Horse stall to coop, hardware cloth questions, electric poultry netting question

[misneachfarm]

I sincerely hope bears aren't an issue here, lol. I am in a rural area but it is pretty much all hay fields and small wooded lots, knock on wood so far I haven't even seen any deer nearby. My oldest chicks are only 3 weeks old right now, so I do still have some time, but I also have a semi-annual meat order scheduled for next month, so will not be spending money on the coop again till probably July after I get it rigged up well enough this month to hold them. A few people have mentioned that snakes will go after "chicks" - at what age is that not really a concern anymore? I have the chicks in a 3ftx5ftx2ft tall brooder in my enclosed sunporch but I had wanted to move them out to the coop before they are 6 weeks old, because I feel like they will be too crowded in the brooder, but if snakes are going to be a concern I guess I can just let them roam the sun porch, all I have in there is a chest freezer, and it has vinyl floors...I have only seen one snake so far at my place, a baby black snake, but where there's one, there's more, and the previous owners left a huge debris pile behind the garage that I'm sure is probably home to some (and I am too scared to start taking it apart and burning it right now, lol).

 

[Wandercreek]

A few people have mentioned that snakes will go after "chicks" - at what age is that not really a concern anymore?

I don't know that there is a specific age. If a hungry snake thinks he can eat the chick, he'll certainly try. Constrictors can squeeze smaller juvenile birds hard enough to break bones and thereby make the chick 'swallowable'.
In my experience, young birds are at risk whereas older, larger juveniles and adults are basically safe.

 

[misneachfarm]

All this is making me think I should get an Anatolian Shepherd sooner rather than later, lol, though I don't think that would help with the snake issue...I guess I am just wondering at what size they tend not to go for it...are 4 week birds still too small? 6 week? Maybe I'm worrying about nothing and should be more concerned about raccoons, dogs, etc, but I would hate to go to all the work of enclosing a stall in 1/2 hardware cloth and then have a snake find its way in and eat one of my birds!

 

[Ridgerunner]

There is not a safe age, it just depends on how big the snake is. That said, I’ve seen some pretty big black racers, black rat snakes, king snakes, and others not always easily identified. I’ve seen some in the coop eating eggs, both rat snakes and racers. I’ve raised a few broods of chicks here each year since I got chickens in 2009, probably 4 to 5 broods each year. Some with broodies and some in my brooder in the coop. My brooder in the coop is made from 1” hardware cloth, holes big enough a decent sized snake can get through. I put my chicks in that brooder straight from the incubator or the post office. In all those years with all those broods I’ve lost one chick to a snake in that brooder. One chick. After swallowing it the snake could not get back out so I dealt with it, he could not get away. I’ve lost a few chicks being raised by a broody, I assume a snake got a few of those, but that is pretty rare too.

You can worry yourself sick over a potential predator that might or might not ever show up. You can worry so much you paralyze yourself and never do anything. If one ever shows up you will probably have to deal with it, they will probably return for a free meal. But it would take a pretty large snake to eat a 5 or 6 week old chick. Are there any that size in North Carolina? Yes, there are. Are there many where you are? Probably not many. Cover whatever holes you can with your hardware cloth, that’s the best you can reasonably do. It will probably be good enough.

 

[misneachfarm]

There is not a safe age, it just depends on how big the snake is. That said, I’ve seen some pretty big black racers, black rat snakes, king snakes, and others not always easily identified. I’ve seen some in the coop eating eggs, both rat snakes and racers. I’ve raised a few broods of chicks here each year since I got chickens in 2009, probably 4 to 5 broods each year. Some with broodies and some in my brooder in the coop. My brooder in the coop is made from 1” hardware cloth, holes big enough a decent sized snake can get through. I put my chicks in that brooder straight from the incubator or the post office. In all those years with all those broods I’ve lost one chick to a snake in that brooder. One chick. After swallowing it the snake could not get back out so I dealt with it, he could not get away. I’ve lost a few chicks being raised by a broody, I assume a snake got a few of those, but that is pretty rare too.

