Florida Newbie with questions about bold red shoulder hawk and coop, also vaccines

[psbeers]

Hello,
After close to two years of talking about chickens my husband has finally agree to getting a small flock of 3 hens. Whoo-hoo!! I am so excited. I have a hard time not calling the feed store at least once a day to find out if the chicks have arrived and what kind they are getting. I am just a little excited to say the least.

We live in a subdivision in central- west Florida (Pasco County) I wanted to free-range but am afraid the girls will become a meal for some creature. Last week my husband was mowing the back yard and he was startled when he turned around to see a hawk about 10 feet in front of him snatching a toad. This bird was so urbanized that he flew up in our tree ate his meal and sat there looking at us for 15 minutes just waiting for another meal to be stirred up. He was not afraid of us at all, the branch he was on was maybe 12 feet above our heads. I think the only reason he left was because another pair of hawks came, one of which was quite a bit larger. I understand they are very territorial. I would not be able to handle having them make a meal out of my chickens. Is it common for hawks to take chickens or do they prefer smaller prey? We have lots of squirrels around here... we used to have more.

We are trying to decide if we should make a stationary run and coop or a tractor with a coop attached. I have been studying this wonderful site and searching for the perfect coop and run. I have not found one that is big enough yet not too heavy to move as well as safe from predators. We have plenty of racoons and coyotes have been seen in this area also. We have a little seven pound dog that we never let outside alone. She is a brave little soul and wouldn't hesitate to confront any intruders. We are installing a solid 6' fence all around our back yard. This will give us some privacy as well as hopefully added safety for the girls at least from stray dogs.

Does anyone have a small coop with a detachable run? Safety is my main concern with a detachable run. But I want the girls to be able to move around the yard and have a fresh patch of ground to scratch.

Also, one more question- the feed store does not get chicks that are vaccinated for Merek's. Am I better off buying from someone local who has slightly older chicks to reduce the risk of disease?

Would greatly value advice!
Thanks for the great site, so glad you are here.

 

[direwolf]

I live in Pasco County as well. Small world! We have a lot of hawks in our area; they actually have a nest in a tall pine tree directly behind our property. I built a permanent coop that has an 8 X 8 coop and an 8 X 24 attached run. The shingled roof is one unit over the entire structure. I have had the chicks in there for a couple months now with no problems.

When I free range them (usually once or twice a week) I stay outside with them. From what I understand, a hawk can still be brave enough to swoop in, even with you standing by. We have two large dogs, and whenever I see the hawks circling above, I throw their sticks and have them play rough so the hawks learn that this area is not safe (hopefully). I also thought about getting an eagle decoy to put on the shed roof nearby.

There is a guy in Moon Lake that has "organic" Rhode Island Red chickens that you may be interested in. He advertises a lot on Craigslist. I think he has Barred Rocks too. I bought my chicks from Mid-Way farm supply out by 41 & 52. I am not sure if they have any now (I am stopping by this evening and will update if they do). The Surburban Feed store on 52 also sells chicks on occasion, not sure if it is just in the spring time though.

Well, good luck. To answer you question - yes you have to be diligent with the hawks as they will kill your chickens. Check Craigslist as there are several farms around here that sell chicks of all ages.

 

[BuffOrpington88]

I think it would be a great idea to get a tractor. They have a great time eating the grass and catching bugs, and it's healthy too!

 

[psbeers]

Hi, Thanks for your reply.

Sounds like you have a really nice coop and run. You must be able to house a lot of chickens in there! What others do you have besides Rhode Island Reds? I was hoping to find some Sex Links/ red star or black star since I am only getting a few I want to make sure they are hens. Please let me know if you see or here of anyone that has them.

That is what I thought about the hawks. It was really amazing how close he was and how long he stayed there also. Having the large dogs is a good thing, I'm sure they would see them as a danger.

We are going to try to make a coop with a tractor that we can move around. Hopefully it won't be to hard to make it secure from the racoons also.

Please do let me know if the feed store has chicks. The one on Plathe is planning to have them in a few weeks.

Great to here from a neighbor with chicks!

 

[psbeers]

Hi, Thank you for your reply BuffOrpington88
We are going to make a coop with a tractor. Hopefully it won't be too hard to make it secure from the racoons also. I want them to get lots of bugs and greens! I want to have happy girls!
I was buying free range eggs but then the hens where fenced in a small area and the egg quality is not the same, much lighter yolks and less flavor.

 

[BuffOrpington88]

Awesome! To keep out raccoons, one of the things you can do is for the floor is have a piece of plywood or what you're using for flooring, them put hardware cloth under that and then another piece of plywood so it's sort of like a sandwich .
The eggs are definitely much brighter! Just wait until you make scrambled eggs!
Good luck!

 

[psbeers]

Hi again,

Do you mean the floor of the coop? We were more concerned about them getting into the run/tractor. We want to make it so that they are safe when we are away even if the coop door is left open. Do you think that is possible? My husband is good at making things, I know he will have to build it really strong. We keep hearing others say you should always lock them in the coop at night. We also wondered if it would work to take them to our friends house who also has chickens and leave them there for the week we are gone. Do you think that would work? She has two flocks that she has in two different areas and a rooster for each flock. She doesn't lock them up at night and doesn't have trouble with predators. And she lives less than a mile from us. She is also the person we are getting eggs from now.

That's why I didn't know if I was just being paranoid about the hawk or if they are a real threat. They aren't what people call chicken hawks they are smaller.
We have a koi pond in our front yard and had a great white egret come eat a lot of our fish. I hate that!!! I know I am gonna love my chickens just as much as I love my fish. We were able to keep the egret from coming back by putting a motion sensitive sprinkler and heavy fishing line across the pond (had to get used to the way that looks, but it is not too bad, looks shiny in the sun and it works!) It is a small pond in our front yard, about 1000 gallons (8'x6') We also kept a radio on close by. I see the egret at the lake down at the end of our street... I'm like a yes sir, you just stay there and fish and leave my pretties alone!!

We will most likely put a motion sensor light out back by the chickens. Maybe a radio should go on with the light too! I know, I'm crazy when it comes to my animals.


Thanks again,
Pam

 

[direwolf]

I stopped by Mid Way on my way home from work and they did not have any chicks out. When I bought my chicks they said there was a 90% chance to be hens. Out of 6 chicks I had 2 roos...LOL. We are supposed to go to the Hard Rock this weekend for our anniversary, but with that luck we should probably stay away.

I don't have anything besides the RIR chicks. We will get more in the future but we are noobs too and learning the ropes.

Good luck to you. I also see sex links on Craigslist around here. Just search once a week or so and you will see some farms pop up with sex links.

Good Luck.