California - Northern

[Feathersprings]

I have a question for all the NorCal folks (being that we all have the same predators and relatively speaking). The Hubs and I just finished our coop

and there has been some dispute with those who will not be named (no, not the Hubs, he's awesome <3 ) that there needs to be a roof of sorts over the chicken run. Here's where the coop lives for visual reference:





It's inside a fenced garden (the bottom of the fence has pressure treated 4x6 posts at the base, square wire in the middle and barbed wire at the top. Then inside that is the chicken run made from a dog kennel/run. We are thinking about digging down and burying some wire at the base but not sure if it's overkill or a necessity? Then inside that is the coop itself. We live on five acres next to a five acre lake. We have an occasional bear but never see them, Puma (mountain lion) but don't actually see them often, raccoons, fox and coyotes. There is a resident German Shepherd that keeps most of those at bay. Honestly the peskiest critter are the deer.

So to finally get to my question, said person wants to put a "lid" over the chicken run and fully encase it, probably to protect against birds of prey and extra raccoon protection? Do we need to go that far? And if so, what's the best way to put a roof over this thing? It's gonna have to be tall because the Hubs is 6' 8".

Thanks for any input!

We have to have a cover over ours... we have red tail and red shouldered hawks that sit in the trees and watch... Mine are locked in at night so dont worry too much about other daytime predators that could climb over. Right now we have a solid cover over a 12x8 run and in the spring I will finish up two more 8x16 runs and those will be covered with heavy duty netting. That way they will still have the sunshine but stay safe. For extra height you could make a pvc frame like this picture courtesy of HatTrick Silkies http://www.hattricksilkies.com/nettedpens.html We built the framing for ours to be tall enough to comfortable walk in with the netting installed flat on the top.

 

[lizanne]

How exciting! I hope it all goes really well for you. Did the woman you bought your eggs from say she had roosters of each variety and that they were set up in breeding pens? I am doing my first hatch using shipped eggs too and the sellers were very clear. One has hers in breeding pens so they are going to be purebred. The other gal has one roo who is the same breed as one of her hens but she also has a variety of other hens and the roo has access to them too What I found when I was searching for eggs to buy is that if the seller is selling pure bred eggs then they are usually really clear so if yours wasn't, maybe you are going to get a mixture, depending on her roo/roos.

No, I bought cheap, local eggs to try with my first hatch. She was selling fertilized eggs for 4 dollars a dozen, so I called her and asked if she could set some aside for me to hatch. She has "Amerucana" roosters and hens, and RIR's that were all supposed to be hens. She said some of them turned out to be roosters, and she hasn't gotten them to the soup pot yet... lol. So they could be a mix. Will I be able to tell after they hatch?

 

[Nikon]

All of my runs are fully encased in wire (sides, roofs and underground). You will be subject to racoon, hawk, opossum & skunk attacks. They can be brutal! Given the chance, birds will be pulled through the wire and eaten small pieces at a time

If your girls are going to be locked up in the coop at night, it will prevent all the nighttime raiders. You'll just need at least netting of some sort to prevent hawk attack.

And sorry, those two were the only GLW & EE I had.......... I do still have a few HQ hens I want to move out (BR, RIR, SS, BO, LBLeghorn & cuckoo Marans). I'm getting 4-5 dozen eggs per day, I think we can subsist on eggs from the show birds, LOL.

What's an HQ hen?

I'm still such a noob!


Okay, so roof it. Like will PVC or 2x2" framing with small chicken wire or hardware cloth be sufficient? The chickens will indeed be locked up tight every evening.

 

[Nikon]

We have to have a cover over ours... we have red tail and red shouldered hawks that sit in the trees and watch... Mine are locked in at night so dont worry too much about other daytime predators that could climb over. Right now we have a solid cover over a 12x8 run and in the spring I will finish up two more 8x16 runs and those will be covered with heavy duty netting. That way they will still have the sunshine but stay safe. For extra height you could make a pvc frame like this picture courtesy of HatTrick Silkies http://www.hattricksilkies.com/nettedpens.html We built the framing for ours to be tall enough to comfortable walk in with the netting installed flat on the top.

Oh! I was thinking about PVC but it didn't occur to me to bend them into a half moon shape! That's a good idea!

 

[ronott1]

Quote:
Hatchery Quality. They are usually a bit smaller that Show Quality and do not look perfect but are often great egg layers.

Abbreviations are terrible sometimes!

 

[Nikon]

Hatchery Quality. They are usually a bit smaller that Show Quality and do not look perfect but are often great egg layers.

Abbreviations are terrible sometimes!

Oh okay! So basically "back yard quality".

 

[Feathersprings]

Oh! I was thinking about PVC but it didn't occur to me to bend them into a half moon shape! That's a good idea!

They did say they didnt handle a heavy snow pak... dont know if you get any snow where you are.. That can be a problem even with the netting I understand.

 

[Feathersprings]

Hatchery Quality. They are usually a bit smaller that Show Quality and do not look perfect but are often great egg layers.

Abbreviations are terrible sometimes!

I am so bad at the abbreviations of breeds. All I have are Silkies so find my self trying to figure out what they are as I read lol!

 

[Nikon]

They did say they didnt handle a heavy snow pak... dont know if you get any snow where you are.. That can be a problem even with the netting I understand.

We don't usually get more than 3-5 inches once or twice a year. Kind of at an odd elevation lower than the town we live in.

 

[Feathersprings]

We don't usually get more than 3-5 inches once or twice a year. Kind of at an odd elevation lower than the town we live in.

I am on the coast and get a few flakes every two or three years

Not something I ever have to worry about. Just rain and fog...