Hello from Kansas

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pennyJo1960 said:
Welcome to Backyard Chickens. This is a great place to hang out.
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Thanks! I hope I get to share a few helpful experiences with folks as I begin to re-engage... My Grandpa just built a "lean-to" inside the barn for his chickens back in the day. My neighbors thought my last coop/run was amazing, but I had a few issues with it that I plan to correct with a totally new "chicken house" build concept (at least for me). Materials are gonna be a lot more challenging today than back then - and a heck of a lot more expensive, so we'll see how all that goes... But hey, gotta start somewhere. I should have started building last year!

A dream will never become a reality until you turn it into a plan and then act on the plan!
 
N F C said:
:welcome

Welcome back! I enjoyed your intro, it's nice to meet you!
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Thanks! I hope to be able to provide some useful info to the community this go around. It would be nice to hear about folks new to chickens benefiting from what knowledge I can offer. I don't consider myself a "chicken pro", so I'm not sure how much I'll really be able to offer up in that area - other than maybe things like my experiences with maintaining a healthy flock (I'm not a vet, and still consider myself somewhat of a novice at this as well) - but the construction side of things for ease of maintenance and so on is where I think I will be able to be the most helpful.
 
TwoCrows said:
Electric fencing really helps greatly so if it's worked in the past, definitely continue on. You seem to have it all under control, I think your birds will do fine and stay safe! :)
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Absolutely on the electric fence. For someone thinking about this who might stumble into this thread:
I'd have to go back and check some old photos, but I'm pretty sure I had a "foot" wire about 2-3" up from the bottom (on t-posts) to discourage digging predators, and I never really had a problem with string trimming as I had place a gravel "bed" under that hotwire (angular stone about 4inches deep IIRC). I do know the foot wire stopped a few dogs, possum, and coons as I watch them get zapped trying to enter the chicken yard over the years. The other hotwire line was about 6 or 8 inches from the top, intended to deter the climbing critters, like possum and raccoon, that might not catch the "foot" wire.
My cats never bothered the birds, but they did get through the hog panel openings while also avoiding the foot wire, pretty much whenever they wanted, so that was one area where I thought about adding a third wire about 6 inches above the foot wire thinking they would contact at least one of them. I never really got around to testing that theory, so it will still be somewhat "experimental".

Anyway I'll probably start off with a 3-wire setup described above this time since there could be a larger threat from domestic cats where I am now. I'll post photos of that too once I get it built, though it might not be until next year on that one - I have a number of home remodel projects that need to get done as well.
 

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