Help a newbie out?

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HONOMO

In the Brooder
Aug 31, 2020
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Hi everyone, first timer here. I just bought two hens and could use some advice.

One is 6 week old - Cream Legbar
The other is 8 to 9 weeks old - Gold Laced Wyandotte

I have had them in the coop/run I built for a few days. I have only seen them use the ramp to go up in the coop once. But I was happy to see that they could at least do it on their own. The coop/run is located on a hill so the construction was a bit tricky. The chicken wire for the run is connected to a frame and runs down to the ground where it is staked into the ground. The ground is VERY hard (clay soil). You can see pictures below.

To my HORROR tonight, I went out to check on them and my hens were... GONE. I thought maybe a predator got in and got them. Then I realized I could hear their squeaking. I found that they had torn through the bottom left corner of the door of my run. They pushed the chicken wire out away from where it was stapled into the frame of the door. I worried about predators getting in but never expected the chickens to get out. My brothers has chickens and said they are a pretty dumb animal. These hens seem fairly intelligent to me. I think tomorrow I am going to drill heavy boards to the bottom of the frame on top of the chicken wire.

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I live in socal (Inland Empire). In this heat wave we have been in the 90's and 100's lately. The coop is located under some trees so they don't get much direct sunlight. That should keep them cool.

I used pine shavings for the bottom of the run and the coop.

There were a lot of flies gathering so I put a fly trap. The smell of the trap is awful. Hopefully it doesn't bother the hens as much as it bothers me. I wonder if they'd prefer flies over the trap smell.

Anyway, any tips or advice would be much appreciated.
 
To help your flock cope with the heat wave, you can use "misting" hoses, or freeze gallon jugs of water and set them on the ground so the birds can stand by them. Provide as much shade as possible, natural or manufactured. Shallow pans of water the chickens can stand in will provide some relief. Cool feet = cooler bird.
 
Hello there and welcome to BYC! :frow

I don't know what kind of predators you have over there, I've heard foxes? But chicken wire is not a very safe barrier. Anything can rip through it. Do you have access to what we call hardware cloth? It's like a wire mesh that comes in 1/4 and 1/2 inch sizes. It's very durable and nothing can tear or crawl through. You can also use fans on your birds to keep them cool. Good luck and welcome aboard!
 
I wouldn't say they are dumb.

They are sort of smart and cunning sometimes. But they can be dumb also.

Ducks seem really smart to me also, and it can surprise you. They seem to know when I'm going to try to pick them up also, and go running.

I dumped some old potting soil in the yard and they spotted it right away to inspect it and check it out.

Sometimes they can surprise you.

Like another thing that surprised me is when I went to my sister's house and spotted her chickens trying to knock the apples off their apple tree! (Smart...not dumb.)
 
HONOMO said:
Hi everyone, first timer here. I just bought two hens and could use some advice.

One is 6 week old - Cream Legbar
The other is 8 to 9 weeks old - Gold Laced Wyandotte

I have had them in the coop/run I built for a few days. I have only seen them use the ramp to go up in the coop once. But I was happy to see that they could at least do it on their own. The coop/run is located on a hill so the construction was a bit tricky. The chicken wire for the run is connected to a frame and runs down to the ground where it is staked into the ground. The ground is VERY hard (clay soil). You can see pictures below.

To my HORROR tonight, I went out to check on them and my hens were... GONE. I thought maybe a predator got in and got them. Then I realized I could hear their squeaking. I found that they had torn through the bottom left corner of the door of my run. They pushed the chicken wire out away from where it was stapled into the frame of the door. I worried about predators getting in but never expected the chickens to get out. My brothers has chickens and said they are a pretty dumb animal. These hens seem fairly intelligent to me. I think tomorrow I am going to drill heavy boards to the bottom of the frame on top of the chicken wire.

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I live in socal (Inland Empire). In this heat wave we have been in the 90's and 100's lately. The coop is located under some trees so they don't get much direct sunlight. That should keep them cool.

I used pine shavings for the bottom of the run and the coop.

There were a lot of flies gathering so I put a fly trap. The smell of the trap is awful. Hopefully it doesn't bother the hens as much as it bothers me. I wonder if they'd prefer flies over the trap smell.

Anyway, any tips or advice would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Hardware cloth 1/4” or 1/2” is better than poultry netting. It’s stronger and due to the size of the mesh can keep out more predators.
How often do you clean the run out ? The flies are attracted to the rotting smell of the poop and any food scraps.
 
Hello and welcome to BYC! :frow Glad you joined.
Lose the chicken wire and replace it with 1/2" hardware cloth. Use screws with fender washers to secure it.
Your run shouldn't smell if it's dry. You might want to consider a roof on the run and add dried leaves, wood chips, etc to the run so it cold composts.
 

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