Trying to do the multi quote thing-
Think about walking around in your netted areas given the height of the netting, too low will be a PITA. If you put beams across a five or six foot fence top that seems low to me, especially since netting sags.
I’d drive, as less risk, and probably stress to the birds, and it would be fun!
Quarantine - if you’re trying to do full bio security they say to change clothes and shoes and wash hands at least, probably showering is best, between flocks. Certain things can settle on your hair and then you spread it around. Would be very hard for me to really adhere to! I did keep Lil’ Queenie inside for over two weeks, to see if she would develop symptoms of anything. But
@Shadrach pointed out that really, it was not technically much of a quarantine. Do you know the health history of the flocks where the brahmas are coming from?
I like the pens in addition to the tent setup, so they don’t go stir-crazy with the lack of space.
I think there are other suppliers in the US for this type, it’s just that Pinnon tells you what they’re selling in good detail and why, and appear to have good customer service. Not a warehouse sale, in other words.
Babs is helping bathe Bernadette’s head!
Snow -
1) My support structure for the nets is mostly the greenhouse frames, which are not very strong. I also didn’t want to bend over the maple saplings and lilac bush permanently in that back area so that was motivation to take it down there.
2) The Buckeyes have shown zero interest in marching around in the snow. They stand in the doorway and look out at it.
3) We can get a lot of snow some years, accumulating over time. You can shake snow through the 2” squares, even ice will break up. I’ve done it, not hard, but I don’t have a winter-weight support system. It’s that, not the nets themselves that’s the weak link. But if no one’s hanging out there anyway, why bother?
If you envision a permanent situation, as long as the support is strong and well-distributed I wouldn’t have much worry. I would try an area and see how it went. Then expand. You might consult the game farm places that have netting set-ups, are they year-round? There are other folks on BYC that have netting…
4) That said, because the longer-term forecast is calling for such changeable weather and I don’t think there’s going to be a steady accumulation of snow, I just put a section of net up again today over two greenhouse frames side by side, and will get a chicken door going from their Big Run, and soon (tomorrow if I can) set up a small section of electric fence around it, from the Big Run out and back. Then I’ll feel they can safely come and go at least in that part. They have been calling at us a lot these days, they want OUT when it’s nice and there’s no snow, but if I’m not out there with them I don’t let them roam.
Leaves -
Small leaves go through. This last Fall big maple leaves would settle on the net, and if I pulled the net quick I could sort of flip them across and off. They also just blew off with the wind. Some blew into one low place and I noticed the chickens liked the sheltered roof it sort of formed so I left them until I took them down for the season. That particular place the net was low and held up by a step-in post that was pretty loosely in the ground, it probably would tip over with heavy snow weight.
Branches - when branches fall it freaks out the chickens because it is something from the sky, but the net holds up. It is rated for a couple hundred pounds plus (285?) so the points of attachment / support would likely fail before the net does. If a tree fell on it yeah the point of attachment / support would give way, ie the greenhouse frame will bend.
After a season with extensive netting my approach is to make it high enough as much as possible so I can walk under it easily. Crouch / bent-over walking is not great. Last year I had the greenhouse frames set some distance from each other and then sections in between held up with 48” step-in posts. Getting a branch that has points catching in the net is not too hard from underneath. Pulling it through, or throwing or rolling it over and off (your hand can reach through 2” squares). I had widely overlapping edges when two nets met (each well-overlapped edge held onto the neighbor net with carabiners. You can pull one net through the other and then join them also) so it was also possible to reach places from above by undoing that bit.
Exactly!
Yes, we had a houseguest from Ghana for awhile, he showed us how to make nets with a wide flat tool - made from bone? Very cool.
Yes, hoops on top would be good since your fence is 5-6 feet. Again, think about walking under it…
2” squares won’t easily hold much snow. Thick freezing rain will hold for a while but wind helps remove it. You want the attachments to be good. It will sag but then come back once clear. I don’t know how much stretch it retains if stretched for weeks. Not that much I think.
@Lexicon is a good resource here, can maybe elaborate on their experience.
Just for you
@Ponypoor - when I clean out and collect I usually arrange the eight fake eggs and the golf ball into two nice little groups of four and five on either end of the nest box. Here’s what today’s hen did when she got in there to lay later! (No, she did not lay her egg with the golf ball!)
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Here’s tonight’s arrangement so far. I wonder how she sleeps on all of the fake eggs plus golf ball?
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Here’s the other three. Somebody’s in the middle of grooming
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Others are hatching, so dang small! Barely taller then a quarter.
Looking for a vet to administer a Suprelorin implant in Florida or near by
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