After years of asking questions to two co-workers whom have chickens, I've taken one of their advice and just went ahead and ordered 15 day olds from M.McMurray hatchery. His advice was, order chicks and you will have a clear cut time frame of when things need to get done. Not IF I get around to building a coop, now its I need that coop built by.... so I have started gathering materials for both the brooder and the coop. Each week at payday I buy 4, 2x4's and so on until I have every thing I need for the coop (already have, 2 x 52"x100' rolls of 1x1"welded wire fencing, 12x 8' cedar fence posts, 18x 8' pt 4x4's, 50'x10' poultry netting). When our tax refund money comes in I'll order a Brinsea Ecoglow brooder to use in the 2 tote brooder I'm building(plans from fresh eggs daily blog site). Chicks should come the second week in April and will live indoors for 8 weeks so I've got time and just this past weekend I went to work on clearing the coop site of bittersweet and bull brier. My plan is to build a raised 8'x8' platform high enough to get a wheelbarrow under for ease of clean out, from there I'll build the coop of my own design. My plan is to use the cedar posts, set 3' into the ground, 5' apart with the welded wire placed vertically with 2' buried. I should have enough fence and posts for a nice well protected run and I was thinking of not just poultry netting across the top but doing PVC half hoops for added head room. Now for the questions, 1) the space I have picked out is next to a small pond, Is / are there any concerns with having chickens near water ? 2) the girls will be locked up at night, the poultry netting is more for hawks during the day. Is poultry netting (2" sq) strong enough ? 3) is the Ecoglow worth the investment ($70-$80) ? 4) Is there any advice on what I"ve posted so far ? Thank you for reading. Pilgrimboy, Plymouth, MA
Hello and Welcome To BYC! Sounds like you have a good start on the chicken project, just need to keep ahead of the chicks now, they grow fastttt. You might want to post about your coop/ run idea on the Coop & Run Design forum to see if anyone has any ideas you might like. https://www.backyardchickens.com/f/9/coop-run-design-construction-maintenance Also maybe try your state thread to see what works for people in your area, especially because of your winters, https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/50058/byc-members-in-massachusetts The pond shouldn't make any difference if the area you have selected is high enough to stay dry. We have a small one near the chickens and they peck around the edges and drink out of it but can't say that it has any problem for them... it is inside a main fence though so don't really worry about minks or other predators that are attracted by water, not sure if that would be a problem in your area? If you are using the netting just as a hawk deterrent, the stuff like Toprite heavy weight netting does great and lasts a long time, no netting really works against other predators like coons etc though. I usually use a light/ ceramic bulb, never really liked the Ecoglow type things since the chicks tend to get on top of them and poop ... some people really like them and swear by them though... they do seem to be safer / less of a fire hazard.
Someone I know has had two ecoglow units go out unexpectedly on them, leaving chicks cold. They are "on" but not putting out any heat. She is going to investigate a similar product under another brand. . She also does NOT like Brinsea incubators. I can't speak for myself I have never hatched any chicks. I can tell you that chicken wire ONLY keeps chickens IN. It does nothing to deter predators. It is flimsy and they can tear it apart like a hot knife through butter. 1/2" hardware cloth is much stronger if attached properly and can prevent raccoons from grabbing any chicken part they can reach and biting it off. This is typical M.O. for coons. The harm, and usually death caused by them is horrific. Then can climb, they can dig under .. they can jump down from branches or rooftops. They have opposable thumbs so opening latches, etc. is no trouble for them. Next to dogs running loose they are probably the no. 2 predator you will encounter. Even if you surround your fencing with 1/2 " hardware cloth from the bottom up to a height of 18" or so, that would prevent some raccoon grab and eat attacks. Please check out the Learning center and also threads on coops/runs, predators etc. It can save you a lot of heartache.
Welcome to BYC! I am not familiar with your area. So, this may not pertain. Do you have water moccasins or other shakes? You may need to make sure the fencing/netting is small enough to keep them out. Also, dig down 4-6 inches and embed the fencing in the ground to keep them from going under. Good Luck!
