Consolidated Kansas

[Fat Daddy]

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I would have no problem ending his or anyone else's animal that threatened me or mine, on my property. It sounds like you let him know his dog is a problem already. Have your DH shoot his dog GRAVE YARD DEAD!! I live in a very rural area. 3 neighbors have roaming dogs. One will adopt any dog that wonders up. Everyone knows the rules, your dog becomes a problem on my place, you loose your dog. They dont even ask what happened any more. One of the neighbors shot one of my sons dogs years ago when he got to roaming at night. The only thing that made me mad was he shot it " around the edges" and the dog came home for me to DR up. He went back about a month later and was killed DRT. I refuse to have a dog kenneled or chained and wont subject my neighbors to a roaming dog of mine. So we have no out side dogs anymore. Bill

 

[ChooksChick]

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Hiya! Welcome!

I'm sorry you are in a situation like this.


You MUST put up some sort of perimeter if you don't want to lose birds, and I think you would be savvy to put hot wire on it. Your neighbor's dogs are absolutely going to eat all of your birds if they were arrogant enough to attack your mare. Furthermore, you might consider getting a game cam to point at your run (or whatever direct you expect them to come from) so you can evidence the problem when they make their first attempt. It likely won't be the last, and if you can head the problem off legally with evidence, you'll be in a far better position.

Build for bear. A woman I know had a pack of 3 dogs leap over her 8' fence and tear apart her well-built coop early one morning (on the Plaza in KC, no less!) and they got most of her birds. You need to plan for the Dog-mageddon if you already suspect it will occur. I use field-fence for a perimeter, welded 2"x4" wire for runs, and welded 1/2" hardware cloth on all of my coops. I cover my runs with 2" avian netting from ebay, to keep hawks and owls out- and it has been worth its weight in gold!

If I didn't have the field fence perimeter, I'd have hot wire on the runs, probably at 2 heights. I've heard sooooooo many stories; folks come to me to replace their lost flocks, so there have been a lot of them. Never use chicken wire for anything- it doesn't stop dogs, raccoons, or anything. It's only good for keeping chickens in, not keeping predators out.

Hope that helps! You can take a look at my BYC page for articles on building and predators if you want. If you go back through this thread, several folks have posted pics of their coops, too- I know Nana2KJS has one of my favorite charming coops for a smaller flock, and you could have something like it attached to a larger run with hot wire.

 

[Hawkeye95]

FatDaddy, we don't have outside dogs for that reason, too. I can't imagine fencing in our back yard. I have a little Pom and a shih tzu and they are indoors at all times, except to go potty outside. I rush them back in, just in case the neighbor dogs are out in my yard. He's the only one who lets his dogs do this- and his dogs are really mean, too. I'd consider us pretty rural, too despite the fact that we do live in a little community with 10 other houses around us. We are plopped down in the middle of a mile section with hundreds of acres of crops all around us. Which is why we have a coyote problem- they have great cover. But the coyotes haven't been too bad the last year or so.

ChooksChick, it was the coyotes that attacked my mare (she's fine). But it was the neighbors dog that went after us in our own drive way. Nothing like feeling insecure walking in your own yard. I've ground my teeth and have resisted the urge to shoot his dogs many times when they were snooping around my place. This is of course... before I have a really great incentive for them to want to come over here. Like chickens. Build for Bear... that's cute! What a great expression! I'll have to be sure to get the BEST fencing I can lay hands on. I'm planning on covering the top with the hardware cloth, too, and sinking the posts for the run into cement. I'll have to take the extra time to put the fencing down into the ground, too. Any other suggestions for making the run secure in the ground? BTW- nice to meet you! My favorite past time right now is looking at everyone's coops and trying to decide what features I want mine to have.

Okay- and this is a bit off topic... do moles hurt chickens? Probably not, right? We've never had a mole before, and about 4 days ago, I tripped over some mounded tunnels along the side of my house. That would be a mole, right? Could it be a rat? I dug up the tunnels two days in a row hoping to find the mole, but either he's fast or he has a deeper tunnel somewhere. Going to have to find a way to kill/get him. Even though I've dug up his tunnels and stomped them flat into the ground again, they are mounded right back up again the next morning! Pesky.

 

[Fat Daddy]

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Sounds like moles to me too, Its likely that if your able to free range your chickens, they will end your moles instead of the other way around. The tunnel is where he has been, not necessarily where he is. Ifs its active, you can see the dirt moving as the mole digs lookin for grub worms. So will your chickens, cats or dog. Some folks will put the garden hose in a active tunnel and filler up to drown the resident... I have never tried it thou. Bill

 

[tntblake]

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I'm not gonna be on it either! I would absolutely go see others cause I'm just nosy like that. I love to see other peoples set up when I can.

