Heritage Large Fowl - Phase II

[hellbender]

Did I read that right ... you ran toward a bear to save your chickens ???

I saw a tiny garter snake in the feed room last week and literally thought about giving up poultry.

 

[Leela NH]

My mobile hoop coop is going on 3 years old with no problems. It's 13' wide and 32' long(used 6 2x6's for the bottom frame), about 7' tall in the middle. It is a bit too big to easily move around the orchard, so it's getting retired to open pasture to grow out meaties and start chicks. It has cattle panels covered with chicken wire.

It has 4 tires on levers and 2 hand crank pulleys, like you use to pull a boat onto a trailer. The roost portion is 13' x 6' and easily sleeps 70 hatchery hens. 4 nest boxes got a little crowded, but worked out most of the year. I put a door on the roost portion so I could close them up when I wanted to move longer distances. The floor is expanded metal, I haven't had to clean poop in 3 years.

How do you make the hoop houses 13' wide? Two panels attached in center? Thanks

 

[finnfur]

Did I read that right ... you ran toward a bear to save your chickens ???

I saw a tiny garter snake in the feed room last week and literally thought about giving up poultry.

Yes - but I had a Marlin .243 rifle in my hand, Black Bear will usually run from people. This ones problem was it must have got zapped by the fence when in and did not want to go back near the Efence. It was a young Bear and I was educating it that people are not good.

For Garter snake however , I would recommend you get a Ruger Red Hawk revolver in 44 Magnum caliber. or 45 Colt.

 

[colburg]

Quote: This is pretty crude but oughta show things clearly.. I wanted something wider than 7-8 feet, which is what you get when using panels for a hoop if you want to walk upright in them. So, I constructed this, and at 7' in the middle when hooped, you get 13' wide. The missing panel is where the roost area is and I saved $20 by just using the metal siding.

 

[hellbender]

@Adorkable ...Yes, the yearlings did fine! That's a very safe wormer. Thank you for asking!

 

[Adorkable]

@Adorkable ...Yes, the yearlings did fine! That's a very safe wormer. Thank you for asking!

Awesome, thanks for responding!

 

[3riverschick]

Hi,
I have a 25 by 36 poultry yard I need to cover. any ideas? Just need to keep birds and cats out.
Thanks,
Karen

 

[hellbender]

Yes - but I had a Marlin .243 rifle in my hand, Black Bear will usually run from people. This ones problem was it must have got zapped by the fence when in and did not want to go back near the Efence. It was a young Bear and I was educating it that people are not good.

For Garter snake however , I would recommend you get a Ruger Red Hawk revolver in 44 Magnum caliber. or 45 Colt.

We keep .17 Remingtons in our vehicles. They will kill anything that can cause us problems around here ...even black bear but I wouldn't shoot one unless my life depended on it. We each have Contenders in .410/45 Colt with 10 inch bull-barrels for anything that might require a dose of absolute lethality.

 

[hellbender]

Hi,
I have a 25 by 36 poultry yard I need to cover. any ideas? Just need to keep birds and cats out.
Thanks,
Karen

Lots of fishing line might take care of aerial attacks but cats...powerful air rifle?

EDIT: Perhaps if you mean small birds, a goodly size chunk of bird netting??

 

[finnfur]

Hi,
I have a 25 by 36 poultry yard I need to cover. any ideas? Just need to keep birds and cats out.
Thanks,
Karen

Something like this ? Netting will need support on that span. Sometimes you can use a heavier rope to hold it up.
Snow ice could be a problem with it however.
http://www.3tproducts.com/shop/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=2