from back yard in city to the country

[wesleyd]

I am moving out to my grandfathers farm from san angelo. I grew up on that farm where we raised chickens turkeys and guineas. there has been no animals on the farm in about 20 yrs now. and many of the old chicken houses have deteriorated and or had trees fall on them. the old rock brooder house and next door hen house are in the best shape and will be repaired and refenced off. as my six hens have never run free and i know of several preditors living there now (a fox, a skunk and a chicken hawk thats just the ones im sure of...) i have bought 5 guinea chicks to set free to roam the 1 acre area around the house to keep snakes under control they should be ready to roam by June when we move in. any suggestions to help this move and not loose any of my pets? my girls are extremely spoiled.

 

[aart]

Make sure the coops are secure for nighttime, anything bigger than a 1" hole should be covered with 1/2" hardware cloth. Build a secure run to keep them safe during the day when not free ranging until you have a better feel for what kind of predator load you actually have

 

[aart]

Hardware cloth it a metal mesh made from 19ga wire welded to have 1/2" x 1/2" holes, then it is galvanized.
It can be quite expensive but is the only thing that will exclude almost all predators provided it is attached securely.
I think Amazon has the best prices. Do a search, there's lots of read about it here.

 

[Mrs. K]

I have had very good luck with chain link fencing or even woven wire fencing with holes about 2 inches by 3 inches in keeping predators out. I lined the inside of the run with chicken wire to keep chicks inside. The fencing wire only goes up about 4 feet, and I used chicken wire about that and over the top, so that my run is totally enclosed. I also have landed chicken wire flat on the ground, around the perimeter, letting the vegetation grow up through it, this really deters digging predators.

Beware of the gate, that is generally the weak area in the run. I have a piece of a railroad tie, that the gate closes tight against.

Mrs K