California Mountain Chicks flock, garden and more!

[RedwoodCoastChick]

Bobcats are quite diurnal, I too have seen them waltz right by the run during the day! I keep telling myself I need to install a trail cam up by the coop, I am sure all sorts of scary things are lurking at night!

A trail cam can be very useful and revealing - and scary when you see who-all is lurking around the coop & run day and night! Watching our trail cam videos warned us in advance that our future chickens would need serious protection - we have 4 black bears, coyotes, gray foxes, raccoons, roaming dogs, bobcat and now & then a mountain lion traipsing up & down our gravel driveway and through our surrounding woods. And aerial predators as well - hawks, owls, etc. so alas the girls can't free range safely inside the ~acre of fenced yard. So, heavy wire fencing (7' deer fence) plus electric fence for perimeter, and 1/2' hardware cloth top, sides and underneath the coop & run. Plus carabiner locks to defy clever raccoon hands!

So far, so good...No Sasquatch yet.

 

[TwoCrows]

A trail cam can be very useful and revealing - and scary when you see who-all is lurking around the coop & run day and night! Watching our trail cam videos warned us in advance that our future chickens would need serious protection - we have 4 black bears, coyotes, gray foxes, raccoons, roaming dogs, bobcat and now & then a mountain lion traipsing up & down our gravel driveway and through our surrounding woods. And aerial predators as well - hawks, owls, etc. so alas the girls can't free range safely inside the ~acre of fenced yard. So, heavy wire fencing (7' deer fence) plus electric fence for perimeter, and 1/2' hardware cloth top, sides and underneath the coop & run. Plus carabiner locks to defy clever raccoon hands!

So far, so good...No Sasquatch yet.

Please let me know when you finally see a sasquatch on your cam.

I finally did install a trail cam about a month ago! Nothing interesting yet at night, lots of Deer, Elk, even an owl flew through. The Ravens keep it active during the day flying through. Bears have been lurking up the road, I'm hoping to catch one on my cam!

 

[RedwoodCoastChick]

Please let me know when you finally see a sasquatch on your cam.

I finally did install a trail cam about a month ago! Nothing interesting yet at night, lots of Deer, Elk, even an owl flew through. The Ravens keep it active during the day flying through. Bears have been lurking up the road, I'm hoping to catch one on my cam!

Believe me, when a Sasquatch shows up, I'm posting the video here first! [I just hope they don't like to eat chicken, just about everything else does.] Let's hope your bears continue to lurk AWAY from your chickens!

 

[TwoCrows]

Believe me, when a Sasquatch shows up, I'm posting the video here first! [I just hope they don't like to eat chicken, just about everything else does.] Let's hope your bears continue to lurk AWAY from your chickens!

I am sure Sasquatches eat chicken!

The neighbor saw the bear meandering around about a 1/2 mile from here last week, I've been keeping a close eye out at dusk. I will definitely post a cam pic if he turns up on it!

 

[kbroom]

I thought I’d finally start my own flock thread! I’ll start off with a little about me! I got my first chickens when I was 18, wanted only 2, read you should have 3, got 4. I wanted chickens because I am really into gardening and I loved that they eat garden pests, eat garden waste, turn all of that waste into fertilizer, and they are really great composters! Also farm fresh eggs are a huge bonus. I lived in the suburbs at the time on a small 1/4 acre lot in the inland valley of California. The chickens lived in a 400 sq ft side yard with fruit trees, shrubs, herbs, and a deep litter compost system, with the garden right outside of it.
Now I’m 21, moved onto 5 acres to a small community in the California mountains with my family and now I have 14 hens, and 6 baby chicks. Already planning 1-2 more hatches later this summer/fall. I do have to keep my numbers down though because my chickens do not free range. They reside in a predator proof 1,450 sq ft chicken yard with fruit trees, native plants/shrubs, herbs, berries, and other hardy drought proof shrubs! Their entire yard is a deep litter compost system where I add any garden waste, food scraps, wood chips, bedding, straw, leaves and more to create nice soil for the plants and the chickens. Whatever scraps and garden waste the chickens don’t eat just gets mixed into the deep litter and composts, no need to have a compost bin and manually turn it! My garden has never been better since harvesting compost from their deep litter system! All of my chickens have names and will retire with me, living out their lives in the chicken yard!

So nice to meet another chicken lover. I only have 7 laying hens, and four Americana babies. From oldest to youngest, their names are: Sweetie, Sugar, Joy, Danielle, Ruby, Bubbles, Peanut, Zoe, Thelma, Flowers and Buttercup. Love.