 

[Ivywoods]

I think an online coop tour sounds like a great idea!

First, let me say that there are a lot of people that feel you probably could carry a lot of diseases back and forth by traipsing from one coop to another. I'm not sure I would want people walking though all kinds of areas and then walking through my barns and coops.

SO... Online sounds like a great idea, especially since there are several people right here on this thread that are in the process of coop building and planning, myself being one of them. I have barn area, a grow out area, a layer coop and a chicken tractor. I am, however, in the planning process (ahem... little progress in the last couple months) for building a new chicken barn.

What do you folks say? I think we could post pictures of our coops along with pictures of some of the features we like best about our coop, such as our brooder areas, grow out pens, nest boxes, etc. I'm all for it. How about you guys?

I could get the ball rolling, but probably need to take a few more pictures.

Okay, here is a picture of the antique horse drawn blacksmith wagon that I converted into a layer coop.

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Here is a picture of the antique roll out nest that I installed in the coop. It is sitting on a bench in the feed and storage area of the layer coop. All I have to do is walk in, open the front lid on the nest and gather all the eggs. I love it!

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Here is a picture of the other nest box I built this spring. It is built from all salvaged material. Cost: $00! It is located in a separate pen. I realize now I certainly didn't need a 10 hole nest box in there. They only lay in one or two of the boxes. I am hoping to convert it to a roll out nest later this year or sometime. I like how my eggs are so much cleaner and easier to gather out of the roll out nest.

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Since my new poultry barn is not built yet, pictures of that are going to have to wait a while.

 

[Hawkeye95]

IvyWoods- very creative turning the old wagon into a chicken coop! What is a roll-out nest? I looked at it... is it tilted so that the eggs roll out of it? If that's the case, are there shavings or hay in it? That is a lot of nesting boxes. When I was a kid, we had something that looked an awful lot like that- but my dad had about 40 birds. I think a lot of the boxes got used, because I remember searching through it and finding eggs in the boxes. Your coop looks really clean!! I hope I keep mine as clean and everyone else seems to. I need lots of doors and easy to access features. Any other great ideas that would make life easier? I'm keeping a list here- writing everything down that I think is really neat. I love that your nesting box has a slanted top so the chickens won't roost on it. Smart! Is there a run attached to the wagon, or do your chickens free-range during the day? I REALLY wish I could let mine do that. Maybe I can if I sort something out with my neighbor.

 

[Ivywoods]

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Yes, the floor is slanted and the eggs roll to the tray in the front where I lift the little lid and gather them. The floor of the roll out nest is 1/2" welded wire! I remember thinking when I saw it that they wouldn't like to sit on it. They don't mind the wire at all. I think what they like best about it is the round hole and the seclusion they have when they are in there laying their eggs. I wanted them to learn to use it, so I put some straw in there when I first got it. That was just a mess and made it so the eggs didn't roll out. I ended up taking it all out of there.

The wagon in the picture was taken before we moved it to its new home. It now has a run attached, and it is set down on some blocks so the chickens often hang out underneath there when it is too hot. It's on concrete but the chickens don't seem to mind that at all. I squirt water under there with the hose and since the concrete is actually slanted, all the poop washes right out from underneath.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Here is what I'm thinking:

I really like the hip roof of the "Mid-Life-Crisis" coop much better... but it didn't allow for gable venting and it would be more difficult to extend a roof line off of it. I'm thinking of having a partial roof over the run. Most of the run will be in the sun and elements. But the pop door will be covered and they can get in and out in rain with some cover. Thinking of using one side for storage and the other for nesting. Large doors under the roost to clean it out easily. I didn't draw it very evenly, but I'm thinking it will be a square 8X8. I keep thinking of more ideas as I go along, and I keep wavering back and forth on the hip roof versus this kind of roof.

It's a really rough drawing, but it's gets the idea across.

IvyWoods- very interesting abut the roll out nest. Sounds pretty easy, too.

 

[Naughty]

wow - my internet was down for awhile - and i just finally finished reading up

lol

soooo i am up to 23 chickens... remembering that i only wanted 4 hens at the most.... you EnABLERs

of course my big ol hen decided she wanted to go broody -after i spent a fortune on chicks of course

so i decided to let her have a couple of my EEs eggs - cause i have 2 roosters - and figured they had to be fertile (she seems to be the doorknob)

neither one hatched - and i know she was setting on them good...

oh well - i didnt need any more - my poor lil dog is having troubles keeping up with the ones he has now