You can worry yourself sick over a potential predator that might or might not ever show up. You can worry so much you paralyze yourself and never do anything. If one ever shows up you will probably have to deal with it, they will probably return for a free meal. But it would take a pretty large snake to eat a 5 or 6 week old chick. Are there any that size in North Carolina? Yes, there are. Are there many where you are? Probably not many. Cover whatever holes you can with your hardware cloth, that’s the best you can reasonably do. It will probably be good enough.

Thanks for the advice! The only other thing I have ever been responsible for from such a young age is my cat Marcus (he was 2.5 wks old when I got him, someone found him by the side of the road - thankfully he's a tough little jerk, I slept through alarms to bottle feed him an embarrassing number of times) and it is just so scary to think of all the things out there that also like to eat chicken! Especially now that I am naming them and getting attached, lol. Next year I think will be easier (from a mental standpoint, anyway) when I go up to a larger flock that is more production focused, but this year is more about raising friendly birds that I can take in to the school where I work.

 

[Wandercreek]

You can worry yourself sick over a potential predator that might or might not ever show up. You can worry so much you paralyze yourself and never do anything.

X2. Absolutely true

 

[Percheron chick]

I have a stall coop and it works great. I've kept as many as 30 in bad weather lock up in a standard size stall. It's an old barn with solid 1/2 walls and wooden slats on the upper part covered with 2x4 wire fencing. I have a small gap with the ground in some spots on the wall between the stalls. Didn't do anything for those as the only access is from the other stall. If the doors are closed, you can't get to it so I don't worry about it. Deep litter keeps the chicks on the right side. The alterations I had to make were blocking off the 8" gaps for the rafters (had a bobcat access the coop that way) and the gap between the walls and the roof. The pop door to the run was a well placed hole. If your doors are sliders, you can just crack it open 12" and either build a run or use the electric netting as a temporary solution. If you have panels around, you can add chainlink (can sometimes find it for free on CL) or HW cloth. I would cover the bars with hardware cloth. Zipties work great. Use the stall that gets the most winter sun. Mine is the farthest on the N side which is the worst and coldest in winter but it was the easiest to convert and was empty. I used an old book case for nesting boxes but you can use covered litter pans, milk crates, recycling bins... You can split the stall with something temporary for the meat birds then take it down when you're done or use it for a brooder.

 

[misneachfarm]

I have a stall coop and it works great. I've kept as many as 30 in bad weather lock up in a standard size stall. It's an old barn with solid 1/2 walls and wooden slats on the upper part covered with 2x4 wire fencing. I have a small gap with the ground in some spots on the wall between the stalls. Didn't do anything for those as the only access is from the other stall. If the doors are closed, you can't get to it so I don't worry about it. Deep litter keeps the chicks on the right side. The alterations I had to make were blocking off the 8" gaps for the rafters (had a bobcat access the coop that way) and the gap between the walls and the roof. The pop door to the run was a well placed hole. If your doors are sliders, you can just crack it open 12" and either build a run or use the electric netting as a temporary solution. If you have panels around, you can add chainlink (can sometimes find it for free on CL) or HW cloth. I would cover the bars with hardware cloth. Zipties work great. Use the stall that gets the most winter sun. Mine is the farthest on the N side which is the worst and coldest in winter but it was the easiest to convert and was empty. I used an old book case for nesting boxes but you can use covered litter pans, milk crates, recycling bins... You can split the stall with something temporary for the meat birds then take it down when you're done or use it for a brooder.

The door is just a half swinging door, not a slider. It has a window that I was going to use as the pop door and just put a ramp up to it, though I'm a little afraid that it's too high up and they will push each other off the ramp trying to get in and out...there is an area closer to the floor where a horse kicked part of the wall out at one point that is covered by a board, I may take that off and cut out a nicer hole and make that the pop door instead

 

[Percheron chick]

The door is just a half swinging door, not a slider. It has a window that I was going to use as the pop door and just put a ramp up to it, though I'm a little afraid that it's too high up and they will push each other off the ramp trying to get in and out...there is an area closer to the floor where a horse kicked part of the wall out at one point that is covered by a board, I may take that off and cut out a nicer hole and make that the pop door instead

The hole will need to be 10x10 for a fat fluffy hen to fit through. The window can work. I would have a landing (shelf) on both sides.