Arizona Chickens

[deserteggs22]

Im so sorry for the loss of your NN's... if they were decapitated, you definitely have a raccoon problem. That is always the sign that a coon has been into your chicken coop. If thy were completley torn open, A stay cat or chihuahua got to them. I would keep a watch out, those stupid little criminals are everywhere. I reccomend lining the bottom of the coop with chicken wire,piling sand in it, and then putting a 2x4 border along the walls at the bottom and stapling the excess chicken wire to the wood to pevent any entry accept through the door. 

That is a very large loss... I hope there are still some survivors wandering around the property. 

I say take a night to sit and watch for the animal that did this.

If you bring out something similar, they will come back. try dove of even chicken nuggets, and then fire away.

If it is a menace to livestock, it is legal to shoot it. Propety Defense. Or if your us, Self and Family defense. Those chooks are family and coons need to learn they can't mess with our animals without paying the price.

In my main pen, I have the fence barried down 6 inches along with some tin roofing.

 

[deserteggs22]

Last night I caught the predator in the act. It was the stray dutchshund that I suspected. He was digging into my main pen. I immediately called my neighbor (my uncle) and he came and got rid of it.

 

[BlueBaby]

Last night I caught the predator in the act. It was the stray dutchshund that I suspected. He was digging into my main pen. I immediately called my neighbor (my uncle) and he came and got rid of it.

Well, at least you know for sure what it was, and were able to get rid of it. Now that it is starting to get a bit cooler here in the desert, you should take the time to completely inspect all of your coops. Reinforce them if you have to, and make sure that nothing else will be able to dig under them to get in. Good luck!

 

[ejcrist]

In my main pen, I have the fence barried down 6 inches along with some tin roofing.

Six inches is not deep enough. It should be a bare minimum of 1 foot. I dug mine down 2' and I still worry. I found evidence of coyotes digging a couple of times and they've always quit when they got to about 12"-15". I refilled the holes with dirt and stones and tamped down until it was extremely compacted. I haven't found any new holes for a couple of months now so I guess they got bored with it but I have no doubt they're always eyeballing the birds looking for any possible sign of entry.

 

[Banaynaychicken]

Quote: Definitely, I dig atleast 3' into the ground for my coop, lined it with cattle fence, then chainlink, then chicken mesh, and filled the thing with sand.

Anywhere a predator might even think about digging into my coop, I place a river rick border around the chicken coop so there is very little chance of entry. and all of my slide locks are pretty jammmed, so you have to work pretty hard to get them open even with opposeable thumbs.

Hoping you can enforce your coop, and maybe even start fresh before it gets to cold.

Good luck, friend.

 

[ejcrist]

Does anyone have any roosters separated only by chicken wire, and if so do they not pay any attention to the other's presence or do they constantly go at it? The reason I'm asking is because I'm trying to decide if I should just use chicken wire attached to the walls between the coops and runs of the multi-coop building w/attached runs that I'm building for breeding, or if I should use plywood for the bottom 3' or so in order to keep them from physically seeing each other. I don't want them to get too distracted so they forget about breeding while they're in there. I'm guessing it might depend on the individual cocks personalities but if I can get away with not using plywood I'd prefer to go that route since it runs around $20 per 4'X8' sheet for 1/2".

 

[MagicChicken]

Last night I caught the predator in the act. It was the stray dutchshund that I suspected. He was digging into my main pen. I immediately called my neighbor (my uncle) and he came and got rid of it.

A couple of years ago I had lots of problems with dogs getting into my yard and killing off my chickens. Finally figured out the multiple spots where they were getting in and plugged those holes in my perimeter fence. Then I ran a lot of additional 2" x 4" fencing to section off the chicken areas, so now any dogs that get into my yard also get through multiple fences to get to the chickens. It won't stop a determined predator. But loose dogs tend to be looking for entertainment, not dinner. Been over a year now and the additional fencing seems to be working. I thought about using the "shoot, shovel, and shut up" method of loose dog control but it takes a lot of shoveling to make a dog carcass disappear and I am lazy. Running fencing was easier.

Animal control used to be out this way all the time, but since the economy tanked and budgets got cut I never see them any more. Last time I called them to pick up a stray pit bull that followed me home, they said they could get here in 2-3 days and could I hold the dog until they got here. No, I don't think that's going to work for me, thank you very much. They'd have tried to come out sooner if the dog had been vicious. It wasn't. Fortunately it was an escape artist and it went on its merry way shortly after that phone call. I never saw it again.

Hope that dachshund is permanently disappeared from your property. Good luck.

 

[MagicChicken]

Does anyone have any roosters separated only by chicken wire, and if so do they not pay any attention to the other's presence or do they constantly go at it? The reason I'm asking is because I'm trying to decide if I should just use chicken wire attached to the walls between the coops and runs of the multi-coop building w/attached runs that I'm building for breeding, or if I should use plywood for the bottom 3' or so in order to keep them from physically seeing each other. I don't want them to get too distracted so they forget about breeding while they're in there. I'm guessing it might depend on the individual cocks personalities but if I can get away with not using plywood I'd prefer to go that route since it runs around $20 per 4'X8' sheet for 1/2".

They go at it all the time until they settle down. Then they just go at it several times a day. Even if they can't get through to each other they can bloody their combs on the wire. If you want to save on costs you can try using empty feed bags zip tied to the chicken wire as a visual barrier.

 

[ejcrist]

They go at it all the time until they settle down. Then they just go at it several times a day. Even if they can't get through to each other they can bloody their combs on the wire. If you want to save on costs you can try using empty feed bags zip tied to the chicken wire as a visual barrier.

Ok, thanks - good to know. I like the feed bag idea. I also have a bunch of those cheap tarps from Walmart I could probably zip tie to the chicken wire in the runs since there'll be more real estate there but I might go ahead and install the plywood in the building walls. Or I could probably use the cheaper strand board (http://www.homedepot.com/p/7-16-in-x-48-in-x-8ft-Oriented-Strand-Board-386081/202106230) which should work just as good since it'll all be indoors and not exposed to the elements. I think that's what I'll probably do. Personally I wouldn't care too much if they went at it as long as they didn't hurt themselves but I want to keep the ambiance right so I end up with a lot of fertile eggs; too much of the wrong kind of action will leave me chick-less.

I'm figuring the birds will be under a little stress when I first put them in the new setup since it'll be a change of environment, so to correct that I'll wait about two weeks before collecting any eggs to hatch. Hopefully if I keep the visual contact between sections to a minimum everything should work out pretty good. Maybe I can put a couple of bottles of wine, some candles, and some cigarettes for afterwards in there to maintain the proper atmosphere.

 

[MagicChicken]

Quote:

I would use plywood rather than OSB if I had the choice. OSB is hard to clean and it doesn't hold up well to chicken pecking.