Another update.
All the chickens are gone. Back in May, a raccoon killed every chicken in the hen house. There were two surviving chickens that had moved out. They were roosting in trees and nothing happened to them. I guess we could have forced them back into the empty hen house, but it didn't feel right. A predator, probably a raccoon got the last of the two wild birds a week ago.
I've been procrastinating about updating and expanding the chicken house, but doing nothing isn't working any, either.
OK. So, what has happened since I last posted here.
1. I didn't make the expand the hen house. It got moved down the hill to the goat pen and everyone seemed pretty happy. The activity of the goats and horse seemed to decrease the predator pressure.
2. We lost about 16 chicks to 'birds of prey' during the spring of 2011. Our hens hatched these chicks in our woods, so we let them handle everything. It didn't work out very well.
3. In late spring 2011, something started picking off a hen every couple of days, in broad daylight. After 6 hens disappeared, it stopped. Our next door neighbor had a flock about the size of ours, and lost a number of hens, too.
4. Then, we had the raccoon break-in during May 2013.
So, what to make of all this.
1. Plan to repair and update locks before disaster occurs. Though I'm still upset about it, the hen house actually worked pretty well. The locking 'hen door' just wore out after 6 years of use. The raccoon break-in was made possible by wear-and-tear on the locking mechanism. The design was not easy to clean or rebuild, so it didn't happen. Lesson, just because it has kept raccoons out for years, doesn't mean it will continue to do so. Design for maintenance!
2. Build bigger than you can imagine needing. Everything was too small. The run was too small. The hen house was too small.
3. Build a covered run big enough to keep the whole flock inside for a month, and big enough to walk in yourself. Locking up free ranging birds is critical, and being able to lure your flock 'inside' the run (with food, of course) is extremely useful.
4. Have a plan for a brooder and fenced area for juveniles. My current thought suggests dividing the 'run' such that juveniles can be kept apart. There needs to be a way to keep the 2 month old chicks in, and let eveyone else out. This requires electricity.
5. Food has to be easy to lock up at night. If at all possible, food and water should never be available to rats, mice, possums or raccoons. Never!
6. Another 'make it bigger' topic: try to get broody hens to raise their chicks in hen-house (with maximum security). I don't know if this is possible, but it sure would help. Keeping free-range broody hens alive has been a real problem. Keeping their chicks alive is equally hard.
7. Plan for maintenance. Floors and ground need to be convenient to clean. Doors and locking mechanisms need to be easy to repair.
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8. We never had problems with cold weather, but lost several chickens to summer heat. They love water and mud when it gets hot. When temp was over 100, we would turn on a hose a bit above a drip and let it run all day. If the hens are going to be kept in the run for any length of time in the summer, ventilation, shade, clean water and 'clean mud' need to be available.
