COOP DOORS & WILD BIRDS

[Evolvingspirit]

Have eggs in coop and chickens don't sit on them too much. Wild small birds come in. Concerned about disease. Have 1 isolated bad mite infestation. I'm thinking maybe from the wild birds. Should I close the coop door as the chickens forage all day and forget about maybe
getting lucky with a few new birds hatched? Going to spray and clean coop.
Thanks
Stewart

 

[Debbie292d]

One idea I heard is hanging strips of cloth or plastic from the top of the door/window to the bottom. That will scare birds, but chickens get used to it.

 

[Loving my girls]

I have the same problem, they fly through the tiny hen door and out again but, sometimes, they are either too dim or too fat to get out again.
I don’t worry about disease, to be honest it has never occurred to me.
Just the mess if the hens get the bird before me
Hugz

 

[wrathsfarm]

If none of your birds are sitting broody, you won't be hatching without an incubator.
Your girls need to lay still in the coop, correct? Closing the door only makes them lay elsewhere.
Whatever disease the wild birds are carrying you already have, shutting the door won't help at all. It's already all over your yard from the interaction at feed stations. Like said above, I hung strips of cloth on my pop door just to monitor cold winter wind coming in. This scares the wild birds but the birds get used to it, especially because I have strips of cloth on the nest boxes for privacy also.

 

[Evadig]

I guess it would depend on where you live? Like apparently in CA there’s an avian flu epidemic but where I am there hasn’t been any cases.

 

[Ted Brown]

My coop & run are "closed" via hardware cloth and a pole shed roof, pop door open 24/7. If I have an intrusion I hunt for the opening.

In the winter I add tarps and clear vinyl. Winter, rather than pests & diseases, was the instigator for a pole shed. Exclusion (predators, pests, diseases, etc.) now drive further evolutions toward my closed integrated run&coop environment.