Arizona Chickens

Pics
Date sort Score sort
Kurrudii said:
I just got back from college and looking to expand my coop to accomidate 3 bantams and 1 crippled hen(pretty sure its a rooster now
sad.png
) What will be a good way to introduce the bannies to my older flock, which is 1 barred rock, 1 RIR, and 1 bantam. The Barred rock seems to be the top hen right now, and my bantam has been mean to other pullets.

As well as cheap supplies to make a larger addition to my current coop?
Click to expand...
My little ones were in the same run with the big girls separated by a 4' fence.

I put them in a grow out pen for another 2 weeks (or so) and let the big girls free range around them till evening bed time.

During an evening I finally let the little ones out (almost 3 months old) with the big girls.

Over the course of the following week. I increased the play time until they were full time together.

There is some pecking but so far no scalping.

The smallest hen (Meow - production red - broody all the time) gets picked on the most by the big girls and is the worst offender for picking on the smallest ones the most (when she is out of her nest box!
he.gif
).
 
Kurrudii said:
I just got back from college and looking to expand my coop to accomidate 3 bantams and 1 crippled hen(pretty sure its a rooster now :( )  What will be a good way to introduce the bannies to my older flock, which is 1 barred rock, 1 RIR, and 1 bantam.  The Barred rock seems to be the top hen right now, and my bantam has been mean to other pullets.  

As well as cheap supplies to make a larger addition to my current coop?
Click to expand...


I just let everyone free range together. They always work it out in just a few days. I even have my 4 week olds (with their mama) out with the older hens. One gets a little peck now and then, but they are fine. They will even eat treats I put out side-by-side with the older ones. The mama hen is a fierce protector, she's removed a few feathers from the other hens, so they know not to mess with her chicks!
 
Yeah, I should probably fence off a small portion of the coop to let the little ones go in and play, I should probably get more perches in there as well to keep them busy.

Thank you!
 
Kurrudii said:
Yeah, I should probably fence off a small portion of the coop to let the little ones go in and play, I should probably get more perches in there as well to keep them busy.

Thank you!
Click to expand...
We found 3 of the spitz in with the big girls last night. We left them in and they seemed to fair OK.

I too need a couple of more roosts!
 
I had a fun time last weekend helping a friend build a new chicken enclosure. She lost both of her last two flocks to dogs. I felt especially bad after the last time; she had a dog run chain link gate that I thought would be secure. But the dogs tore right through the center of the chain link. I don't have much of any experience with chain link fence, but now I know they aren't all created equal. Anyway, my friend made her chicken enclosure entirely of salvaged materials. It was an engineering marvel how everything was stitched together. Overall, it was pretty decent, but with a 10' X 10' pen that is about 4' high, it was tough to get inside to feed, water and collect the eggs. So, our plan was to make something more secure against dogs and also be able to stand up inside. My wife and I went early one morning with some useful scrap materials from the back yard and the three of us came up with a design using the materials at hand in the 30 minutes it took to demo the old chicken enclosure. By the end of the day we made this highly ventilated shady chicken pen:



It was made principally from a 6' X 6' X 10' dog kennel. I removed the half of the chain link from the front and left sides to open it up. We then used two old trellises from my yard (4' X 8') to form the outside edges of the other half. With the trellises suspended to the dog kennel and the 4 X 4 structure on the end, we were able to capture a lot of space that was previously unused. The entire front and right sides were covered in 1" X 2" 14 gauge wire left over from my coop. There was just enough, down to the inch. We also covered the top of the dog kennel part in 2" X 4" welded wire and the entire top is now secure. Currently, the top, back and right side of the kennel are covered in shade cloth. The top right side will eventually covered with shade cloth as well.

It took another full day of work digging the shallow trench for the welded wire apron and building a frame for the old awning, which made it much stronger. I also added a roost that suspends from the awning. I just got some more chicken nipples so tomorrow she'll get a waterer. She's going to have to do something about wild bird proofing the enclosure, or maybe we can get an auto feeder working. The wild birds are thick in her yard and are eating a lot of the feed. Anyway, it was fun to make a pen for someone else. It's amazing what you can make with stuff laying around.
 
Gallo del Cielo said:
I had a fun time last weekend helping a friend build a new chicken enclosure. She lost both of her last two flocks to dogs. I felt especially bad after the last time; she had a dog run chain link gate that I thought would be secure. But the dogs tore right through the center of the chain link. I don't have much of any experience with chain link fence, but now I know they aren't all created equal. Anyway, my friend made her chicken enclosure entirely of salvaged materials. It was an engineering marvel how everything was stitched together. Overall, it was pretty decent, but with a 10' X 10' pen that is about 4' high, it was tough to get inside to feed, water and collect the eggs. So, our plan was to make something more secure against dogs and also be able to stand up inside. My wife and I went early one morning with some useful scrap materials from the back yard and the three of us came up with a design using the materials at hand in the 30 minutes it took to demo the old chicken enclosure. By the end of the day we made this highly ventilated shady chicken pen:



It was made principally from a 6' X 6' X 10' dog kennel. I removed the half of the chain link from the front and left sides to open it up. We then used two old trellises from my yard (4' X 8') to form the outside edges of the other half. With the trellises suspended to the dog kennel and the 4 X 4 structure on the end, we were able to capture a lot of space that was previously unused. The entire front and right sides were covered in 1" X 2" 14 gauge wire left over from my coop. There was just enough, down to the inch. We also covered the top of the dog kennel part in 2" X 4" welded wire and the entire top is now secure. Currently, the top, back and right side of the kennel are covered in shade cloth. The top right side will eventually covered with shade cloth as well.

It took another full day of work digging the shallow trench for the welded wire apron and building a frame for the old awning, which made it much stronger. I also added a roost that suspends from the awning. I just got some more chicken nipples so tomorrow she'll get a waterer. She's going to have to do something about wild bird proofing the enclosure, or maybe we can get an auto feeder working. The wild birds are thick in her yard and are eating a lot of the feed. Anyway, it was fun to make a pen for someone else. It's amazing what you can make with stuff laying around.
Click to expand...
Love it! Thanks for the picture. It gives me an ideas of what to use on mine. So do you think then that basic chicken wire will not be strong enough to use on the sides? We have the basic structure and we are getting ready to do the sides. We have heavy duty stucco wire panels on the top. I thought I would use something lighter with bigger openings for the sides.Any suggestions?
Kris
 
Mikey D said:
Chicken wire will keep chickens in but not the pred's out. A mid size dog will go right through it.

Welded wire is the minimum you want to use.

Gallo - It's probably too late for forensics but did the chain link fail or did the the dogs tear it loose from the mo
Click to expand...
Ok thanks, I will look for welded wire. I am not sure what that is. I will do some research on it.
Kris
 

Similar threads

Millylou18
    • Like
Az heat and chicks
Replies
3
Views
286
cavemanrich
cavemanrich
C
Introducing new chickens to the flock
Replies
4
Views
333
OLDRanch
OLDRanch
G
MISSING CHICKEN
Replies
5
Views
284
Eggcessive
Eggcessive
K
    • Like
Help With Garage Brooder - Arizona!
Replies
5
Views
1K
BlueBaby
B
T
Heritage Leghorns vs Ancona
Replies
2
Views
302
trenace
T

New posts New threads Active threads

Back
Top Bottom