea actually worked! My new project is a putting in raised beds but I've got to get a fence up to protect the garden from the girls. Twinklin, or anyone who has done this successfully, how high should the fence be? I do not want to clip wings due to the occasional hawk swooping down over the girls. Also, are there any vines I can plant around the coop that my chickens won't destroy immediately? I saw the grapevines in Gallo's coop. I'd love to know how you pulled that off because my girls destroy every living green thing!

Love that nest box. From my trial and error I would definitely say 4ft with a no top to land on should be good. Or some sort of wire extension on the top like the pic Gallo posted. I need to remove my top beam or make a more attractive extension for the top that Phil can't land on.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I had never had a problem keeping chickens out of my garden until I got a couple of Fayoumi cross pullets. Those birds were smart. I have a 2' high chicken wire fence around my garden held up by 2" x 2" stakes in the ground (attached to the outside of my raised bed frames). Those Fayoumi cross pullets figured out how to land on top of the 2" x 2" stakes and jump down into the garden. Even worse, they taught my fat old production red hens how to do it, too. In a vain attempt to keep both garden and chickens, I put remesh hoops over the garden beds and covered them in plastic poultry netting. That didn't work either. The chickens figured out how to wiggle through the tiniest openings in the poultry netting, and they had no problem squeezing through the 6" openings in the remesh. I had to eat all of those girls before they could teach my new chicks the same tricks. Crossing my fingers the new birds don't figure it out for themselves.

Gallo is right. No top rail. And no fence posts, either, unless the posts don't go all the way to the top.

Here's one of my old production hens, proudly displaying her gymnastic prowess before they all got a one-way ticket to the stew pot. She was a happy chicken:

*Note to self: do not bring in birds that are smarter and more athletic than the ones I already have.

 

[rockmissjess]

If i didnt have kids i would put this on my fence... this is what im afraid of tho.. them just jumping right on over to have a meal

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

IN YAVAPAI COUNTY HERE LOOKIN FOR NEW CHICKEN LOVER FRIENDS! ANYONE HAVE COYOTE ISSUES???? I HAVE ALOT OF COYOTES AROUND HERE AND I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW HOW TO KEEP THEM AWAY FROM MY HOME.

Greetings and welcome to our thread! I think that nearly everyone here has had issues with coyotes. Jubilation, I'm very envious of your lack of attacks. I've had two attacks here in the center of Tucson and they routinely check to see if I've locked up the birds. I don't think there is any magic bullet to keep them away, 'cept maybe those made of lead. Of course that's not an option for us here in the city and you can't be there with a gun all of the time. A good dog may also help.

The best way to deal with them is to make your chicken enclosure as secure as possible. Having it covered is essential; coyotes can really jump and climb. Chicken wire will not keep them out; you should look for welded wire or hardware cloth (I see that you understand that too). The lead you have on that hardware cloth sounds awesome if it's in good shape. Then it's important how you attach the wire to the coop/run. The best way is to have a board screwed in over top of the wire so that it is sandwiched in between. Even I have not done this, but after seeing what the coyotes did to pipemum's coop it is our project for this upcoming weekend. Sill had a good suggestion about a place to make a visual barrier so the chickens can hide from the coyotes. I have section of shade cloth about 15' long attached to one end of my run so that the chickens have a place in the run to hide. We have so many coyote visits now that it really helps keep the birds less stressed. Finally, an "apron" around the coop and run to prevent diggers is essential. I used old scraps of 2 X 4 welded wire to make an apron that connects to the bottom walls of the coop/run and extends out perpendicularly about 20". The apron can be buried some so you don't trip on it, or if you live in a place that has grass, just stake it down on the surface of the ground and let the grass cover it.

 

[rockmissjess]

Greetings and welcome to our thread! I think that nearly everyone here has had issues with coyotes. Jubilation, I'm very envious of your lack of attacks. I've had two attacks here in the center of Tucson and they routinely check to see if I've locked up the birds. I don't think there is any magic bullet to keep them away, 'cept maybe those made of lead. Of course that's not an option for us here in the city and you can't be there with a gun all of the time. A good dog may also help.

The best way to deal with them is to make your chicken enclosure as secure as possible. Having it covered is essential; coyotes can really jump and climb. Chicken wire will not keep them out; you should look for welded wire or hardware cloth (I see that you understand that too). The lead you have on that hardware cloth sounds awesome if it's in good shape. Then it's important how you attach the wire to the coop/run. The best way is to have a board screwed in over top of the wire so that it is sandwiched in between. Even I have not done this, but after seeing what the coyotes did to pipemum's coop it is our project for this upcoming weekend. Sill had a good suggestion about a place to make a visual barrier so the chickens can hide from the coyotes. I have section of shade cloth about 15' long attached to one end of my run so that the chickens have a place in the run to hide. We have so many coyote visits now that it really helps keep the birds less stressed. Finally, an "apron" around the coop and run to prevent diggers is essential. I used old scraps of 2 X 4 welded wire to make an apron that connects to the bottom walls of the coop/run and extends out perpendicularly about 20". The apron can be buried some so you don't trip on it, or if you live in a place that has grass, just stake it down on the surface of the ground and let the grass cover it.

I FOUND THESE THIS MORNING AS I WAS BROWSING ONLINE IM GONNA SHOW EM TO MY HUSBAND WHEN HE GETS HOME

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I FOUND THESE THIS MORNING AS I WAS BROWSING ONLINE IM GONNA SHOW EM TO MY HUSBAND WHEN HE GETS HOME

I like b. and c. in the first diagram. I've seen a few cases of failure in the Predators section of the forum from folks using the a. method. The middle picture looks great, I'm not sure how effective the last one would be, I suppose it would depend on the height of the fence.

 

[MandyFitch]

Thanks for so for the advice regarding the wall. Going to home depot today to wander the aisles and see what I come up with it!

Need some more advice. I've got an irrigation guy coming to deal with my garden and put a hose and valves and stuff in that half of the yard. He's willing to rig up whatever I need for an automatic watering system for the chickens, I just need to buy the parts and tell him what I want.

Soooo, what do I want? I have six chickens. Do I get the hose that comes down into a cup or the nipple thingy? What do you guys have and love? Gallo? Mary? Bueller?

Thank you!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Speak of the devil; I just sent my dog after a coyote nosing around the coop.

 

[rockmissjess]

Speak of the devil; I just sent my dog after a coyote nosing around the coop.

OH MY... Im scared to death of them.. my husband says im krazy to be scared of them but ive always had a phobia of coyotes and wolves.